Well, they would have loved to stop migration and voted in droves for brexit for that. Cant have that though, democracy or not, can vote for any party, but cant have that result they all promise before the vote closes and never deliver once the vote is in.
MrBuddyCasino•34m ago
Almost as if democracy isn't real and all statecraft is driven by intra-elite conflicts.
foldr•28m ago
Britain leaving the EU purely because a majority voted for it in a popular vote is a pretty bad example to use in support of the claim that democracy isn't real. It's probably this sort of vague cynicism about democracy that led Cameron to call the referendum in the first place, only to discover that people can actually vote however they like!
lores•12m ago
Democracy requires an informed electorate. Just having the right to vote isn't enough.
logicchains•11m ago
No it doesn't, democracy means rule by all the people not rule by some educated elite.
spacedcowboy•4m ago
Two things:
- Education is not "elite", it's open to all.
- Informed is not "educated".
Forcing political speech to be truthful (or at least have a reasonable expectation of being truthful) with serious consequences (jail time) for knowingly lying would go a long way to counter the misinformation that caused Brexit.
foldr•7m ago
It works better with an informed electorate. However, one of the reasons that voters don't bother informing themselves is the campaign of cynicism aimed at convincing them that all political parties are the same, that their vote doesn't matter, etc. etc. One might just as well say that an informed population requires democracy: why bother keeping track of national policy if you have no control over it?
In the days after the Brexit vote, it turned out that a significant minority of 'leave' voters had been convinced that their vote would be an ineffectual protest with no actual influence on Britain's membership of the EU. Lazy and cynical anti-democratic rhetoric just feeds into that cycle of ignorance and stupidity.
jen20•21m ago
Absurd to suggest that anyone voting for Brexit knew what they were voting for - by design of the pro-Brexit shysters.
nannal•20m ago
Not sure that's an argument that shines good light on brexit voters.
spacedcowboy•7m ago
To be fair (a) I don't think he was trying to do that, and (b) I'm struggling to think of an argument that would shine good light on brexit voters ?
Perhaps that they're wonderfully trusting people who believe whatever politicians that Gary down the pub thinks are the best ?
Retr0id•42m ago
Oops, looks like they'll need to roll out more "think of the children"-shaped propaganda first. Or maybe a terrorism scare?
GCHQ has done it's job of obfuscating it's existence pretty well, for most Brits to still think they've had any privacy at all for the last few decades.
21asdffdsa12•53m ago
MrBuddyCasino•34m ago
foldr•28m ago
lores•12m ago
logicchains•11m ago
spacedcowboy•4m ago
- Education is not "elite", it's open to all.
- Informed is not "educated".
Forcing political speech to be truthful (or at least have a reasonable expectation of being truthful) with serious consequences (jail time) for knowingly lying would go a long way to counter the misinformation that caused Brexit.
foldr•7m ago
In the days after the Brexit vote, it turned out that a significant minority of 'leave' voters had been convinced that their vote would be an ineffectual protest with no actual influence on Britain's membership of the EU. Lazy and cynical anti-democratic rhetoric just feeds into that cycle of ignorance and stupidity.
jen20•21m ago
nannal•20m ago
spacedcowboy•7m ago
Perhaps that they're wonderfully trusting people who believe whatever politicians that Gary down the pub thinks are the best ?