I agree. Here in Washington (the state), there is a strong history of the population taking a direct role in politics via referendums. I was pretty excited about that when I first got here. Unfortunately though, if too many things come to referendum, things can get really bogged down because the public can't make the tradeoffs necessary to run the government especially with respect to money. It's hard for the public to see the whole picture when voting on only one issue. This gets worse as the population gets bigger. I do like the referendum process when it comes to social issues though.
So, I disagree that we should be able to vote on individual issues at the federal level. However, it would be nice if there was a way to make sure representatives listen to the individuals in their constituency instead of just the lobbyists or corporations.
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I agree. Here in Washington (the state), there is a strong history of the population taking a direct role in politics via referendums. I was pretty excited about that when I first got here. Unfortunately though, if too many things come to referendum, things can get really bogged down because the public can't make the tradeoffs necessary to run the government especially with respect to money. It's hard for the public to see the whole picture when voting on only one issue. This gets worse as the population gets bigger. I do like the referendum process when it comes to social issues though. So, I disagree that we should be able to vote on individual issues at the federal level. However, it would be nice if there was a way to make sure representatives listen to the individuals in their constituency instead of just the lobbyists or corporations.