CMV: With the technology we have, we should switch from a Representative Democracy to a Direct Democracy.

few if any politicians are in it solely for money. it may seem otherwise, but they typically do try to do what's best for the country. I'm not as worried about the masses being stupid as I am about them being misinformed. someone sitting on an agriculture committee is going to spend the majority of their (and their staff's) time understanding how to best optimize agriculture. see what I'm getting at? I don't have the time to learn about the nuances of farming, and neither do the majority of americans (since most of us are not farmers). however, if you're a representative from a farming area, and sitting on the farming committee, you will have far more expertise than the average america. moreover, explaining some nuance to 30 colleagues is far easier than trying to explain it to 300 million people.
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here are some other ideas that might be better:
-everyone gets two votes. one counts as a whole vote and one as 75% vote. thus, second choice and compromise candidates would get a huge boost.
-no private campaign contributions (federal elections are publicly funded). broadcasting a political advertisement for or against a particular candidate would be banned. (this is just an idea, not sure how to make this work).
-compulsory voting (with extended voting periods).
-automatic budget decreases for all aspects of the federal government unless a super-majority can vote to keep the funding the same or increase it.
-mathematically derived districts, based on population centers and values information gathered by a census-like survey (gerrymandering has value in grouping people with common interest so they can be represented by someone who works for those interests).
-perhaps elimination of parties. the only identifiers you get are your name and a list of causes you advocate.
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just some crazy thoughts. although, I think the 1 vote plus .75 vote scheme would actually work.

/r/changemyview Thread