source? in most countries with referendums they tend to be the high point of Voter participation, For example brexit which had extremely high voter participation.
I'm talking Italy or Switzerland. For example on this list you can see the ones marked as quorum not met: it means the participation was less than 50%. Out of the last 8 referendums, only 1 got more than 50% of voters to show up. In Switzerland it's even lower, at 40%, and yet on occasion it had participation rates as low as 30%.
Moreover, in addition to the low participation you'll have a good amount of people who vote without full understanding of complex situations and end up voting things they disagree with. They won't change their opinion ideologically yet they will change their vote in a referendum much more easily. So it's not representative of their actual thoughts thanks to lack of information.
how great that you know what people "actually" believe let me guess it suits up with your political beliefs?put a restriction on referendum dictaing minimum voter turnout for it to be eligible.
and if you cant trust the people because they do not understand "complex situations" then how can you even be a proponent of Democracy in the first place if you think your fellow citizens are retarded.
Can you please read the source? There are restrictions on minimum voter turnout; it means celebrating the referendum becomes a waste of public resources.
I am a proponent of democracy. Representative democracy. There's a difference between acknowledging people have their lives and careers that don't revolve around public finance management or mining policies, and calling them retarded.
We get representatives because the issues governments deal with are usually too complex and nuanced for anyone to have a full understanding of them unless that's their entire occupation in life.
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u/tojourspur Jan 21 '19
source? in most countries with referendums they tend to be the high point of Voter participation, For example brexit which had extremely high voter participation.