Refusal for a referendum on pullout is an indication of a bigger problem

[KettleWhistle]

I must say I do like the idea, and it is perfectly compatible with our political system (after all, if we already chose to pattern it after the British model, they do have a House of Lords and a House of Commons, don't they?)
However, it would still be done through representatives rather than by a direct expression of the people's opinion.

You can call it houses or chambers of a parliament, or Senate and the House of Represenative (that's the official name of the U.S. Congress), but the idea still the same--to make bureaucrats less powerful and to subject them to more control. This is one of the ideas that formed the U.S. government structure, and it's a powerful one. Not to say that our system is perfect, but I do believe that the basic structure we have is better than that of the parliamentary system, as it provides for more stability and better accountability.

It seems to me that we arrive to different conclusions from the same place. I also believe that public vote should determine the general direction, and I also take into account many small issues when I vote. However, once my candidate is elected, I prefer judging him by the results at the end of his term rather than kick him out the moment he does something that is not to my liking. (Unless of course this candidate commits a crime incompatible with public service. If Sharon was convicted of corruption, I'd be the first to demand that he stands down). If his results are unsatisfactory, he isn't getting my vote anymore. Ever. Even as a lesser of two evils. Is that not democratic?

Democratic? Yes. But to what degree? I think that if the electorate is kept out of the loop on such decisions, it is dangerously close to authocracy. My argument in this case is not so much to what Sharon does or does not do, but the failure and fragility of the general structure of the government. The question of the referendum really raises another, and really more important question: does the opinion of the citizenry count?

In my country I know that it does. I could argue that there is no need for a popular vote on whether the city of Los Angeles should borrow money for beach clean-up. It is easy to make a case that this could be left to experts and professionals. And that's just a relatively simple issue. There is no question that far more complex issues would be voted upon as well.

[Womble]

Democratic? Yes. But to what degree? I think that if the electorate is kept out of the loop on such decisions, it is dangerously close to authocracy. My argument in this case is not so much to what Sharon does or does not do, but the failure and fragility of the general structure of the government. The question of the referendum really raises another, and really more important question: does the opinion of the citizenry count?
In my country I know that it does. I could argue that there is no need for a popular vote on whether the city of Los Angeles should borrow money for beach clean-up. It is easy to make a case that this could be left to experts and professionals. And that's just a relatively simple issue. There is no question that far more complex issues would be voted upon as well.

You see, I am not a purist. Democracy is the most effective of the existing government systems, but I am afraid of it becoming a dogma. I do not think that today's Western governments, including that of Israel, are in danger of authocracy. The opposite it true: modern democratic governments are too powerless to be effective, and it is the fault of the people, not of the politicians. Citizens born and raised under a democracy are becoming increasingly Utopia minded, and it is virtually impossible to win an average man's vote without making promises that cannot be kept. Too many people forget that rights are maintained by obligations and that politics are the art of the possible. Too many people express the view that the government owes them everything while they owe the state nothing. I am afraid of that, because it is the way into mob tyranny, and no authocracy scares me as much as the possibility of the mob rule.