Agree with all that you say. Which is why I mentioned a measured (and should have added deliberative) online referendum.
The recall itself was a referendum. The vote for who to succeed was something else. arthur -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, October 9, 2003 1:46 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Futurework] Re: direct democracy // Schwarzenegger The California recall has very little to do with direct democracy -- after all, it was an election of a representative, not a vote on a single issue (as is usual in referenda). The only DD component was the timing of the (re-)election. Also, from the land of direct democracy I'd like to remind you that DD is not just a matter of technical possibilities (e.g. E-democracy), but what's necessary to achieve sensible results is that voters are well informed and educated, both on the issue of the referendum and on politics in general. Else, DD is just a matter of which side has a higher advertising budget or irrational assets like movie stars. Btw, in a country where kids flush their goldfish thru the toilet (to "set them free") and other kids jump off skyscrapers wearing a Superman dress (thinking it makes them fly), after watching the corresponding movies, it's not really surprising that an actor who starred in a movie named "Total Recall" wins the Recall election. Americans have difficulties to distinguish TV from reality (also with CNN / Fox"News") ... Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
