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I used to be in favor of this but now I think it's in precisely the wrong direction. We need more ways to educate individual voters of the complex tradeoffs and

I used to be in favor of this but now I think it's in precisely the wrong direction. We need more ways to educate individual voters of the complex tradeoffs and compromises in policies, and teach people to appreciate the complexity of system effects. We don't need more ways for people to capriciously offload their civic duty to whoever seems most willing to responsibly accept their proxy.

mcadenhe 6y ago
People are given the opportunity to vote on issues in liquid democracy. In the U.S. we have a representative democracy where people aren't allowed to vote on issues, they can only vote for reps that they think will have their best interest at heart. Liquid democracy is the opposite of offloading civic duty. It's an opportunity for citizens to assert their voice directly in the policymaking process. For instance, if you are a republican living in a blue district, you won't have very good representation under our current system. But with a liquid democracy, you can represent yourself directly whenever you want, effectively bypassing your regional politician. It's the best of both worlds of representative democracy and direct democracy.
Supermancho 6y ago
> We need more ways to educate individual voters of the complex tradeoffs and compromises in policies, and teach people to appreciate the complexity of system effects The effort, to be educated, is not optimal on a capitalist playing field withing a nation as large as the USA. The information is overwhelming and the result (individual voter franchise) is pathetically ineffectual. It's a fool's errand, which is the outlook shared by many americans.
- mrmonkeyman 6y ago
  Educating your citizens is a fool's errand? Good god. Why are you even attempting this "democracy" thing then? The "information" is not "overwhelming". It means the citizens are actually intelligent and well educated. A lofty goal, sure, but a fool's errand? Holy. Freaking. Cow.

mcadenhe 6y ago

People are given the opportunity to vote on issues in liquid democracy. In the U.S. we have a representative democracy where people aren't allowed to vote on issues, they can only vote for reps that they think will have their best interest at heart. Liquid democracy is the opposite of offloading civic duty. It's an opportunity for citizens to assert their voice directly in the policymaking process. For instance, if you are a republican living in a blue district, you won't have very good representation under our current system. But with a liquid democracy, you can represent yourself directly whenever you want, effectively bypassing your regional politician. It's the best of both worlds of representative democracy and direct democracy.

Supermancho 6y ago

> We need more ways to educate individual voters of the complex tradeoffs and compromises in policies, and teach people to appreciate the complexity of system effects The effort, to be educated, is not optimal on a capitalist playing field withing a nation as large as the USA. The information is overwhelming and the result (individual voter franchise) is pathetically ineffectual. It's a fool's errand, which is the outlook shared by many americans.

mrmonkeyman 6y ago
Educating your citizens is a fool's errand? Good god. Why are you even attempting this "democracy" thing then? The "information" is not "overwhelming". It means the citizens are actually intelligent and well educated. A lofty goal, sure, but a fool's errand? Holy. Freaking. Cow.