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  • 2016 was the year of controversial referendums.

  • In Colombia, voters rejected a peace deal that would have brought an end to half a century

  • of war.

  • In the United Kingdom, voters opted to leave the European Union, the first country to do

  • so since the Union’s formation.

  • And in Thailand, voters gave the military greater control over the country, alienating

  • the democratic process.

  • Most passed by relatively narrow margins, and shook establishment ideals to their core.

  • So what are the inherent dangers in holding referendums?

  • Well, some believe that referendums are undemocratic, despite serving as a direct form of democracy.

  • In fact, referendums ultimately serve to highlight the flaws in having policy decisions made

  • by majority rule.

  • Referendums are nothing new, theyve been used since Ancient Rome to decide issues of

  • policy.

  • Even Adolph Hitler was able to consolidate power by way of a referendum.

  • But today, most democratic countries operate asrepresentative democracies”, meaning

  • that instead of citizens voting directly on policy issues, as they do during referendums,

  • they instead vote for elected officials.

  • These officials are implicitly trusted to learning about the ins-and-outs of policy,

  • and what potential pitfalls or benefits each decision may have.

  • But with referendums, voters are tasked with these nuanced decisions, something many do

  • not have the time or inclination to fully understand.

  • Most voters must rely on news, social media, their friends and family, and other non-direct

  • or fully informed sources.

  • In some cases, this has led to voters being mislead, such as with a Brexit campaign in

  • the UK, promising to redirect 350 million pounds a week from payments to the EU, to

  • the country’s overburdened healthcare system.

  • Some voters cited this as a convincing argument to leave the EU.

  • But following the vote, its lead proponent backtracked on the statement, saying it was

  • a “mistake”, and that the money would not necessarily go to healthcare.

  • Another major problem is that the substance of a referendum can end up being ignored,

  • in favor of whichever political party supports it.

  • In Italy, for example, a referendum on clearing up a time-consuming bureaucracy ultimately

  • ended up being treated, by many, as a referendum on the popularity of the prime minister.

  • Because the PM promised to resign if the referendum was not passed, it gave voters an entirely

  • unrelated reason to vote, without even considering the question on which they were voting, skewing

  • the results.

  • Finally, and perhaps most problematically, this form of direct democracy highlights the

  • entire purpose of representative democracy: protecting minority rights.

  • Implicitly, the majority will always overrule a minority, a situation calledtyranny

  • of the majority”.

  • For example, for hundreds of year in the United States, African Americans were denied the

  • right to vote, meaning they were denied the right to democracy, simply because the majority

  • was white.

  • In fact, many who opposed giving African Americans this right to vote did so as to protect their

  • majority interests, and ultimately it took a constitutional amendment to fix this injustice.

  • Referendums open the door to this sort of anti-democracy ideal, and allow an almost

  • equal half of the voting population to exert overwhelming control on the other half.

  • 2017 will likely see two major referendums, one on the independence of Catalonia from

  • Spain, the other, in Turkey, would grant the president more power.

  • But the reasons listed, and others, suggest referendums are inefficient methods of effecting

  • change in government.

  • On the other hand, some people support the idea of referendums as they can give the voice

  • of the country back to its people, rather than vesting it in political officials.

  • Direct democracy via referendum does work on a local level, and Switzerland, for example

  • has held more than 600 referendums in its political history.

  • But whether you think these votes help or harm a country, there is no question that

  • referendums are incredibly powerful tools of change.

  • So, what about the United States?

  • Can it truly be called a democracy, or is it something else entirely?

  • Find out in this video.

  • In a representative democracy, citizens vote for elected officials who collectively vote

  • in the place of citizens and are expected to represent their best interests.

  • Although that's a step above having a monarchy or oligarchy you didn't vote for, it isn't

  • a direct democracy.

  • Thanks for watching Seeker Daily, please don’t forget to like and subscribe for more videos

  • every day.

2016 was the year of controversial referendums.

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全民投票對民主有害嗎? (Are Referendums Bad For Democracy?)

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    BH 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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