Politicians are elected to parliament based on specific commitments made during their campaigns. Yet once in office, many fail to honour those promises, ignore them, or even do the opposite. This behaviour is unconscionable and must be stopped.
Elected representatives also pass major legislation without a clear mandate from the electorate, without public consultation, and often against the majority’s wishes. Some openly display contempt for voters, labelling them “deplorables,” “populists,” “little people,” or “the great unwashed.” These politicians view themselves as rulers operating a top-down system rather than servants of the public. They also frequently seek to control information by positioning themselves as the sole arbiters of truth, and by censoring views that challenge their narrative. Such actions resemble dictatorship, not democracy, so must be stopped.
Compounding the issue is the deeply entrenched influence of vested interests — trade unions, big business, and activist groups. These organisations maintain incestuous relationships with politicians and regulators, often through generous funding, heavy lobbying, and the revolving door whereby former politicians take senior roles in those same entities. As a result, many voters believe their elected representatives serve these powerful groups rather than the public interest — a direct contradiction of functional democracy. This needs correction.
In every country, parties seeking to win a large government contract curry favour with those making the decision in the hope of winning that contract. This is natural human behaviour. While legislation and regulations are designed to ensure the best bid wins the contract, parties will look for loopholes in the laws and rules to ensure their bid is preferred. It is oft said that some conduct is morally wrong but legal – and that’s the problem with resorting to the law to solve problems. The judiciary will focus on the written word, not on the intention of the legislation.
To solve these problems Classic Liberals will change the approach to government from top-down, opaque decision-making to a bottom-up one where the public can access information, question government’s position, oversee processes, and contribute ideas. This should have the effect of improving trust, reducing corruption, enhancing policy effectiveness, and strengthening our democracy. More specifically:
Re’ lobbying – Classic Liberals will largely separate State and the economy, so these groups will have nothing to lobby for because politicians and regulators will not have the ability to provide financial favours (such as subsidies and grants) or protection.
Re’ Awarding of contracts – Classic Liberals will ensure a digitally open process for bidders as well as members of the public, all of whom will have the opportunity to review bids and the winning bid and changes to terms.
Re’ Legislating – A Classic Liberals government will establish a digital participatory tool through which ordinary citizens, stakeholders, politicians and bureaucrats can collaborate in proposing, debating and refining laws, rules and policies. This would include an Ai-assisted tool, such as Pol.is, for mapping opinions and finding consensus clusters. An example of such participatory tool is vTaiwan (Official site: info.vtaiwan.tw)
Re’ Determining the truth – Recent times have shown both in Australia and around the world that society cannot trust government to be the arbiter of truth. This is hardly surprising as both politicians and bureaucrats have a vested interest in currying favour with parties who have a financial interest in the matter. Classic Liberals believes the best determiner of truth in is collective intelligence and intends to harness this intelligence through the digital participatory tool referred to above. It will ensure (in alignment with its open governance policy) that government institutions (regulatory bodies) share their information.
Corporate advisors say that C-suite executives know less than 5% of the combined knowledge of the business throughout the organisation. The same would apply to politicians and senior bureaucrats. Good governance would harness this collective intelligence. It would be foolish not to.