I think Direct Democracy is a good tool to advance our representation. Some argue that it surrenders matters to “mob rule”, which can be influenced by those who own or control the media. But I believe it is more difficult for the elite to influence the masses than to surreptitiously line the fat pockets of a few politicians, or even threaten them. But to alleviate the possible threat of mob rule, a mechanism can be put into place as currently exists between for example a congress and senate. An idea may be proposed by congress and sent to the senate for approval. For some reason the senate might make tweaks or changes to the submission and send it back. In the same manner, any citizen of a country or region should be able to propose an idea and the rest be able to vote on it. If an idea has a popular vote, it can be sent to congress for processing. If the educated lawmakers have an objection, they can send it back to the people with an explanation why they think it is not a good idea. In this way the general public becomes more informed, also because they are now more engaged in politics and feel that their voice has a difference. As opposed to feeling disenfranchised and not bothering to show up at the polls every four years to elect one politician or another who all mostly seem to serve the corporate interests or their funders anyway.
For this reason I have created a forum at http://arealdemocracy.org/ where anyone in a particular region can submit an idea and the rest vote on it. Do we want our tax dollars to go towards fighting a new war? We should be entitled to vote on such important matters. The internet now allows for such constant referendums without the need for great costs. The discussions should be ongoing, and most importantly, to engage the general public to get involved, like the ancient Greeks, fathers of our democracy, who would gather in the square to discuss and debate issues. Obviously with our greatly expanded population this is no longer practical, but the internet certainly allows for it. .
Many believe that a democracy will be handed to them, however, we must create this democracy. The current administrations plays on the fact that the people are not knowledgeable of the systems nor the law. They make no effort to educate the people. These practices and processes are not a part of the current curriculum and therefore the responsibility is ours to gain such knowledge and act on it. Out government officials are representatives of the people and their for should act on behalf of and in the best interest of the people. This mean we are the ones to create that democracy. When we are knowledgeable and use the avenues available to use, a true democracy will emerge. Do note that officials are chosen by the people, but most are people we don't even know or don't know us. But yet we vote for them. It is said that " a people receives the government they deserve" and if we chose blindly, we will have a blind government. Know the process know the people and make a true change in the right direction to make a true democracy a reality.
True democracy does exist, but only on a small scale. It is impossible to create a true democracy for a large country because politicians will become corrupt and citizens will not be able to gain enough information about their government to be truly informed. On a small scale, however, people may vote and participate in a true democracy, such as in a club or in a neighborhood.
I don't think that there is such a thing as true democracy. I think we in the united states have perfect democracy. Lets look at all the people that united states carries. People of all races have homes here and USA have warmly welcomed all of them. I mean we support people's right and help them in every possible ways we can, what more can we ask for then this.
We do not directly have a say on how government is handled instead we vote for representatives who make those decisions for us. If each person in our country could vote on every issue and the majority chose the outcome that would be democracy. We do not vote directly for the president but instead an electoral college does based on populations of states. Majority rules would have elected Clinton to office and that is not the case. We have people represent us and who we give the responsibility to cast votes that are best for the constituents.
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I live in the UK. For a democracy it seems to me that a government that listens to it's people is necessary, a government that allows the public a voice and as such makes decisions that fairly reflect the wishes of the people. The truth is however that we have governments full of selfish individuals with very little morality or concern for the greater good and as such this convenient illusion of democracy looks like a very fragile concept indeed. In trust we vote in our politicians with the belief that they will deliver what is best for all, not to be fed continuous lies, to be squeezed for every penny in overblown taxes. We have a government that reward the wealthy and refuses to recognize the struggle of those at the bottom. A government that abuses expenses and privatises our public services, which gives businesses licence to increase prices at will, thus marginalising those who cannot afford the expensive services of private firms. This is why I think that the idea of democracy is a myth, at least in this country. Governments are not answerable to anybody and therefore do whatever they wish, therefore leaving the voter exasperated and feeling like the vote is pointless.
10% of the population owns 90% of the wealth. 1% almost half of the wealth. True democracy should include economic issues. Nobody voted for this 10 or 1 percent. Money rules the world. Everbody seems to agree that componies exist only for the purpose of making money. But why should the world of politics be different? Governments and politicians are mostly there to support these companies. This is not democracy this corporatism.