It's a strange thing, democracy. Different people have different roles in keeping it strong, because the essence of a good democracy is that there are checks and balances in the system to stop unhealthy concentrations of power and encourage ethical behaviour.

Politicians make the laws. No-one can throw you in jail or take away your property without a law to back them up. This is what "the rule of law, not of men" means. The police enforce criminal laws, and a plethora of regulatory authorities enforce laws for competition, consumer rights, companies and the like. The courts decide whether or not you've broken a law and what the penalty should be. That's why they have job security until retirement, so politicians can't pressure them to decide things THEIR way. The media keep the people informed as much as possible of the truth about what is going on, so people are informed when they elect their next government.

We, the citizens of Australia, are in theory sovereign in our democracy, because we decide who will make the laws on our behalf. In deciding who to elect, we also give our representatives the power to oversee the police force, choose the judges, and appoint the people to our key watchdog bodies.

But the health of our democracy depends on the integrity of the governments we elect and the public servants who serve them, and us. Their job is to act in the public interest, for the benefit of our nation and its people. But what say they don't do that job?

The problems are legion.

1. Political parties are backed by big business money which guarantees preferred access to political ears and special favours. This is despite getting funding from us for elections, which they got after promising that this would mean less reliance on corporate donations. Instead, we've got more of it.
2. Governments tend to stack government authorities with people close to them who will do what the government expects them to do. They do the same with judicial appointments.
3. The system of ministerial accountability to Parliament - the embodiment of the people's sovereignty - has broken down. It is now OK to lie to Parliament, because the so-called people's representatives are, in reality, creatures of their party, and will vote with the government as a matter of course without regard to the truth or the long-term damage backing a liar will do to the system.
4. Many candidates put up by the parties are professional yes-men and women who are not in the business of performing the sacred role of representing the people, but of getting promotions and ensuring their financial security.
5. Journalism is in full-on retreat, with numbers constantly cut to increase the profits of the big media. Fewer journalists mean less competition to get the news, and make it easier for media bosses to refuse to run the truth when it could hurt their relations with government or their business. In opinion, the range of alternative views is both ever narrowing and ever decreasing its commitment to basing opinion on fact rather than abusive propaganda.
6. The principles of liberalism which have underpinned ours democracy since federation are disintegrating, as politicians turn their backs on science and facts to protect the short-term interests of corporations whose brief is maximising profit, not the public good.

What can we do? History tells us that democracy is not a natural method of governance. It has been fought and died for for centuries, by the people, to wrest power from kings and dictators. It constantly tends towards concentrating power in the hands of unelected elites, with politicians as their salesmen.

So when a democracy is in trouble, as Australia's is, only the people can turn the tide, in their role as citizens. I wrote Not Happy, John! as a contribution to that task.

I have two aims with this website, which will replace nothappyjohn.com:

1. To build an alternative media platform in collaboration with readers to get news out which is being suppressed and publish views which are not being heard. This could involve help to whistleblowers whose lives are destroyed by having the guts to care about the public interest. It could also involve annual your democracy awards. I can also imagine readers developing online newspapers in local areas, for example, linked from the site.
2. To bring together Australians of all political persuasions committed to improving our democracy to facilitate people's movements to make public breaches in our democracy's ideals and work to have them reversed, and to push for important changes in our institutions to bring back honesty and impartiality to the enforcing of our laws. I can imagine pieces on how a local group got together and made a difference on something. I can imagine networks of readers being formed on particular issues. I can imagine 'democracy watch' readers in every federal seat, even every state seat and local government area, letting us know when something fishy is going on.

I have no overarching plan of action to achieve these goals. As such, yourdemocracy will begin with a blank page, as did Webdiary, and develop organically through reader ideas and commitments to participate.

I have employed my brother Hamish for a year to get the website going. I hope that at the end of that year, our site will be such that people will want to "subscribe" to allow it to continue and grow, although the site will remain open to all.

I want the site to develop through a transparent process with maximum reader involvement. So if you're on our mailing list be prepared to be asked lots of questions, and there'll be a section on the site for reader's ideas, complaints and queries. I take full responsibility for the site's content, and will make the final decision, after advice from the yourdemocracy board, when there's a major disagreement. I'll explain my reasoning to you.

But essentially, this site is bottom-up, not top-down. It's yours just as much as "mine". After all, it's up to all of us who care about our democracy to do something to repair it. And the process can be fun!

Let's have a go, eh?

Margo Kingston, December 2004.