<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	>
<channel>
	<title>Comments on: Non-geographic constituencies</title>
	<atom:link href="http://barrdear.com/john/2008/04/10/non-geographic-constituencies/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://barrdear.com/john/2008/04/10/non-geographic-constituencies/</link>
	<description>Thoughts about economics, politics and life in general</description>
	<pubDate>Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:59:31 +0000</pubDate>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3</generator>
		<item>
		<title>By: Peta</title>
		<link>http://barrdear.com/john/2008/04/10/non-geographic-constituencies/#comment-477</link>
		<dc:creator>Peta</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:13:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://barrdear.com/john/?p=155#comment-477</guid>
		<description>John

Come home to Australia and run for PM! I PROMISE I WILL VOTE FOR YOU!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>John</p>
<p>Come home to Australia and run for PM! I PROMISE I WILL VOTE FOR YOU!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>By: john</title>
		<link>http://barrdear.com/john/2008/04/10/non-geographic-constituencies/#comment-157</link>
		<dc:creator>john</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:54:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://barrdear.com/john/?p=155#comment-157</guid>
		<description>There are precedents?!  I had no idea ...

Okay, &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_constituency" rel="nofollow"&gt;Wikipedia tells me&lt;/a&gt; that in Hong Kong, 30 of the 60 parliamentary seats are from "functional constituencies," which at first glance sounds like what I'm talking about.  But it also seems as if playing a role in those functional constituencies is &lt;em&gt;in addition&lt;/em&gt; to any membership in a geographical constituency; that six of the seats come from a single 800-person group; and that in some of the constituencies, corporations get a vote.  That sort of distortion of individual voting rights isn't what I'm up for at all.

I want each person to only be allowed to belong to one constituency only and that a constituency would need to pass a certain threshold of members before they could have a representative in parliament.  e.g. No member of the parliament could be the elected representative for fewer than 80,000 voting residents.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There are precedents?!  I had no idea &#8230;</p>
<p>Okay, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_constituency" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia tells me</a> that in Hong Kong, 30 of the 60 parliamentary seats are from &#8220;functional constituencies,&#8221; which at first glance sounds like what I&#8217;m talking about.  But it also seems as if playing a role in those functional constituencies is <em>in addition</em> to any membership in a geographical constituency; that six of the seats come from a single 800-person group; and that in some of the constituencies, corporations get a vote.  That sort of distortion of individual voting rights isn&#8217;t what I&#8217;m up for at all.</p>
<p>I want each person to only be allowed to belong to one constituency only and that a constituency would need to pass a certain threshold of members before they could have a representative in parliament.  e.g. No member of the parliament could be the elected representative for fewer than 80,000 voting residents.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>By: Adam Burke</title>
		<link>http://barrdear.com/john/2008/04/10/non-geographic-constituencies/#comment-156</link>
		<dc:creator>Adam Burke</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:32:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://barrdear.com/john/?p=155#comment-156</guid>
		<description>I'm pretty sympathetic to this, but the historic and contemporary examples are not particularly glorious - say Old Sarum or the professional constituencies of Hong Kong, both designed to enforce a non-democratic, non-republican veto ...</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m pretty sympathetic to this, but the historic and contemporary examples are not particularly glorious - say Old Sarum or the professional constituencies of Hong Kong, both designed to enforce a non-democratic, non-republican veto &#8230;</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
</channel>
</rss>
