I am, increasingly of the opinion that the government in my country (UK) - and in fact the major opposition parties to the government do not represent the people or their interests any more.
Instead they appear too interested in their own personal power, and their own personal interests

I would love to see some major changes to our system of government and electoral system to effect a positive change.

for example:

Any politician elected to public office must sell all stocks, bonds and shares they hold and resign from any company directorships - all investments they own (apart from real estate perhaps) should be put into a generic investment bond which tracks the performance of the top (say top 20?) companies in each major industry in the country.
If that doesn't make them put their country's overall economic performance before their own personal wealth - I'm not sure what would.

Donations to political parties and individual politicians from both business and individuals are all managed by an impartial third party, who would ensure that all funds are passed on anonymously.
No more buying Bills - no more buying candidates.

that's enough from me for now - what (if anything) would YOU do?

Sack the bleedin' lot of 'em and replace them with trained monkeys.

Actually I agree with you - the financing needs a thorough cleanup. I think a bigger problem than politicians' self-interest though is voter apathy. Americans seem much more politicised than us. Politics bores us. Is it fair to assume that the most conscientious voters are the rich and middle-class and that the most apathetic are the poorest of the poor, who feel alienated from the entire process? I think it is.

Solution: make voting compulsory (polling cards do, of course, contain a 'none of the above' option).

http://tutor2u.net/politics/content/diagrams/voter_turnout1.gif

http://tutor2u.net/politics/content/topics/elections/voter_turnout.htm

Turnout peaks at 82% in 1950 - but the long term trend in voter participation has been downwards. By 1983, turnout was doen to 72% - and despite an improvement in participation in both 1987 and 1992 (when the closeness of the battle prompted more voters to cast their vote) - the last two general elections has seen a sharp fall in turnout. 2001 may be seen in future years to have been a watershed. The overall level of turnout across the United Kingdom collapsed from 71% in 1997 to 59.3% in 2001.

Actually, we're not doing as badly as I thought. We're 55th. The USA is 139th:

http://www.idea.int/vt/survey/voter_turnout_pop2.cfm

We still, predictably, lag behind most other European nations though.

.

Solution: make voting compulsory (polling cards do, of course, contain a 'none of the above' option).

That's another on my personal list - I just felt that 2 points from me was enough to be getting along with :)

Bring back feudalism and kings. Even with a few dozen princes and cousins in high positions, it is much cheaper than a bloated government of democracy.

Bring back feudalism and kings. Even with a few dozen princes and cousins in high positions, it is much cheaper than a bloated government of democracy.

But with democracy almost everyone gets a piece of the action.;):D