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RE: Why european countries don't have referendums or initiatives like us states do?
Hi, there is always a good and a bad side with referendums.
Pro:
People who are affected should be asked what they think about. These people should vote to help to find democratic decisons.
Contra:
We have democratic elected representatives in all regions. These people are experts or should at least have access to experts to find the best for their representated people. Referendums often end up in total mess of populism and campaigns which drive the opinion of the masses based on faces and stories.
I am not sure if I prefer to rely on somebody I possibly don't trust who represents me or if I prefer to see my neighbours thinking heavyly effected by private television and populisitc newspapers. I think it requires a case to case decision ...
WRONG !!!! THEY PAY !!!
IT is called the shareholder model!!!! And contrary to weightening with share size, it is one vote per live.
The advantage is that at least 50% of the voters are happy with the decisions. Then if you cumulate those votations it means that more and more are happy even if they lose some.
Do you want a swimming pool in the town? Yes it is super important to have experts, where, how much, which... but it doesn't answer the question. yes or no. they can inform but not decide.
Then you will admit that it easier to have one man to corrupt (the prefet, like the mayor but for a region) than the entire local population. Furthermore discussion brings social cohesion. experts give expert advice on the situation but you will see there is quickly contradiction... just ask yourself where to put a swimming pool... between soil expert, transport expert, land expert, water expert, economic expert etc etc... you will see that at one point a decision must be taken.
then the people want this swimming pool or not. maybe another one? the project was too small, costly, big? who knows but those who will pay for it...
btw finally they decided for an artificial lake with a dam :).
I don't understand why representative and experts can't be played even more easily that the local population? you know targeted advertising + bribes... hard to bribe the french people from an outisde power...
Exactly, politicians are payed to make decisions. I don't want to say there is no chance for corruption and / or other crimes, but to start a referendum for all and everything makes the system much more sluggish or even stops processes at all. There are good reasons to do referendums in special cases, but I still think it should not be the standard for many small decisions. I also claim that often after some time 50% of the voters are not happy with the decision, but complain about bad or incomplete upfront information or they were just not able to see mid and long term effects. So the bad guys are no longer the decision maker, which is wonderful for politicians, but other institution like press, populists etc. or just your neighbor.