> > jul"we need to revise democracy"ian
>
> We'd have to implement it first. We (America) have a republic, where we elect what are supposed to be representatives of the people and what the people want. I don't think this is the best system and would prefer straight democracy, where we would vote directly for things, but I'm not sure how we'd introduce bills and legislature and such.
>
> -eric sleator
> Wed 30 May A.D. 2001

A straight democracy would be a horrible, horrible thing.

As an example, look at the votes for "medical marijuana". For some reason, the largely uninformed citizens of an area have voted if doctors could use a specific drug in the treatment of patients rather than letting a group of people who know about the benefits and dangers of the drug decide. Medical marijuana gets voted down by the populace because they only see the word "marijuana" which means "potheads" and "druggies". In short, you have uninformed people making the decisions that (could) affect a nation.

Extrapolate this towards something as simple as Taiwan. Suppose (and I don't think it's hard to suppose this) that the majority of Americans feel that China's stance on human rights is... somewhat lacking in compassion. Okay, China's darn evil when it comes to individual rights. Taiwan realizes this and makes a bid for independence. Our Democratic America votes for Taiwanese independence. Now we're skipping merrily along the path to the Sino-American War of 2008, now rescheduled for 2005.

Even worse would be on a topic where serious emotions hold sway:

Let's look at ancient Greece. The Athenian fleet is fighting the Spartan fleet. During the battle, some of the Athenian ships sink. The Spartans, badly hurt but not defeated, retreat. The Athenian admirals persue the wounded Spartans instead of rescuing the Athenians in the water. A few hours of fighting pass and we see the Athenian fleet win, turn, and they race back to rescue their countrymen, but they are too late. They return to Athens and are met with honors by their fellow citizens.

However, word of how the admirals won begins to circulate. The family members of the dead Athenians, hard hit by the news, meet in the Assembly, and condemn the admirals to death for not rescuing their sons. This happens as the celebrations of the Athenian victory are still going on at the harbor.

Several of Athen's top military leaders were killed, simply because the people who turned out to vote were able to cast one vote per voice. All the people who would have voted against the measure were celebrating the victorious turn in the war against Sparta.

This was the naval battle of Arginusal. This actually happened in the later part of the 5th Century, B.C.

Individual people are intelligent. However, they cannot be expected to be reasonably informed about everything necessary to run a nation atop of everything that they currently do.

I work an eight-hour day, I commute for three hours, and -- if that blasted train doesn't show up in the middle of the night -- I sleep for eight hours. There's no way I'd be reasonably informed on every single issue that must be considered to ensure that America runs effectively; that we don't accidentally get into any wars; that this nation doesn't accidentally run out of money to pay for the simple things like a police force, or road repairs, or our school system. Heck, I don't even know when I could be free to cast my one vote for the scores of issues that must be voted on.

-Faux "I'll stick with a republic, thanks." Pas