| That's a pretty good explanation of why we have representative rather than
direct democracies in general today. And naturally, changing the status quo
on such a scale is extremely difficult. Even nations undergoing regime
change
tend to stay with some tried and tested government structure.
But if a new
country-sized island were to rise out of the sea next month, and
by some
miracle it got settled by truly enlightened people without too much
of a fight,
a direct democracy would be a good form of government for it.
Elected
representatives would exist to debate laws before they were put up for
a public
vote, before which a period for comment would be required.
Separate elected
positions would exist for key executive roles, such as head-
of-state,
head-of-defence, fiscal policy etc, and at a local level for local
administration. And instead of party politics causing a seismic shift of
government every few years, each representative would be elected individually
and on a rolling basis, with a proportion being replaced every year, and would
be held individually accountable for their actions in office.
Of course,
rather than rising out of the sea, it is technically possible to build
something like an O'Neill Cylinder in space...
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