[BNM] [OT] No2ID

[Nick Taylor]

> Full political participation is great in theory but you
> need a population that is intelligent and impartial
> enough to decide on issues. The majority of people in the
> UK read the Sun, etc. etc. need I go on?



I think people are generally smarter than they let on - and I don't 
think intelligence is as important as independence when it comes to 
making group-descisions. The problems with referenda is group-think, and 
that all the power is shifted to whoever is framing the questions.

Maybe rather than having referenda on descisions we should just have a 
lottery on what works - so at the lowest common denominator, people are 
motivated by greed rather than fear and hate.

eg: Who's policies on child abuse are most likely to lead to a decline 
in offenses?

a) Denmark
b) Texas
c) Nigeria
d) England

That way, if people want to make some money, they can go off and 
actually research what works in other countries - the focus moves from 
lashing out in group-think anger at an imaginary enemy to making money 
from a system that actually works.

But as I say - the power lies with the framing of the questions. I've 
reframed the question that's always posed by the miscellaneous 
hate-papers "how should we punish child-abusers?" to "How do we reduce 
child-abuse?"



Anyway, with ID cards, if people placed bets on

a) the likelyhood of the project staying within budget
b) the effects on the crime-rate
c) the effects on illegal immigration
d) the effects on terrorism

I think we'd get a more accurate picture of what's likely to happen than 
what we're getting from our leaders at the moment




n