I am delighted to share my review today of Reinventing Democracy by David Kauders. I don’t read political books but this one caught my eye and I decided to give it a go. The author gives his opinion on the way British politics is and how it could be improved.
My thanks to Sparkling Books and Palmedes PR for arranging my copy of this book and for my spot on the Blog Tour.
90% of electors want political reform. But how to escape the mess? Britain should adopt a federal structure with a written constitution and an elected apolitical People’s Council replacing autocratic and ineffective bodies.
Growing concern about the relative economic deterioration of the United Kingdom led to realisation that the system of political governance is probably an unrecognised cause of British decline. Events over the last few years have provided a fertile supply of examples. All that was needed was some original thought, but nobody seemed to be facing facts.
At the centre of these ideas lie four major concepts:
- The People’s Council to replace the Privy Council, House of Lords, and some scrutiny functions of the present House of Commons.
- A federal structure, with sovereignty defined as sovereignty of the people of each nation instead of the Crown in parliament.
- Representation in United Kingdom-wide bodies to be determined according to the Fibonacci series, so that England can be outvoted by Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined, thereby preventing England treating the other nations as colonies.
- The book includes a draft written constitution.
“The oldest democracy is now an obsolete model long overdue for replacement.”
MY REVIEW
I am not a fan of politics or politicians, but I do understand the need to vote for those who make the decisions for our country. In recent years though, it seems to me that politics has turned into a point-scoring competition rather than focusing on the policies. This was highlighted for me during the Brexit decisions. It was embarrassing to watch politicians trying to get one over another politician. Listening to what Brussels was saying and then to what our politicians were saying was crazy. Each politician seemed to be saying that if they were in charge they would make the best decision and would fight for a different agreement, when in actuality Brussels was saying, you want to leave this is what we have on the table. I may be wrong here and this is my own opinion.
What is also an opinion of this book and the author does mention this throughout the book. Often with phrases like “in my opinion”, or “according to others” and similar. The author gives a good account of the things that have worked for other countries and how they would benefit this country. I think most of us agree, that the British government is not what it used to be and that it seems to be getting worse. Watching politicians back-stabbing, changing sides, bickering between themselves and generally treating their positions as a right rather than for the benefit of the people.
As I read this book I found myself agreeing with many of the points the author makes. I was surprised when I found out that we do not have a constitution as a single document (I did mention that I don’t understand politics), instead we have a vast array of documents that have been amended over the centuries, yes, the centuries! This is why British politics can be confusing, so surely having one document that covers the country makes sense. Well, it does to me!
The author is based in Switzerland at the time of writing this book, and this gives him the perspective of someone looking in. He refers to things that happen in Switzerland and how some things differ and he also includes items from other countries. This adds to his argument and sort of endorses what he is referring to.
It was a couple of weeks ago, as part of a course I am doing, that I was asked what democracy was for someone living in the UK. I said that I thought it was when the people vote for politicians and government to run the country to the benefit of the people who elect them. I was then asked if I felt this was true. I had to say that I didn’t because who I vote for is not a person but a party and any problems I have in my part of the UK are not considered important when they are discussed in London. This was then discussed within our group and almost everyone else agreed with me.
This book is easy to read, there are some things that I didn’t understand but I think I went into this with the probability that this would be the case. On the whole, though, the vast majority did make sense. The author does mention that he does not expect that any party would ask for a single document constitution to be written up as it would not be in their best interests, even though it would be for those of us who have the power to vote.
If you are curious about politics or want to read something that gives a different perspective and also highlights some very interesting points in the way British politics is run. I don’t tend to read anything political, but I have to say I found this compelling and interesting. It is of course only one side of a huge argument, but it is one that makes some valid points and I would happily recommend it.
Check out the other stops on the Blog Tour…
Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx
Yvonne - Me and My Books 