Quote Originally Posted by Thorne View Post
Just a thought, here. I've never watched those "reality" programs, where people call or text to vote on their choices, but haven't there been some spectacular fails from some of those? Cases where an obviously better performer was tossed because the public voted for the flashier, but less talented, contender?

The other thing to consider is time. How many people would really want to spend the time studying all of the nuances of a particular issue before voting on it? How many would even bother?
Yes, those elections tend to select for popularity rather than merit - another flaw of the system you're defending/advocating, as it happens...

Of course not everyone thinks it through fully before voting - just look at the catastrophic debt burden of the last few years for proof! I suspect voting on issues rather than candidates would improve that a little, though: easy to vote for party X without thinking, or the candidate with the bigger grin, but yes or no on prop 123?