A Challenging Pursuit

Last week, my classmates and I had a forum discussion about the idea of an electronic direct democracy, and whether or not the U.S. Government should adopt such a system. We had people arguing from both sides of the issue; some of us criticised it as unrealistic, some argued on a technological basis, and some advocated it as the most "fair" form of government.

Back in July of 2008, Austin Bay Blog wrote about the challenge of democracy, the careful balance required, and the obligations of a democratic government. I believe, to some extent, that this relates to last week's discussion. The author talks about why our government is structured the way it is, the idealistic driving force behind it, and what makes it such a challenging pursuit.

It's a rather lengthy article but well worth the read. To me it serves as a reminder that the structure of our government, as messy as it may seem, was not considered and adopted carelessly. It's been formed and shaped by a very long history of challenges, and there's a lot of reasons that our current government is shaped the way it is.