That is both a pro and con that’s been debated as long as democracy has existed.
The founders also debated if regular folk were wise enough to pick good representatives. Even since, we’ve changed how some positions are filled, by direct election or by appointments. We have representatives pass some laws by democratic vote, some by executive order, and some by ballot initiatives. We pick and choose what level of involvement we want the masses to have all the time.
Many problems with democracy in its modern state have been debated since the Ancient Greeks. The great philosophers saw how democracy can be turned to tyranny by appealing to people’s emotions rather than things being driven by fact. Here’s a nice little article on that!
We haven’t ironed out all the issues yet on how we should govern ourselves, and the more I watch my fellow humans, the more it puzzles me we can be so technically advanced as a society while still falling victim to residual primate instincts that appear totally irrational to anyone observing from the outside, while that same observer is likely falling victim to the same thing wherever they are living.
I don’t hate the US system of government, but its creators knew it wasn’t perfect. They tried to design mechanisms to let it be corrected, but do a majority of us feel we’re currently in the right course? Ignorance of politics certainly didn’t help the Ancient Greeks stay on top of the world, and it isn’t doing the world any favors right now.
Our system of government is also designed so that most people aren’t supposed to have to know about the intricacies of politics
That is both a pro and con that’s been debated as long as democracy has existed.
The founders also debated if regular folk were wise enough to pick good representatives. Even since, we’ve changed how some positions are filled, by direct election or by appointments. We have representatives pass some laws by democratic vote, some by executive order, and some by ballot initiatives. We pick and choose what level of involvement we want the masses to have all the time.
Many problems with democracy in its modern state have been debated since the Ancient Greeks. The great philosophers saw how democracy can be turned to tyranny by appealing to people’s emotions rather than things being driven by fact. Here’s a nice little article on that!
We haven’t ironed out all the issues yet on how we should govern ourselves, and the more I watch my fellow humans, the more it puzzles me we can be so technically advanced as a society while still falling victim to residual primate instincts that appear totally irrational to anyone observing from the outside, while that same observer is likely falling victim to the same thing wherever they are living.
I don’t hate the US system of government, but its creators knew it wasn’t perfect. They tried to design mechanisms to let it be corrected, but do a majority of us feel we’re currently in the right course? Ignorance of politics certainly didn’t help the Ancient Greeks stay on top of the world, and it isn’t doing the world any favors right now.