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lorestoday at 10:14 AM3 repliesview on HN

Democracy requires an informed electorate. Just having the right to vote isn't enough.


Replies

foldrtoday at 10:20 AM

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.

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1718627440today at 3:17 PM

Yeah, but you can't legislate people to care.

logicchainstoday at 10:15 AM

No it doesn't, democracy means rule by all the people not rule by some educated elite.

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