PPFD -- Party Principles for Democracy
About PPFD	English (USA)
Discussion of the principles that should be involved in drafting a constitution for a new political party that aims to improve our democratic systems by ensuring that governments are accountable in between elections, not just at election time. Background: In 2003, Australia, together with the United States, United Kingdom and Poland, invaded Iraq in a clearly illegal war. At the time, the vast majority of Australians were strongly opposed to that course of action. John Howard, the Prime Minister at the time, claimed that if people did not like it they could hold him accountable at the next election. Of course in 2004, when the next election came round, the invasion seemed distant, and Howard managed to prevent it from being an election issue - he evaded accountability for his actions. In Westminster democracies like Australia, the leaders of political parties designed to seize power know they do not have to worry about consequences for their actions - even very serious ones - if the election is far enough away. They know that given enough time, people will stop caring, and it means that they are subject to no constraints whatsoever in between elections. That is seriously unsatisfactory. The party political system has become a great threat to basic principles of our democracy. If our leaders are unaccountable between elections, and they know they will not be held to account when a far off election does come around, we are in only a slightly better position than people in countries with no elections at all. On the other hand, independent candidates can rarely compete against the resources of these parties. They cannot effectively mount a campaign against parties with money from big business and electoral funding, with a support base established over decades, and with a stranglehold over attention from the media. Given that situation, if we want to improve our democracy, we need a new political party to take on the dominant parties, but it needs to be one that can never become a cast-iron titan bent on power and caring about nothing else, as has happened with the current dominant political parties. The purpose of this list is to determine what principles should be satisfied by the constitution of such a political party, and then to draft the constitution, and if thought fit, to form the party. To see the collection of prior postings to the list, visit the PPFD Archives.
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