(January 2, 2015 at 8:11 pm)lifesagift Wrote: and you say referenda attract idiots? well so do elections, they're the same idiots. But they vote based on one issue but the party have several other bad agenda.
At least referendums focus on one question
No, I'm saying that it's pointless getting people to vote on issues where they have zero understanding of said issue.
Take, for example, the EU referendum that could take place in Britain in 2017. The person who was spent hours researching the issue and formed an opinion based on this has equal say to the person who is voting based on what they read in the Daily Mail. Even the person who doesn't know what the EU is gets an equal say, as does the person that thinks the EU is run by evil giant lizards.
The recent Scottish referendum is another example. I know of people who did vote based on internet memes and conspiracy theories.
This doesn't mean that having no say is a good thing either. What we really need is a society that is pro intellectual and pro science, so that decisions can be made by the people best suited to making them. Even harder is that you must make sure these people are acting in the best interests of society, and not themselves. All very tricky.
