Representative Democracy In America

When the Founding Fathers began designing America’s government in 1787, one of their greatest fears was the possibility of the dumb majority using their power to pass uneducated and disastrous legislature. They feared “the mob”, the everyday citizens that had little schooling and knew almost nothing about politics. To avoid giving the voters too much power, a Representative-Democracy style government was created, a system where citizens would vote for a person or group to represent them in making legislature. Referendum votes bypass the politicians and ask for the people’s opinion directly- they are direct votes where the entire country is invited to vote on an issue, which give the people a chance for their voices to be heard. While a good
But perhaps referendum votes aren’t the correct way to navigate imperative issues. Citizens elect politicians for a reason- people appoint experts into office with the expectation that they will vote in their constituents best interest. Trust in politicians has grown increasingly low, but even if representative democracy is flawed, it’s the government many countries have, and it functions better than a direct democracy/referendum style government would. Perhaps instead of reforming referendum voting, Washington should focus on improving legislature around politicians and the accountability of trustee voting. America has a constitutional referendum, which gives residents a chance to help set the precedent for morals in their country. In a New York Times article, Richard Ekins explores the necessity of referendum voting, writing, “In general, self-government should be by way of representative institutions. Still, there are times when it is reasonable for the legislature to put some question to the voters themselves for decision by way of a referendum, especially in relation to constitutional change. The constitutional referendum is a legitimate technique of representative democracy.”