HitsRus;1761084 wrote:^^ ... Was that " gay marriage" thing passed by a ballot initiative? The ballot initiative that Majorspark cites was a bad law... As are most laws rammed thru by ballot initiatives written by special interest groups. While I voted yes on#3, consider that we would have had a law passed not by vetted, rigorous bi-partisan agreement, but decided "yes or no" on language written by/ dictated by special interests.... And it could be legal by the smallest fraction of a percent.
No.... That is NOT a good way to govern.
Representative democracy is as valid today as it was when our founders first set it up. It has nothing to do with"disdain" for the average voter... It has everything to do with the realization that the average citizen has their own job to do, and life to look after. They don't need to be full time legislators too.
Doesn't matter if something passes by the smallest fraction of a percent. That's still majority rules and shows that a majority of the population of a specified area prefers that.
I'll go back to my previous argument. Why are you not OK with citizen-driven ballot initiatives decided by the people, but you're perfectly fine with those same people electing every other position? You say that the average voter has their own job to do and life to look after and can't/doesn't have the ability to research and vote intelligently on a proposed law. But somehow the average voter, who has their own job to do and life to look after, has the ability to research and vote intelligently for every single race that appears on their ballot? That makes zero sense whatsoever to me. If you can't trust a majority of the population to reasonably understand what a proposed law is asking and vote one way or the other on it, they you can't trust a majority of the population to reasonably elect officials to represent them.