2004-03-20 - 5:14 p.m.

If I could suggest a new addition to Canada's system of government, it would be that for every citizen, there should be no more than x (perhaps 3?) degrees of separation between them and a person who was involved in their representative party's self-discovery process.

What I mean is by self-discovery is that each party grows and evolves as time goes on, and by interacting with other like-minded people, the consituent members of each party form an opinion of exactly what it is their party represents. Of course, this can change over time, which is why I believe the following two things must hold true:

1- we need to use the best communication tools available to use in our system of government. This implies the use of email and instant messaging systems to stay in touch

2- we need to seek to minimize the disconnection between each citizen's attitudes, feelings, and awareness and their government representation.

Regarding using technology, I'm not trying to imply that the governing systems should be shifted onto the internet so much as the people involved in politics should be expected to stay in touch using the most effective, efficient methods available to them.

Stop flying around in airplanes all the time, it's wasteful and stupid. Yes, it's nice to see someone's face, to 'read' what they are thinking. Use a web cam. You know, these kinds of things would seriously improve the canadian taxpayer's "governance quality bang" per buck. Do I need to foot million dollar airline bills just so you can all know what the other is thinking? I am in sufficiently close contact with friends from around the world on Yahoo! Messenger and various freeware-hosted forums to know how they would want their country governed and what they believe the critical issues are.

Bah.. it's getting me agitated to conceive of how badly things are being done right now.

ps. the people downstairs are listening to "where is the love?". :D That is just too perfect for my mood right now.

I was thinking, if I was leading the country, I would ask my opposition for advice on how to run the government rather than snub my nose at their expertise and advise and give them an incentive to try to shoot me down and take pot shots at me.

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