N5 – Module 3 Voters and the Legislature
A government has no power whatsoever in a democracy unless it is given by the voters. This power which the voter holds is given to a government or representatives in an election during which various parties and individuals present a manifesto to the public. Should an individual or a group agree with the manifesto (the planned action of the candidate or political party), they will vote for that person. In this way the power itself is transferred from the voter-cum-taxpayer to the political representative or the political party.
The political representatives then convert their manifesto into government policy. For example a government might be elected mainly because the people want more housing; this will then become official policy, and the government itself is expected to provide more housing once it is elected. The representative receives authority from the voter to have laws implemented and to tax the voters to obtain money to pay for the costs of the execution of these laws. In a real democracy the real power is, therefore, vested in (given to) the voter-cum-taxpayer, while the authority over public finance rests with the elected representatives within The Legislature.
Interest Groups and the Legislature
You can imagine that one voter on his/her own has very little power, sway or influence. A voter might write a letter concerning something they feel strongly about to their local political representative. This representative might not take much notice of the complaint or request. But imagine if one hundred voters, or more, all wrote the same letter demanding, for instance, that smoking be banned on trains. Now the political representative might take notice. An interest group is formed when a number of people feel strongly about something, as in the example above.
Voters may therefore combine their strength and put pressure on the government to do something – very often this is called a pressure group. Interest groups are a communication channel or link between individual voters and the government. Unfortunately in a modern democracy with many interest groups being formed in order to exert influence on representatives or the government as a whole, the individual is even further removed from direct contact with his/her representative. It is a fact, also, that interest groups are more able to influence the way government thinks; generally speaking government officials and representatives take notice of the media and public opinion. For this reason interests groups often seek media attention in order to be heard.
A political representative often prefers negotiation with groups rather than with individuals (the government in SA will negotiate only with a recognised union). An informal relationship between a voter and their representative (in a pure democracy) is replaced by a formal relationship between interest groups and political representatives. If one interest group is too small, many may seek to join each other. Whereas before the individual voter in a participatory democracy had a direct and often personal relationship with their representative; now in a representative democracy the relationship is characterised in the following ways, especially when interest groups are formed in order to exert influence and sway opinion:
Case Study: The Black Sash This organisation was formed by six housewives at tea on May 19, 1955. Within ten days they had collected 100 000 signatures from women voters. The focus of their anger was the Senate Bill, devised by the government to remove coloured voters from the voters role. Although this right was entrenched in the constitution, the government proposed to change the constitution through manipulation of the senate. Members wore a black sash to symbolise a mourning for the death of the constitution. This organisation achieved many successes over the years.
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