On Wed, Oct 30, 2002 at 12:47:08PM +0100, David May wrote:
> > the US american style of direct democracy with many "ballot
> > issues" is more open to abuse
> >
> > "Resourceful lobby organisations" more frequently influence
> > representative democracy than direct democracy. Experts have
> > argued that it's easier for, say, a company to change
> > government policy than to sway a whole electorate.
>
> I argue that less resourceful lobby organisations are more likely
> to have the same influence on elected representatives as the more
> resourceful lobby organisations than they are likely to win
> a media battle over the more resourceful lobby organisations.
I live (and study) currently in Boston, and there are elections
tomorrow. One of the ballot questions in my state (sorry:
Commonwealth! :-) of Massachusetts is whether state should
abolish bilingual education for the Latino students in elementary
school.
Do you really believe that decision of such question (where
armies of specialists discuss whether such education is better or
worse) by the popular referendum makes _better_ system (I would
rather stick to the old-fashioned words like ``better'' and
``worse'', because it is questionable what ``more'' and ``less''
democracy means in practice)? Isn't rather open invitation for
populism and xenofobia?
Matej
--
Matej Cepl, [log in to unmask], PGP ID# D96484AC
138 Highland Ave. #10, Somerville, Ma 02143, (617) 623-1488
To err is human, to purr feline.
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