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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (125474)	3/2/2004 11:13:03 AM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

The very idea of representative democracy is that the people do not have the time or resources to inform themselves on most issues, in order to have a useful opinion. What they do have is sense of confidence or lack thereof in those who represent them, and that is what is generally expressed at the ballot box. Referenda are rarely a good idea, and then, generally revolve around an issue where public sentiment has been especially focused. Thank you, thank you, thank you... An absolutely brilliant point, though Mq has also had many throughout the years. Without trying to sound too elitist, the uninformed who opine on the basis of evidence that for a number of reasons is unavailable to them are 99% of the posters on these kinds of forums. This is not to say that their insights are not valuable. They are absolutely valuable. They are in fact necessary as they comprise part of our fund of information on which we make judgments in a democracy. Otherwise, why waste time here. The trick is to discern the quality of the opinions being expressed, to separate the wheat from the chaffe. Some, naturally, are better reasoned than others because they are more logical, use a larger fund of established knowledge, are voiced by those with experience in a subject, etc.