Should Democracy Be Compulsory?

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Hi, my dear navel gazers! Here's our gazillionth installment of impossibly simplistic and hilariously polarized situations, inspired by the [Poll #1879633]

I'm sure you've learned by now why the options are so terribly extreme.

Comments

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

People get fed up with democracy at some point, when they've had way too much democracy. The Swiss voters recently rejected the proposal for deciding a set of issues on nationwide referenda. They essentially said enough is enough, and "Hey, representatives, we've sent you there to do some job. Don't expect us to do your job for you". Or something like that.

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

That's exercising democracy, not being fed up with it. I mean we elect leadership to be leaders and act like leaders. That means they should be taking both control AND responsibility. When referendums are frequent that means there is a lack of leadership. It sounds like the leaders are attempting to defer responsibility onto the public. When nothing is the fault of government there's no accountability, The people voted and it's what the people wanted is simply an excuse to defer responsibility.

Referendums should be used sparingly to decide fundamental issues. Governments should be able make tough decisions that might piss the majority of the people but be good for the whole. Otherwise there is no protection of minorities be they a demographic of age, race or opinion