The Failure of Representative Government and the Solution

Download or read book The Failure of Representative Government and the Solution written by Senator Mike Gravel and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The universal form of governance where citizens vote to empower their elected officials to represent their interests is simply representative government –– not a democracy where people would rule directly. Accepting this definitional distinction improves our understanding that bringing the people into the operations of government as deliberative lawmakers –– deliberative direct democracy –– is the answer to dysfunctional representative government. However, empowering the people as deliberative lawmakers is anathema to the selfish interests of elites whose power to control society would be greatly diminished. Consequently, we stay mired in systems of government that do not work.