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"Direct democracy's historical performance in this respect is abysmal, which is why we have representative democracy instead." <~ I think there have been reason
by ommunist 10y ago
"Direct democracy's historical performance in this respect is abysmal, which is why we have representative democracy instead." <~ I think there have been reasons other than that, which led you to representative democracy. Can you present evidence of the abysmal performance of direct democracy? Well, may be Scandinavian tings do not scale for nations size of the US, but look, Switzerland has direct democracy since 1291, being formalized in the 19th century system of referendums and that works just fine.
- jacques_chester 10y agoSwiss direct democracy is rather more constrained than Athens and most of it originates from elected representatives, with an option for citizen-initiated referenda. California has ballot initiatives, several of which have removed the legislature's powers in some taxes and some spending. Possibly to the detriment of the state, especially since it has dramatically narrowed the tax base.