One of the most profoundly irritating elements of the old style democratic system was it’s inherent short termism. By fundamental definition of the system there was almost no motive or benefit for a politician to plan beyond the next election.
Let me be clear: this was a fault of the system, not each individual politician.
The ONLY redeeming feature of the old system of nobility was that they almost always had to plan for a longer term than an eleected politican, because they would be handing over power eventually to someone they cared deeply about: their own children. This almost guarenteed that they saw themselves as temporary stewards of the area not as owners and that it was in their kids interest to hand over the estate in the best possible condition.
(Please note: I am not in any way suggesting that this method of government protected the people in the same way that it provided long term protection for the environment: quite the opposite in fact: it meant that arrogant nobles saw the youth of their estate as another resource to be spent freely in their endless, pointless bickering over territory)
One corolloray of this was of course the implict conservatism and resistance to change that this engendered: if a thing was not done by your father then you would not do it yourself! – this seems to be an innevitable side effect of the system that needs to be acknowledged and planned for.
However, almost no other political system can offer this long term view, this in-built resistance to destroying irreplaceable capital for short term gains.
Therefore the Chairman of the Republic is now actively soliciting suggestions from loyal members of our fair city as to how we can build in the nobility’s long term stewardship of the environment and long-termist outlook with a democratically elected system of government.
Exactly HOW do you make politicians act in the long term interest whilst still retaining the power to throw them out of office at the next election? Please enter the debate and the best suggestion will become the official policy of the Republic!