America's New French Poodle

Now that the Nicholas Sarkozy has supplanted Britain in its role as America's Poodle and is apparently calling for Iran to be bombed, that may just make the case for Direct Democracy more persuasive. I am sure the French have not suddenly decided to be war-mongers and in fact prefer their traditional role of remaining the cheese-eating surrender monkeys that Bush Jr has accused them of being.

However, this was the inevitable consequence of choosing any leader who wants a greater role on the world stage, who wants a diversion from the unglamorous domestic problems of putting one's own house in order. The French elected what they hoped would be a fiscally-responsible Conservative government who would cut red tape and lower taxes (unlike the British Conservative Party), but are now saddled with the role of being America's poodle - the furthest thing from their minds when they rejected Socialism.

I wonder how many Frenchmen are now uneasy about Sarkozy's intentions and whether they are happy to be seen in this role by the rest of the world. They have a significant Arab population. Can a French version of 7/7 can be that far away if Sarkozy persists in alienating Arab and Muslim opinion by siding with the most unpopular nation on earth - more unpopular even than Zimbabwe who at least oppresses only its own people?

Let us hope that China and Russia will have something to say about all this.

Rather than merely hope that there will be other powers strong enough to disagree with foreign policies that seems deliberately designed to start the Third World War, Direct Democracy would let the people decide. I do not say that world peace and brotherly love will reign through this system, merely that ordinary people would then be more able to make their feelings known on so many things that affect them which they are powerless currently to influence. Allowing them to do so would at least give a better indication of their approval or disapproval of government policies, and this can be the only way make responsive and accountable government more likely.

How many taxpayers would have voted to started the First World and Second World Wars if they had been asked?

Not only would it be a more sensitive barometer of the public opinion, its in-built Conservatism would balance the undeniable radicalism of letting taxpayers decide on all aspects of government policy while encouraging greater interest and participation by citizens in politics, which can only assist us in preventing the wool from being pulled over our eyes and cattle prods from being used against us when we do not agree with the government of the day.