Here is our "Democratic Thought" for the day before the General Election
2010:

@ harrystarks

"Isn't it crazy that we the voters, having decided who should
represent us in our different constituencies, should now defer to a
monarch who no-one elected?"

.... Food for thought about where political power lies in this country.

Part of our democracy deficit is the fundamental weakness that after we
have voted for a politician we as electors have no formal way to
exercise our power until the next election.

This means that if a government "forgets" part of its manifesto, or in
the face of unforeseen events chooses a highly unpopular course, we as
an electorate and people have no formal instruments with which to put
forward (alternative) proposals or with which to veto an unwanted law or
policy of government.

Strengthening the elected parliament would partially compensate for this
lack of control -- government could be better scrutinised and if need be
whistled to heel. This reform would not be enough to restore political
power of the electorate over the executive -- MPs are not sufficiently
independent of their party leaders in government.

International documents signed by our country guarantee the right to
effective democracy. This has been denied to the people of the UK by
successive governments for many decades. To illustrate this we quote a
publication of the present (5th May 2010) government of the United Kingdom.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 states:

"Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country,
directly or through freely chosen representatives."
Article 21 (1).

The UK government recently stated that "This part of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights recognises that democracy can be exercised
by electing representatives as part of a representative democratic
system. It also makes clear that *direct democracy* can be part of a
democratic system. The principle is that the will of the people is the
basis for the authority of government." Communities in control: real
people, real power. Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State
for Communities and Local Government, by Command of Her Majesty 9 July 2008

Direct democracy means that electors can decide on public issues as well
as delegating responsibility to politicians. Authority plebiscite, of
which we had only one (1975) for the UK, is clearly insufficient to
fulfill the above intention of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. Our rights to participate in our democracy should include the
citizens' law-proposal, the "initiative" which can lead to binding
referendum, and the ability to veto government actions by optional
referendum.

(*Our emphasis added*)

iniref

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