Question

Should democracies rely more on initiatives or referendum to decide policy, or are forms of indirect democracy better? Why or why not?

Answer 1

ANSWER-

Indirect democracy allows citizens to vote for representatives who then can create the laws of government on their behalf. It's a very efficient way to make laws while at the same time being responsive to the people through the election of representatives.

Proponents of indirect democracy argue that the system is efficient because not everyone has time or knowledge to be able to vote on the nation's laws. How would you like coming home after a long day of work only to find out that you have to vote on yet another new law that has been proposed? Let's face it; making legislation requires a lot of technical knowledge and understanding of the issues being considered. And most people simply don't have the time to dig deep into an issue to decide what should be the law. For that reason, we elect representatives who make the laws for us! These representatives are then charged with the task of researching and crafting the laws in what should be a responsible way.

A second advantage of indirect democracy is that it is responsive to the will of the people, while at the same time not being too responsive. What do we mean by that paradoxical statement? Well, let's say that a senator goes rogue and starts voting completely opposite of what constituents in his state think. What do you think will happen to him? They'll probably vote him out of office next time he's up for re-election. This is why legislators are absolutely obsessed with what polls say about an issue in their district.