

Self-referencing 'We the People' petition has only one day left - eof
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/%21/petition/actually-take-these-petitions-seriously-instead-just-using-them-excuse-pretend-you-are-listening/grQ9mNkN?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl

======
kevinpet
Why should I consider it desirable that the white house listen to those who
like to talk the most, rather than assuming that my views are represented by
my representatives elected in an organized process?

Overly participatory democracy leads to government of the busy bodies, the
people with too much time on their hands and too enthusiastic about government
power to solve problems.

For every worthwhile public uproar like SOPA, there hundreds of little groups
out there trying to get the government to listen to incredibly stupid demands.

~~~
prodigal_erik
The US style of winner-take-all representative democracy creates a huge
collective action problem. My ballot choices boil down to "mediocre to
useless", "complete wingnut", and a few somewhat preferable third party
candidates I don't dare vote for because dividing the mediocre vote guarantees
the wingnut wins. A third party can't succeed unless they somehow manage to
attract today's left and right wing voters in equal and large numbers. In the
meantime, my views are being safely ignored—they just never seem to be on the
radar of my only feasible choice from the ballot.

I would much prefer direct democracy within a sharply limited scope of
government powers. A laboratory of the states, with a couple dozen hellholes
and a few places I'd be eager to live. But I don't see a path from here to
there.

------
redxaxder
Between refreshes, the number of signatures needed jumped from 3 to 16. I
wonder what happened.

