I HAVE read many things in your letters pages that have led to a momentary urge to respond. However I usually manage to stop myself because of a fear of seeming as unreasonable and ill informed as the person who prompted the urge. This week I really cannot stop myself replying to Mr Snape who writes about the government of the United States being a model which should be followed in the UK.
Firstly I cannot believe that Mr Snape actually thinks that doing away with the different levels of government that exist in this country would be a good thing. To take away a representative assembly from the people of Northern Ireland would not only
be undemocratic, as they have shown their support for the assembly but also rather counterproductive in terms of reducing costs.
The likely return to violent conflict and the need to take action against this would lead to far greater expense to the tax payer. On the subject of local councils I for one am very willing to fund organisations which give me some control over the services that I use on a daily basis. Mr Snape advocates less democracy; dictatorships which are the alternative are rarely cheap.
On the subject of the American model Mr Snape seems to know very little about the US government but before I mention that I would like to make a couple of points. The recent presidential election, aside from the administrative costs, required $1 bn as campaign expenses; this to my mind is a waste of resources. In addition to this although Barack Obama is lucky in that he will be dealing with a largely Democratic Congress, policy in the United States is often deadlocked between a Congress and President from different parties, this has its good points but is hardly efficient. For the people of the United States there is a great deal of inequality and hardship that a greater role for government would mitigate, for example a decent health service available to all. Obama's promise of change has been interpreted by many as a signal for bigger government.
Finally and in terms of Mr Snape's argument, far more importantly, he completely misunderstands the federal nature of the American constitution. In addition to the Senators, Congressmen/women, governors etc mentioned by Mr Snape every state has an elected assembly, for example California has 80 State Assembly members and 40 State Senate members. This is repeated across the US together with the different judiciaries, supreme courts etc. The American government that Mr Snape seems aware of is only the tip of the iceberg – therefore perhaps he should improve his understanding of politics before commenting.
Rachael Quinn
Nunsfield Road
Buxton
The full article contains 457 words and appears in Buxton Advertiser newspaper.
