Is democracy the best system of government?

But then you have people who don't necessarily know all the facts or fully understand the issue responsible for important decisions. A good example in England of that would be debate over the introduction of the Euro. Most people when they talk about this are thinking about it from the point of view that the pound is stronger than the Euro and they also see it as relinquishing some of our independence. I know I don't know anymore about it than that but everyone seems to have an opinion on it. The financial market seems like a very complicated system to get your head round and I feel that with something like that the decision ought to lie with people who fully understand its workings. Similarly as I think I mentioned above, where criminals are concerned, mob rule is not justice but a thirst for blood. Additionally, there is the diffusion of responsibility phenomenon. They attribute the Cuban missile crisis to this. Too many people were involved in deciding what to do and when a decision is spread over a large number no individual feels the weight of responsibility so there is an increase in risk-taking behaviour. How much worse would this be if it were a whole country. No one is then accountable.

The education issue is a thorny one. Maybe we could put show a documentary on different nights at different times which allowed both sides of the issue to be fully presented and ask the voter to dial an 800 number that comes up at the end of the and enter their social security number to register them to vote on the issue. If people didn't care about the issue enough to watch the show then they probably don't care enough to vote on it anyway.

Unfortunately now in the US, even though the politicians are ultimately held accountable for decisions which are contrary to mass public opinion, once elected it can take up to four years to correct the situation. If the wealth oil companies and defense industry got them elected then I fear the elected officials may feel more accountable to them than the American public. We would have to stress accountability in an electronic democracy. Every person would be accountable for a decision regardless if the voted or not. If you feel strongly about your position you would need to sell that position to your family and friends. We could hold some mock elections on prior historical issues like the Cubam missile crisis but in actuality an issue like that would probably be handled by an executive branch because of the need of secrecy and to prevent panic. Similar to the way the president can issue an executive order now.