The Importance Of Direct Democracy

Direct democracy is a form of government in which all laws are created by a general vote of society. This means that political decisions are put forward to the people as they are the ones who are going to be directly affected by the outcome of the decision. An example of direct democracy used occasionally in society is referendums. A referendum is a general vote by the electorate on a single political question which has been referred to them for a direct decision. Within this essay I am going to be arguing whether direct democracy should be used more widely by weighing up the

A direct democracy can only work in a small group, so as a form of government

The issue of direct democracy was another important question during the election of 1912. Direct democracy concerned whether to expand the United States’ rule of democracy. Under the established democratic system, the people had very little active participation. However, the newly found ideals of direct democracy called for the “people to rule,” thereby increasing their role in the American government. Direct democracy included many ideas, but among the most important were the ideas of initiative, referendum, and recall. The initiative allowed a group of voters who obtained a certain number of signatures on a

Direct Democracy is defined by people as a whole who make direct decisions, rather than having decisions made by other representatives. In Madison’s Federalist No.10 he states, “a pure democracy can admit of no cure for the mischief’s of factions

Referendum: Referendum is defined as the procedure enabling voters to reject a measure passed by the legislature. Referendum can also be defined as when the citizens or the people of a state choose to petition in order to repeal or nullify an act or bill that was passed by the legislature. A referendum can also be defined as vote to on a question on a ballot. A referendum is related to an initiative in that both begin by petitions. There are two types of referendum, the first type is legislature referendum and the second is popular referendum. Legislature referendum is when the legislature presents something to the voters on the ballot that needs their approval. Popular referendum is when something appears on the ballot due to the voter’s motivation to petition, it is a common view among the majority of the people. An example of referendum

Many people believe that America is a democracy; these people are not wrong; however, the more accurate term would be a ‘representative democracy’. The reason behind this is, as opposed to every citizen going to the polls and voting on each public issue, we have elected officials that vote based on their constituents preferences. Since it is the people that elect these representatives, it is critical that public opinion be taken into consideration. However, regardless of how we gather our data, bias often makes it difficult to accurately gauge public opinion.

Propositions are ideas voters have for new laws or changes to the constitution. Direct democracy in California started in the early 1900’s, when many citizens in California were unhappy with the state government. The citizens then created a system of initiatives and referendums. Initiative is a proposal for a new law and a referendum allows the citizens to vote for or against a law that the state assembly has passed.

Direct democracy is a system of government in which all the citizens of a community meet together on a regular basis to solve problems or make decisions for the community as a whole. This type of government was evident in ancient Athens. It, however, is only possible in small communities where the people

Direct democracy means the capacity that people have to vote directly in elections, decision-making and policy-making processes. There are three major forms of direct democracy; initiative, referendum, and recall. The Initiative democracy is known as a process where a public vote can be introduced by a minimum number of registered voters in the ballot while the referendum take place when the legislature present to the voters a constitutional amendment or law proposal before its final approval (plebiscite). On the other hand, recall is a device by which the voters can end or remove an elected official before the conclusion of his/her term.

John Madison, author of the Federalist essay number ten, warned the nation that whenever people with similar interest group together they risk creating a faction. Whenever a faction is created the minority have a difficult time having their opinions heard. They are discriminated against and they will have to face hardships. This is interesting because although we are a very diverse nation we risk having factions. Because everyone does not vote, it seems that the upper middle class gets most of the benefits. If the minority votes someone into office that is concerned with the living conditions of inner city residents, then people will have a better chance of seeing change. We have an indirect democracy. An indirect democracy is where the people elect elites into government and the elite decide what is best for the general public. A direct democracy is where the people elect a figurehead into government. They elected official does whatever the general public asks of it. We can’t have a direct democracy in America because everyone isn’t knowledgeable about politics. If we did, the nation will be turned into

I also believe that representative democracy will be the best choice because of the large population of people living in the United State. It will be impossible for every citizen to vote on all issues and law consider by local, state, and federal government. What if a citizen considers that an issues that is on the ballet is not important to him or her, will she or he take the time to educate themselves on the issue to make the right choice or will they guess or will they not bother in voting because is to complex? In my opinion that is why a representative of the people is best to serve on behalf of the citizen.

Our democratic system was made by the Framers to “set up a series of barriers to direct citizen participation in the selection of our leaders. “Examples of these barriers are the Electoral College for selecting the president and presidential appointment of judges.” The reasons for these barriers was the keep the people from having complete direct participation in choosing the President and members of the judiciary, because the population(usually less wealthy and less educated) would have total power over laws. There are positives and negatives of these “barriers.”

Although some states have provisions for Direct Legislation, through popular initiative and ballot vote. This permits citizens the chance to gather appeals, which require a similar topic to the 2014 issue regarding legalizing marijuana. Which can be carried directly to the electors for a decision. Our Founding Fathers figured out that the right to disapproval is very essential in order. To sustain political independence, even where a ballot box is accessible. Race, Ethnicity, Religion, Age, Geography, Social-economic Status, Population, and Representation all play an important role in our Government. The role they play might be played through voting. A Republic bases their opinions on ideals. Whereas a Democracy bases their views on privileges.

Access. A strong argument in favor of direct democratic ballot initiatives is that they provide citizens access to the lawmaking process. As Guetzloe (2001) contended, ballot initiatives can be thought of as “weapons of the people,” that is, “tools of direct democracy” that encourage the “free flow of ideas” (32). This can sometimes be straightforward and positive. Consider Oregon's 1990 seat belt law. As described by Ellis (2002), this was “a measure requiring all Oregonians to buckle up.… The bill was simple, people could use their own everyday experiences to make an informed decision, the money expended to qualify and pass the measure was modest, there was no lengthy and costly court challenge, and the policy change did not produce a host

Direct democracy has given Californians a since of freedom and choice for who runs their state. You could see this advantage/disadvantage (based on personal opinion) in 2003. In 2003, the governor of California, Govenor Gray Davis was removed from office by a recall (Bowman, 2012, p 85). The states budget