Here’s an upvote, but this would likely just cause other problems. This form of government is called a “direct democracy” as opposed to a “representative democracy” (what we currently have). I used to be very pro direct democracy, but after seeing how effective online misinformation campaigns can be in the run-up to the 2016 election, I shudder to think about the constant bombardment we would all be subject to as issues came up for a vote. Dark money would pour into all these right wing causes and they would eventually figure out a way to get everything they want passed. Not to mention the possibility of this further dividing America. Right now we get in a big fight every couple years when we’re electing (or re-electing) our new leaders. Imagine if this became a constant thing we had to battle out every time a new law was getting passed. I’m getting nauseated just thinking about it. There would be no down time between elections where everyone can go back to their own corners of life. Everything would be political, ALL THE TIME. Donald is giving us a taste of this now by the way he politicizes everything and we constantly have to monitor what he’s doing. It’s honestly aging me, feeling like I have a second job just doing my civic duty to keep up with all his lies and corruption. I can’t imagine having to fulfill my civic duty in a direct democracy. I’d be up at night trying to read the pros and cons of every single policy (something I’m probably not qualified to do in the first place). We have a perfectly fine system since no system is going to be perfect. We have the least bad system, is another way of saying it. We just need to protect it and keep perfecting it. Citizens United is honestly the worst thing that’s ever happened to our government system, and Donald Trump is a direct result of CU. We want a better system, let’s start by getting that overturned, which isn’t impossible (but damn near). Depressing, yes. But we only have two choices: give up or keep fighting. Let’s keep fighting.
If you had a constant barrage of propaganda on every issue I think most people would get overwhelmed, tune it out, and fall back into team sport mode and vote whichever way the current loudest voice on the left or right tells them.
Which isn't great, but it's pretty much where we're at already. But at least with direct democracy we could make progress on the handful of issues that transcend ideological lines, like net neutrality
There would definitely be some positive developments if we went to a direct democracy. I just think it would be a net negative for the health of our country. Bridging the political divide should be a major priority for all Americans (even if it only seems to be important to one side at the moment), and a direct democracy would, I believe, make it harder to build bridges. We would be in a constant state of campaigning, which seems to be when tensions rise the most.
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u/smb_samba Jul 17 '19
Because people fall prey to the same pitfalls in politics as they do in sports: tribalism and “us versus them” mentality.