What you want is closer to true democracy, rather than what we have, which is representative democracy. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a difficult thing to arrange, and there are arguments both for and against. The primary argument against is that the average citizen does not have time to inform themselves about every issue. That's the whole idea of representation - the representative is supposed to have the time to inform themselves about the issues... Of course, in practice, the machinery gets in the way... But that's a whole different problem.
And I think I expressed myself poorly regarding direct vs indirect... I'm not talking about political power or influence in that context. What I'm talking about is whether you get to interact with the "rules of the game" or not. Thus "direct" is when you are directly interacting with the rules of the game, whilst "indirect" is when you are doing something which results in someone else doing something which directly interacts with the rules of the game.
In that context, the only time most people get to act directly that is when they cast a vote in an election or a referendum.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-05 22:29 (UTC)And I think I expressed myself poorly regarding direct vs indirect... I'm not talking about political power or influence in that context. What I'm talking about is whether you get to interact with the "rules of the game" or not. Thus "direct" is when you are directly interacting with the rules of the game, whilst "indirect" is when you are doing something which results in someone else doing something which directly interacts with the rules of the game.
In that context, the only time most people get to act directly that is when they cast a vote in an election or a referendum.