Give Bristolians greater power

SO we are expected to cheer because in future we are going to vote once every four years for all seats on Bristol City Council, and one local politician calls this a "democracy fest" (The Post March 6).

Voting once every 48 months for people to then take decisions for you is not democracy. It is an elected oligarchy. Democracy means the rule of the people – it means the people are able to act to bring about change, the people decide. We do not need elite "experts" and professional politicians taking key decisions for us – look what a mess that has created!

We need more sound, simple common sense, as people like Peter Hargreaves have called for. The best repository of common sense and good overall judgment is not in the minds of experts, it is in trusting the collective wisdom of the people – the citizens – the "demos" part of democracy. When democracy first started 2,500 years ago in Athens, they didn't have a permanent leader for the city, and they didn't have elected representatives – they took decisions together.

We need to give Bristol people more power and the chance to shape and take decisions. Only then will we have a true local democracy.

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Mark Cooper