New Constitution of Iceland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Constitutional_Assembly_election,_2010

"The changes proposed by the Assembly will likely be put to a referendum in 2012.

The proposals include:

* a referendum on abolishing the state church (polls indicate 73% would vote in favour of separation of church and state);<8>
* a number of changes to government, including not automatically making the biggest party's leader PM, introducing a ten-year limit for PM terms, and that a vote of no confidence should have to include a proposed replacement PM.<9>
* obliging the state to provide internet access to all citizens;
* introducing a three-term limit for the president;
* allowing 15% of voters to put bills to parliament or call for a referendum on proposed laws;
* restricting government size to ten ministers, and barring ministers from being MPs at the same time; and
* declaring Iceland's natural resources public property.<10>"

Not bad.

...especially the natural resources to be public property.

Mixed feelings about the guy but I can't get over the fundamental fact that he did a very good thing for his people when he nationalized the oil companies. If you accept that then you have to acknowledge that there are very powerful international forces who have a lot to gain by making him out to be a dictator. This doesn't mean he isn't a dictator, I just think that waters have been so muddied that we as Americans should take everything they think they know good or bad with a huge grain of salt and that it should come into play in our international policy.

I'm very envious of Iceland. They are doing the right thing for the right reasons, and it's going to be like 1776 all over again. I just hope it rubs off on the US.

They've always been ahead of the curve.

not representative government - which has been later "development".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althing

Since not everyone in the population was allowed to participate. It certainly was not democracy but it set the stage for more democratic forms of government.

is not defined by who is allowed to participate. In US people under 18 are not allowed to vote, some states do not allow those with criminal convition to vote, but those restrictions do not mean that the elections are not form of representative democracy.

In ancient Athens only free male citizens participated in democratic processes, which were more direct and participative democracy than representative democracy - and representatives/officials were chosen by lot, not by voting. In early Althing all free men could participate in the General Assembly, they didn't have elections to vote for representatives to decide for them but made decisions by consensus or direct democracy.