
Why elections are bad for democracy - jboy
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/29/why-elections-are-bad-for-democracy
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jboy
There were two particular points in the article that strongly resonated with
me:

> _But the problem is not confined to referendums: in an election, you may
> cast your vote, but you are also casting it away for the next few years.
> This system of delegation to an elected representative may have been
> necessary in the past – when communication was slow and information was
> limited – but it is completely out of touch with the way citizens interact
> with each other today._

This sounds very much like an area of human communication in need of a
technological update. (And I'm not talking about using insecure/rigged voting
machines at elections.) I'm not confident that more frequent referenda is the
answer (a monthly Brexit/Nobrexit doesn't sound like the best idea for a
number of reasons), but surely there's some way to decrease the political
communication/feedback latency.

But the real insight for me was this quote from British sociologist Colin
Crouch:

> _public electoral debate is a tightly controlled spectacle, managed by rival
> teams of professionals expert in the techniques of persuasion, and
> considering a small range of issues selected by those teams. The mass of
> citizens plays a passive, quiescent part, responding only to the signals
> given them._

There is a double-dissolution (ie, all seats in both houses of parliament are
up for re-election) federal election in Australia happening this weekend, and
the electioneering over the past few months has been exactly as Mr Crouch
described: The leaders of the two major parties have chosen a few
uncontroversial campaign issues that fail to address any of the real problems
(rising socioeconomic inequality, a vocal minority undercurrent of
racial/religious tension & bigotry) in Australia. All the leaders will discuss
during their campaigns are these superficial issues. The people are simply
expected to react to these few selected issues, agreeing or disagreeing as
appropriate for their political party affiliation, without asking for any
discussion of broader/deeper issues.

There are a few minor parties & independents that are attempting to broaden
the discussion, but the two major parties are openly advising voters to vote
"for stability" (ie, them) rather than "instability" that might result in a
minority government.

