Kevin Littlejohn(darius@bofh.net.au)@Thu, Aug 02, 2001 at 12:42:19AM +1000:
>
> Heh. See, the difference is, you could always slap the village idiot in the
> stocks and pelt them with rotten fruit...
Unfortunately it is no longer politically correct to do this. Or is that
socially acceptable?
> Question for the more politically-savvy amongst you: Why can't we vote for
> who gets what portfolio? Why can't we insist that someone with half a clue
> technically be put in charge of the IT portfolio?
Perhaps for the same reason that military commanders are rarely, if ever,
turning to politics to become Ministers of Defence. The theory, I
believe, is that the Minister is supposed to operate from the perspective
of acting on behalf of the constituents and the government (i.e. to carry
out its policies). It is the role of permanent secretaries and other
speicalists within the department to make sure that Minister is fully
appraised of the details relating to his/her portfolio.
There are two main reasons for doing it this way:
1) If holding a Ministerial position or responsibility over a given
portfolio is restricted to professional training and history as well as
democratic mandate, then it defeats the purpose of a free and open
democratic process in which anyone may run for office within their
society/community.
2) There is a somewhat lesser view that encouraging only those with a
particular professional background to take on a particular political role
(e.g. the IT portfolio) will also serve to encourage either an "old boys"
type network and/or even corruption between the portfolio holder and
members of the industry s/he was previously a part of.
Of course the second view is rarely, if ever, used as an argument against
allowing someone who happens to fall into that category from pursuing a
political career. It is just something often kept in mind. Though a good
example to consider here is Dr. Wooldridge (sp?), in particular in
relation to those medical scanners which were subsidised and the
surrounding controversy.
Regards,
Ben
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