<story><title>The British are Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it</title><url>https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/06/24/the-british-are-frantically-googling-what-the-eu-is-hours-after-voting-to-leave-it/?campaign_id=A100&amp;campaign_type=Email</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Inthenameofmine</author><text>&amp;gt; We haven&amp;#x27;t figured this shit out yet. Kings anyone? How about the best wrestler gets to be in charge? ideas?&lt;p&gt;As a Swiss citizen, I think the swiss system is very close to perfect in this regard.&lt;p&gt;Sure, emotional and stupid arguments sometimes prevail, but most of the time the people make the perfect decision. Public discourse is most often also very rational, more so than most world parliaments.&lt;p&gt;Irrational arguments have been a staple of especially the British political system. I am amazed at the low level of discussion in the UK even by their representatives.&lt;p&gt;Direct democracy is something that has to be done regularly, otherwise you end up with situations like the UK or California.</text></item><item><author>netcan</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m strangely moved by this whole thing. It&amp;#x27;s a pretty decent status check on where we are with democracy ATM. I&amp;#x27;m not against democracy, but I do think we need to pay attention to what it can &amp;amp; can&amp;#x27;t do.&lt;p&gt;On one hand, this has been a model of democracy. A primary election agenda and referendum. The phrasing of the question was simple, clear and unbiased. The &amp;quot;will of the people&amp;quot; won over the will of the ruling structure. Most politicians and the main parties (especially before the opportunists jumped in) were against leaving. So was the financial sector and most big businesses.&lt;p&gt;OTOH, some of the problems inherent in democracy were also on display. A &amp;quot;right to my opinion&amp;quot; emotional public moved by very emotional arguments. Lies, untruths and misleading truths were the most prominent arguments on either side. A majority of the discussion was stupid.&lt;p&gt;We haven&amp;#x27;t figured this shit out yet. Kings anyone? How about the best wrestler gets to be in charge? ideas?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mstade</author><text>&amp;gt; Direct democracy is something that has to be done regularly [...]&lt;p&gt;I think there&amp;#x27;s a lot of truth to this. When referendums are seldom, I believe there&amp;#x27;s a real risk of them turning into spectacle. (And at worst, a weapon for use by nationalists and fascists, like what happened in Germany in the 30s.)&lt;p&gt;When they are regular, and limited, and like in Switzerland not something pulled on a whim but actually requires some work to call, they might just work. But that also kind of assumes an informed electorate, which is perhaps the main point here – the electorate hasn&amp;#x27;t been very well informed, either way.</text></comment>
<story><title>The British are Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it</title><url>https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/06/24/the-british-are-frantically-googling-what-the-eu-is-hours-after-voting-to-leave-it/?campaign_id=A100&amp;campaign_type=Email</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Inthenameofmine</author><text>&amp;gt; We haven&amp;#x27;t figured this shit out yet. Kings anyone? How about the best wrestler gets to be in charge? ideas?&lt;p&gt;As a Swiss citizen, I think the swiss system is very close to perfect in this regard.&lt;p&gt;Sure, emotional and stupid arguments sometimes prevail, but most of the time the people make the perfect decision. Public discourse is most often also very rational, more so than most world parliaments.&lt;p&gt;Irrational arguments have been a staple of especially the British political system. I am amazed at the low level of discussion in the UK even by their representatives.&lt;p&gt;Direct democracy is something that has to be done regularly, otherwise you end up with situations like the UK or California.</text></item><item><author>netcan</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m strangely moved by this whole thing. It&amp;#x27;s a pretty decent status check on where we are with democracy ATM. I&amp;#x27;m not against democracy, but I do think we need to pay attention to what it can &amp;amp; can&amp;#x27;t do.&lt;p&gt;On one hand, this has been a model of democracy. A primary election agenda and referendum. The phrasing of the question was simple, clear and unbiased. The &amp;quot;will of the people&amp;quot; won over the will of the ruling structure. Most politicians and the main parties (especially before the opportunists jumped in) were against leaving. So was the financial sector and most big businesses.&lt;p&gt;OTOH, some of the problems inherent in democracy were also on display. A &amp;quot;right to my opinion&amp;quot; emotional public moved by very emotional arguments. Lies, untruths and misleading truths were the most prominent arguments on either side. A majority of the discussion was stupid.&lt;p&gt;We haven&amp;#x27;t figured this shit out yet. Kings anyone? How about the best wrestler gets to be in charge? ideas?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>semi-extrinsic</author><text>In the British Parliament, there are lines which separate the MPs on the two sides. These lines are a bit more than two swordlengths apart, to prevent them from stabbing each other.</text></comment>