Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: People With Minds
Author: Bruce Hoult Posted: 12/22/1998; 6:48:16 PM Topic: DaveNet comments Msg #: 1677 (In response to 1617) Prev/Next: 1676 / 1678
I think you have to realise that the USA (like every other country today) does not have Direct Democracy but rather Representative Democracy.There are a number of reasons for this. An obvious one is the logistical one of having millions of people vote all the time on every little issue.
Probably the more important one is that is is entirely possible for an elected representative who has the time and the opportunity to closely examine the facts of a matter to decide -- quite correctly -- that he disagrees with the perople who elected him.
In most countries the maximum leader is choosen by the people's representatives, the members of parliament.
In the USA, this appears to have been the original intent, with the people electing the electoral collage and the electoral collage in turn electing the president -- and quite possibly voting for someone different than the popular vote would indicate. However this has been perverted with the tradition (and the law in some places) now being that the members of the electoral collage *must* follow the popular vote.
In any event, the US president is now effectively chosen by popular vote and it is entirely possible and quite legitimate for the congress to disagree with the people's choice. There is a mechanism for that disagreement to be expressed, and it is currently being used.
This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:46:57 PM.
© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.