Independent candidate looks to shake up the order

Jon Shapiro admits it’s an unusual campaign step – asking all his rivals in the state seat of Balmain to stand aside. But then, Mr Shapiro is not your usual candidate.

For unlike any other candidate next March, Shapiro is running on the notion of fundamentally reconstituting the legislative process. His vision is one based on the principles of participatory and deliberative democracy, and it makes for a truly radical model. How does a system in which individuals would have the right to personally advocate their own ideas at a parliamentary level sound?

If nothing else, it clarifies where the call for his rivals to stand aside comes from. “If I’m right, then all of their policy ambitions can be achieved regardless of their presence,” he says.

Shapiro’s candidacy is ultimately centered on a couple of key questions – how can the process of becoming an actively participatory citizen become as easy as possible, and, how to ensure the best ideas become law, regardless of where they come from?

For those who are happy reading Perez Hilton rather than trudging through reams of policy documents, Shapiro is happy to point out little would change. But for those people who feel passionate about social change, but have traditionally been stifled by a restrictive and suffocating governmental system, his proposal offers a world of possibilities. “Rather than leaving it to professional politicians who have competing priorities and make judgements based on what’s going to re-elect them, let’s give people who are passionate about issues the ability to argue them,” he says. “Who’s the best advocate for an idea? The person who thought of it.”

The odd thing about Shapiro is that in many ways, his ideas appear – at least on the surface – to be born of youthful naiveté, seemingly easy to dismiss with a sweep of the hand. But speak to him, and you discover a man whose ideas clearly reflect a great deal of thought about the nature of our political process, and the frustrations born of trying to achieve something within that framework.

Those thoughts form the basis of Shapiro’s 2008 discussion paper, ‘Democracy Without Politics’. In it, he sums up the essence of his political outlook: “Democracy and politics are different things. The strong correlation between politics and lawmaking is indicated by the term ‘politics’ being uniformly applied to lawmaking. However, this application distracts us from the possibility of quarantining politics from lawmaking; and, further, the necessity of doing so if we want democracy to function properly. The interference of politics with lawmaking is not only frustrating for ordinary citizens, but also leads to lacklustre laws being made.”

As the man himself admits, the aim is not to change things overnight. “This is, necessarily, a long-term project. The state election, per se, is not the main focus of what I’m up to – it’s just something that happens to be occurring now, that is going to help in the long-term.”

For more information on Jon and his campaign, or to read his ‘Democracy Without Politics’ paper, visit http://www.myspace.com/dwop98