Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Pick On HuffPo Du Jour

From Robert Naiman:

If members of Congress voted on a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq based on whether more people in their districts favored or opposed such a timetable, it would pass the House by a margin of at least 418-17, and the Senate by a margin of 98-2. If only those members voted yes who represent districts where at least 50% of the public supports such a timetable, it would still pass with a margin of at least 329-106 in the House and 78-22 in the Senate, a three-fourths majority in both chambers.


Well, Mr. Naiman, that is why we have a representative democracy. Because, and pardon my French, people are really, really stupid. I mean, just look at the post below. I don't mean this in a Red State/Blue State way (like those all those asinine articles after the Bush election), I just mean that most people simply are not informed enough to make such decisions. We elect people who, we hope, are informed enough to make the educated decisions that we are unable to make. Of course, that doesn't always work out, but I certainly have more faith in a representative system than a pure democracy.