Maybe not everything, but we could certainly vote on a lot more directly. There’s no reason we couldn’t. Representative government was a necessity when we only used horses to get everywhere. Now much less reason for it.
No I don’t think that tracks, I’d say it’s kind of a modern interpretation really. Historically it’s a a darker seedier reasoning really. Traditionally representative government has been favored because the wealthy delete didn’t think the people could be trusted. Unwashed uneducated masses couldn’t be allowed to make decisions. The liberal bourgeoisie in no way wanted the people making any decisions. There’s a reason most liberal revolutions did not result in widespread suffrage, much less universal suffrage.
After all it’s not like Representatives had extra time to do research. When they weren’t traveling by horse or mule they were conducting their own affairs, not researching well into the night. No it’s much more about class than actual dedication.
It doesn’t really matter whether it’s modern or intended or accidental. The point is that it’s best that the people making the decisions are educated and informed, and that takes time. That takes the kind of time that makes it a full time job, not one you can do on the side.
And yes, I understand that current representatives spend most of their time trudging up donations for campaigns, but that’s less than ideal. I might even argue that makes the idea not modern at all.
How do you determine if they’re educated? How do you determine if they’re informed? Who decides? How would you even go about enforcing the fact that they spend their time researching? Instead of campaigning or getting donations or just fucking around?
It could be from macro to much more micro, e.g.: what portion of the budget should be allocated to education? And then how is the budget allocated, etc. everyone must vote in the first few votes and then as the issues get more nitty gritty and local the only people voting are those in the localities and/or those who care. You could vote on everything but realistically you’ll just set the main direction and the rest just happens.
The more you think about this the more complicated it seems, even if the concept isn’t that complicated. I’ve thought about this a lot for a long time and I honestly think we’d get so much more done.
Maybe not everything, but we could certainly vote on a lot more directly. There’s no reason we couldn’t. Representative government was a necessity when we only used horses to get everywhere. Now much less reason for it.
The other point of representative government is that the people making the decisions can spend the time to research what they’re voting on.
No I don’t think that tracks, I’d say it’s kind of a modern interpretation really. Historically it’s a a darker seedier reasoning really. Traditionally representative government has been favored because the wealthy delete didn’t think the people could be trusted. Unwashed uneducated masses couldn’t be allowed to make decisions. The liberal bourgeoisie in no way wanted the people making any decisions. There’s a reason most liberal revolutions did not result in widespread suffrage, much less universal suffrage.
After all it’s not like Representatives had extra time to do research. When they weren’t traveling by horse or mule they were conducting their own affairs, not researching well into the night. No it’s much more about class than actual dedication.
It doesn’t really matter whether it’s modern or intended or accidental. The point is that it’s best that the people making the decisions are educated and informed, and that takes time. That takes the kind of time that makes it a full time job, not one you can do on the side.
And yes, I understand that current representatives spend most of their time trudging up donations for campaigns, but that’s less than ideal. I might even argue that makes the idea not modern at all.
How do you determine if they’re educated? How do you determine if they’re informed? Who decides? How would you even go about enforcing the fact that they spend their time researching? Instead of campaigning or getting donations or just fucking around?
It could be from macro to much more micro, e.g.: what portion of the budget should be allocated to education? And then how is the budget allocated, etc. everyone must vote in the first few votes and then as the issues get more nitty gritty and local the only people voting are those in the localities and/or those who care. You could vote on everything but realistically you’ll just set the main direction and the rest just happens.
The more you think about this the more complicated it seems, even if the concept isn’t that complicated. I’ve thought about this a lot for a long time and I honestly think we’d get so much more done.