NGOs = greater trust

Part of the distrust of institutions thing combined with distrust of power in our society means this: "Pressure groups and charities have overtaken governments, media and big businesses to become the world's most trusted institutions". I actually think that we should recognise this in the political process. In the UK, currently, we are reforming the House of Lords curtailing the heriditary element in favour of more democratic scrutineering of legislation and parliamentary processes. The problem, to my mind, is that the proposals are for more of the same: political parties and politicians. One of the useful things about the Lords is/was that you had a lot of independent-ish people who had a variety of expertises to bring to bear on the process of scruitinising government legislation. I fear that aspect will be lost under current proposals.

What I would like to see would be a completely different approach. Let's recognise that for many people the current political process is a turn -off. Where there is some energy relating to politics in the borader sense is in NGO's and in voluntary groups often focussing on single issues and with a great deal of expertise. So why not give these groups representation in a renewed House of Lords? For every, say, 50,000 members/supporters they would be entitled to a representative in the new upper chamber. At a stroke this would create a close to government voice for churches, mosque groupings, environmental pressure groups, etc etc. The thing to be careful of is how supporters and or members are defined and to make sure that the groups themselves are democratic. These groups already have a measure of popular support; let's bring that into government.
FT.com / World / Brussels briefing - NGOs win greater trust than media and big businesses: