It’s intresting to look at the e-Petitions web site, set up by the British Government to allow the public to have their say on a variety of issues.
The biggest response to a petition to date has been 1.8 million votes opposing Road Charging, a scheme that the government seems determined to push forward. With prices up to £1.50/mile being talked about, this could add £15,000 to the annual cost of running a car. There’s no way that this can be economically viable.
But it’s interesting to look at the rest of the top 10 active petitions by number of votes: Some of them are about freedom. Freedom to dance, freedom to take photographs in public places, freedom to hunt. Some of them are to reduce the tax burden, others to continue funding things.
If I were to stand for election, it would be on a simple manifesto:
- Personal freedom and individual responsibility. Simplify legislation, and promote a sense of ethics in all aspects of personal and professional life.
- Financial responsibility of the government to reduce the tax impact year on year. Transparent accounting, simplified taxation, no special interest groups. Introduce performance related pay across the civil service and freeze hiring into the service for 10 years.
- Remove unncessary layers of government. For the most part this is a single layer of local government. Abolish both the elected (Welsh, Scottish) and unelected (e.g., South East) assembles, and town and parish councils unless they become self funding with no support from taxation.
- Stop funding anything that’s not a core government service: health, social services, emergency services, transport. This means you can privatise local government: it’s just a service industry and should be treated as such. All housing departments become housing associations.
Unfortunately my only chance to succeed at any of that is to become a dictator. There’s no way a democracy can actually accomodate change that drastic.