The best reason why direct democracy would not work well in the United States is that
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The problem with having a direct democracy in America is that it would be a nightmare for the minority. The reason being as in a quote said by Ben Franklin that I cant remember off the top of my head is that there will be tyranny of the majorities will over the minorities so the minorities voice will not be heard. This is one of many reasons for not having a direct democracy. Another problem is that a lot of people do not have the ability to make informed decisions that are logical, though i think that might be said about some of our representatives, not naming names.Direct Democracy simply doesn't work on a large scale, Switzerland is the only example we have today and even then voting turnout is incredibly low.
DD needs a very politically active majority, and a smallish population. It worked in Athens and other Greek city states for instance, because there weren't a huge amount of people who could have a say.
Also many laws need a certain amount of expertise, it's not very often a bill is simply a yes or no question, when it comes to these things you need people to have real knowledge about what they're voting for, or at least know how people who do know something about it.
Acc to me the listen biggest fear here, in regards to allowing a larger amount of decision-making power to lie in a single poll, is that it seems to me that a direct democratic method is more susceptible to government intervention. Assuming that more dramatic policy changes can be made via direct democracy, and since this form of policymaking is much more simplified than the process of using a legislative body, very significant political changes can be brought about in a way that is easily corrupted. Someone else mentioned the intentions of the founding fathers to protet the minorities, but it was also their intention to protect the nation from the "ignorant masses," meaning that there are certain issues regarding which a constituency might be either ill-informed or mis-led. A powerful elected legislative body counters that problem. Venezuela is an interesting example of this system in its use of the referendum. I know that Chavez, the night of his first election in 1998, proposed a referendum that passed overwhelmingly, allowing him to rewrite the constitution. Through this referendum and others, he hugely expanded his presidential powers and ensured his presidency would last as long as he was physically able to maintain office (and even beyond that as seen in the postponement of his inauguration). However, there may be examples of direct democracy systems that work well; I simply am unaware of these instances so please feel free to name a few.
DD needs a very politically active majority, and a smallish population. It worked in Athens and other Greek city states for instance, because there weren't a huge amount of people who could have a say.
Also many laws need a certain amount of expertise, it's not very often a bill is simply a yes or no question, when it comes to these things you need people to have real knowledge about what they're voting for, or at least know how people who do know something about it.
Acc to me the listen biggest fear here, in regards to allowing a larger amount of decision-making power to lie in a single poll, is that it seems to me that a direct democratic method is more susceptible to government intervention. Assuming that more dramatic policy changes can be made via direct democracy, and since this form of policymaking is much more simplified than the process of using a legislative body, very significant political changes can be brought about in a way that is easily corrupted. Someone else mentioned the intentions of the founding fathers to protet the minorities, but it was also their intention to protect the nation from the "ignorant masses," meaning that there are certain issues regarding which a constituency might be either ill-informed or mis-led. A powerful elected legislative body counters that problem. Venezuela is an interesting example of this system in its use of the referendum. I know that Chavez, the night of his first election in 1998, proposed a referendum that passed overwhelmingly, allowing him to rewrite the constitution. Through this referendum and others, he hugely expanded his presidential powers and ensured his presidency would last as long as he was physically able to maintain office (and even beyond that as seen in the postponement of his inauguration). However, there may be examples of direct democracy systems that work well; I simply am unaware of these instances so please feel free to name a few.
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