> It is a sign that people are willing to delegate their responsibility to someone else making decisions (or answers, if you prefer, but that is the very same thing in the end) for them.
This is basically the entire premise behind a representative democracy, is it not?
Yes, and I do not, personally, condone the current state of representation. There are several ways on how to manage decision-making in large communities and this is not the only one possible, especially in the 21st century with the communication tools we now possess. If the internet changes the way we shop, we travel, we connect with our friends, the way we entertain ourselves, why do we keep doing politics the same 18th century way ? (rhetorical question)
No, it isn't. The purpose of representative democracy is to add a layer of public accountability to political institutions, in order to pre-empt and suppress abuses of power.
The purpose of democracy is not to provide overriding legitimacy for any and every use of power, nor to create a nexus of external responsibility to which every question, irrespective of its nature or native context, can be outsourced without deleterious consequence.
Government is a single, well-defined institution within society, and democracy is a method for keeping that institution within its appropriate boundaries.
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> It is a sign that people are willing to delegate their responsibility to someone else making decisions (or answers, if you prefer, but that is the very same thing in the end) for them.
This is basically the entire premise behind a representative democracy, is it not?
Yes, and I do not, personally, condone the current state of representation. There are several ways on how to manage decision-making in large communities and this is not the only one possible, especially in the 21st century with the communication tools we now possess. If the internet changes the way we shop, we travel, we connect with our friends, the way we entertain ourselves, why do we keep doing politics the same 18th century way ? (rhetorical question)
No, it isn't. The purpose of representative democracy is to add a layer of public accountability to political institutions, in order to pre-empt and suppress abuses of power.
The purpose of democracy is not to provide overriding legitimacy for any and every use of power, nor to create a nexus of external responsibility to which every question, irrespective of its nature or native context, can be outsourced without deleterious consequence.
Government is a single, well-defined institution within society, and democracy is a method for keeping that institution within its appropriate boundaries.