From: CurtAdams@aol.com
Date: Mon Aug 05 2002 - 19:18:27 MDT
Hong Kong has a system with limited franchise - educated, wealthy, and
professional voters
have far more influence than most people. Sorry, I forget the details. If
Beijing didn't piddle
so outrageously in HK politics it would be an interesting test of limited
franchise.
Another idea based on HK is that HK got really good governance when it was
ruled by appointees responsible not to HK'ers but to a relatively ethical
democracy on the other
side of the planet. Why not make the system bidirectional? Nation A elects
a commission to choose governors for nation B and vice versa. The
commissions then serve as oversight
boards, so they have incentive to catch bad behavior. Not perfect, but it
makes it a lot
harder for the government to pander to its electors. Indirect election
reduces the "good
hair" effect. Powermad people would still be drawn to government, of course,
but
an elected commission should at least be harder to snooker.
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