Telesis "...an ancient Greek word signifying the achievement of a steady progress towards an objective through careful planning & the intelligent use of resources"
The economy operates on the basis of relationships within communities. The way in which the expression of preferences is influenced by the constitution determines the degree to which an economy and governance can satisfy needs. Indeed the "non-policy" aspects of the constitution or constitutional economics have a significant influence on the economy.
An imperative to a supportive constitution is its role in defending people's freedom to express their preferences as well as ensuring that governance responds to these. An analysis of the extent to which the United Kingdom's political system upholds or suppresses individual preferences has been published in a book entitled, "The Briton's Quest for Freedom - Our unfinished journey", published by Hambrook Publishing Company and written by Hector McNeill the Director of SEEL.
Constraints on individual expression
Where the coherence between electorate preferences & policy is constrained
Activity
Significant constraints
General election1
20
Parliament
16
House of Lords
2
Application of the Law
10
Political party funding
2
Parliamentary reform
1
Sovereignty
7
Whole process
58
1including political party policy definition processes
58 sources of inefficiency
The analysis covers details related to sovereignty and political process cycles including the general election, formation of a new Parliament and a government, legislation, including the role of the House of Lords and the application of the law. Some 58 significant constraints on individual freedom of expression are identified where electorate preferences are not reflected in political processes.
Failure in participatory methods
A significant problem is the decadence, declining popularity and falling capacity of political parties. The political system is now managed by a tiny and inexpressive faction. Although British political parties are well known, the sum total of their membership does not surpass 1% of the electorate and therefore they cannot aspire to reflect society as a whole. One major challenge facing political parties is that their small size results in an insufficient intellectual critical mass to manage the increasing complexity of identifying electorate concerns and preferences. Although universal suffrage has existed for almost 90 years the political process still does not involve the electorate in the identification of issues or in the development of solutions in an effective manner. In place of such a broad and more relevant participatory approach political parties continue to rely on a few, sometimes individual, planners to come up with policies.
Failure of the Majority Pinciple
The first past the post electoral system applied in Britain usually results in commanding Parliamentary majorities for governments with less than 20% of electorate support and therefore no de facto electorate majority. This results in the imposition of govering party policy preferences on the remaining 80% of the electorate who never voted for them. In reality the majority principle does not work in practice. The evidence shows small factions taking over the exclusive power of governance and a marginalised majority.
The failure of the majority principle is in large part caused by the declining relevance and quality of political party policies. Their imposition, irrespective of the majority view, has resulted in a significant disenchantment with politics, frustration with the ineptitude of democracy and of political parties in particular. The seeming unwillingness of politiciains to adddress these issues only casts them in a cynical light.
The need for change
The risks associated with the continuation of the current state of affairs is a contentious and suboptimal system of decision-making in governance which is destroying the social comity of the nation. This defective basis for policy definition and the imposition of such policies without the approval of the majority has a significant negative economic impact if for no other reason than the government sector in the United Kingdom economy involves a turnover of £590 billion and constitutes some 40% of the British economy.
The MinorityPrinciple
"Briton's Quest for Freedom" sets out a practical solution to this state of affairs by introducing an original concept known as the Minority Principle. This is designed to prevent the preferences of constituents being ignored. The application of the Minority Principle to issues of sovereignty as well as to the political process cycles of the general election, to the formation of a new Parliament and a government, to policy identification and legislation, including the activities of the House of Lords and the application of the law is demonstrated. By applying this new constitutional principle the 58 constraints on individual freedom identified in the first sections of the book are eliminated. The outcome is a constitutional settlement which sees an increased level of direct participation of the people of the country in the decisions which affect them. This creates a more sober and objectve decison-making environment where better information and a more rational application of decision analysis substitutes the current partisan, contentious and suboptimal process of policy identification.
