Power to the people

Most democratic governments have what is termed as "representative democracy" or indirect democracy. In this type of democracy, basically, people vote for a person whom they see fit to represent their interest in the government. The problem with this type of government is its vulnerability to human greed or selfishness. For example, in our legislature, it would almost be impossible to pass a law that would ease the unfair advantage of political dynasties. Why? Because the representatives themselves are guilty of that.

On the other hand there is another variety of democracy called "pure democracy" or direct democracy. In this type of civic, all of the people concerned can participate in the decision-making process of the government. Among the other disadvantages of this type of democracy such as susceptability to mob rule etc, the more apparent and technical problem in this is the tediousness of information dissemination and gathering for the latter- eg collecting the votes of all the people on the issue of WON a road must be built an the street of A considering that the budget is this much. However, there are some places that exhibits the characteristics of a direct democracy such as in Switzerland where a citizen may propose a law that would be decided by the citizens either to pass it or not. Also, the use of "referenda" in some US States.

A bigger counter to the possibility of direct democracy is that as the populace grows bigger, the cost of maintaining it gets very high. With the progress that has been developing in the field of information technology, this could be a possibility in the near future. The internet, VOIP, SMS and whatever there may be gives hope to the possibility of making the government by the people, and for the people, a REALITY.

But of course, we need to have a better economy so that everyone can afford to have a the intrument needed or so that the government can sponsor one for everyone, and most of all, education.