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Well don't forget the idea of direct democracy where we leverage modern IT and allow the people to vote directly on issues, eliminating the need for representat

by cubano 11y ago

Well don't forget the idea of direct democracy where we leverage modern IT and allow the people to vote directly on issues, eliminating the need for representatives whom are, of course, often corrupted by monied interests. Many movements and initiatives currently exist promoting this method of government[1] [1]http://aceproject.org/ace-en/focus/direct-democracy/citizen-initiatives http://aceproject.org/ace-en/focus/direct-democracy/citizen-...

Loughla 11y ago
The idea of open citizen voting directly on all issues terrifies me. I see democratic representation as a way to pay someone to read and understand all of the legal jargon most people won't take the time to bother with. People don't take time to read their medicine bottle warnings, let alone the contents of the new Higher Education Act. I'm honestly afraid that righteous attitudes fueled by ignorance would rule. It would put an incredible amount of power in the hands of mass-media as well (more than they already have). Well-designed and well-timed stories can sway public opinion waaaay too easily. Combine that with how the government seems to handle IT security issues in these type of large-scale projects, and you have a recipe for disaster.
- knowaveragejoe 11y ago
  Yeah, direct voting has major issues. I could only see it being useful on very specific things. In the simplest cast, everyone would vote for the "cool" proposals but nobody would vote for the ways to pay for them.
- cubano 11y ago
  The idea of open citizen voting directly on all issues terrifies me. I see democratic representation as a way to pay someone to read and understand all of the legal jargon most people won't take the time to bother with. Except they don't really either. They typically have a rather large staff to do that for them, and paid lobbyists fill in the rest, along with large contributions of course. To be honest, I find this lack of faith in the intelligence and integrity of your fellow man/woman rather disturbing, especially in this current social-justice warrior environment where we are all depending more on each other to get things right.
vmorgulis 11y ago
I'm not against democracy. It's just a citation from Wikipedia. I think like Churchill that it's the best political system we've tried. You can change the government without a revolution. It's not so bad. It think for technical problems, you're right, democracy and debates can help a lot to distinguish the good choice.

by cubano 11y ago

Loughla 11y ago

The idea of open citizen voting directly on all issues terrifies me. I see democratic representation as a way to pay someone to read and understand all of the legal jargon most people won't take the time to bother with. People don't take time to read their medicine bottle warnings, let alone the contents of the new Higher Education Act. I'm honestly afraid that righteous attitudes fueled by ignorance would rule. It would put an incredible amount of power in the hands of mass-media as well (more than they already have). Well-designed and well-timed stories can sway public opinion waaaay too easily. Combine that with how the government seems to handle IT security issues in these type of large-scale projects, and you have a recipe for disaster.

knowaveragejoe 11y ago
Yeah, direct voting has major issues. I could only see it being useful on very specific things. In the simplest cast, everyone would vote for the "cool" proposals but nobody would vote for the ways to pay for them.
cubano 11y ago
The idea of open citizen voting directly on all issues terrifies me. I see democratic representation as a way to pay someone to read and understand all of the legal jargon most people won't take the time to bother with. Except they don't really either. They typically have a rather large staff to do that for them, and paid lobbyists fill in the rest, along with large contributions of course. To be honest, I find this lack of faith in the intelligence and integrity of your fellow man/woman rather disturbing, especially in this current social-justice warrior environment where we are all depending more on each other to get things right.

vmorgulis 11y ago

I'm not against democracy. It's just a citation from Wikipedia. I think like Churchill that it's the best political system we've tried. You can change the government without a revolution. It's not so bad. It think for technical problems, you're right, democracy and debates can help a lot to distinguish the good choice.