New Zealand has an election on September 20th this year. 121 politicians are supposed to represent the views of all New Zealanders. But unless they know what we think, how can they possibly do this?
Young people who have never known a time without the internet find it hard to understand why political power is disconnected from normal online discourse. They expect a direct line to government, but governments do not provide one.
The Values Exchange has launched an initiative called VoteKiwi:
votekiwi.com (any member of the VX or the Institute can use their normal sign in to get involved).
VoteKiwi says: “New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. Yet 120 years later we still have just one poll every three years. VoteKiwi opens up political debate about everything to all New Zealanders. Respond to any issue to make your views known, debate with other Kiwis and advance 21st century democracy. Use Post an Issue to initiate any citizen-generated referendum.”
Is this an idea that government should adopt?
Image: memegenerator.net
It is proposed that the NZ government should sponsor Vote Kiwi (or a similar site) to support democracy