”Together”, Antifa, Black Lives Matter, those who support them, the political and economic globalist elites, the politicians in the US Congress, the Democrats, the Republicans, the rich, the academic and social elites, and now Trump himself, have showed representative democracy does not work.
Representative democracy can not work because of the excessive power it gives to elected politicians, to those the elected politicians appoint, and also to those who lobby and pressure the politicians with money or “news headlines”, to help them win elections.
Elected politicians, in Washington and state capitals, have too much power; it does not matter if they are Democrats or Republicans.
The key problem is that once elected, the people can not control the politicians; they can decide or pass any law, even if most voters are against them on the issue.
If the Presidency, the Senate, and the House are in the hands of the same party, you have a real oligarchy disguised as democracy. The debates in Congress are just “smoke and mirrors” to make ordinary people believe they are being represented, that the people they elected really “fight for them”. It is a charade.
It does not matter if the Republicans or the Democrats control the three institutions; the result is always that all the power is in the hands of the politicians.
It matters neither if no party controls the three institutions; together they control everything, even if in the fight to get exclusive control, each party attacks the other viciously.
The policies, regulations, and laws are different when one party controls everything, or if it has to share power with the rival party, but in no case do the people have a say on anything they do; all the people can do is complain, demonstrate, and perhaps riot.
For example, the Republicans might decide to reduce taxes to corporations, or reduce immigration, or allow fracking; the Democrats might do the opposite, but in both cases, the people who oppose those decisions can do nothing, even if they are the majority; it makes no sense.
The next election changes nothing in terms of representation of the people; if the voters remember things and throw one party out of power, all they achieve is put the other party in power. The only thing that then changes is the direction of the laws and policies; the people still have zero control over the politicians.
Things would be different if voters had the power to decide issues; they might have decided that this or that Trump or Obama policy, or this or that law goes too far, or does not go far enough.
Unfortunately, in a representative democracy, voters can not vote on issues.
To make matters worse, the citizens can not vote to introduce new laws and regulations either or change the constitution.
But something else is also bad; the state and federal supreme courts can make decisions that amount to making laws and set policies; this is not democracy at all.
Where is the “government by the people” that democracy is supposed to be in all of this?; it is nowhere because the people are powerless in a representative democracy.
Representative democracy can not work because the politicians can, and do, govern without taking into consideration what the people want on the specific issues that concern the people.
The politicians also use their excessive power to continuously increase their power over the citizens who elected them; it is remarkable how upside-down things can become in representative democracies!
No wonder in representative democracies trust in government is low. On the contrary, In the only direct democracy, humanity has, Switzerland, trust in government is the highest among all democracies; direct democracy causes that.
Without trust in politicians, democracy is dead.
What the US needs to save democracy, even the country, and other democracies too, is direct democracy; decimate the power of politicians. The people must have the final say on issues, policies, laws, regulations, and on the constitution itself.
Trump is not the problem, Sanders is not the problem. Trump and Sanders, and Ocasio-Cortez too, result from the disenchantment of most of the country, on the left and the right, with partisan politics and politicians.
“Neutralizing” Trump, Sanders or Ocasio Cortez, and pretend the people are content with their elected representatives, the judiciary, etc., not only will not fix the root problem, it will make it worse.
Calling Trump a “fascist demagogue”, or calling Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez “rabid socialists”, also makes problems worse by not addressing them.
The incidents in Washington caused by Trump supporters yesterday, and many incidents caused by leftists, would not occur if the US had a direct democracy. Direct democracy prevents such extreme polarization and alienation of voters.
The key political and social problems in the US, and other democracies, result from “representative” democracy’s failure at representing the people; “it is the system, stupid!”
The people on the Left, Right and Center have to get together on this and demand direct democracy now, it is urgent.
Direct democracy will unite the country too because it depoliticizes issues.
Victor Lopez
