Government Representatives

The argument

Political representatives are the highlight of a republic, and the argument for the system rests on what delegation makes possible. The alternative is direct participation. For citizens to decide matters themselves they would have to come together to vote on each one, which means being available whenever a question arises and doing so repeatedly, since the business of a state does not pause. In anything larger than a small community this is not achievable, and attempting it means either that decisions wait for the public to assemble or that they are made by whoever happens to turn up. Electing officials to vote on their behalf resolves that problem. The citizen exercises authority at the point of election and is not required to be present for everything that follows. The work of attending, deliberating, and voting is carried out continuously by people whose job it is, which means the state can act at the pace that governing actually requires. The second part of the argument concerns competence rather than availability. The matters a legislature decides are technical as often as they are political: the drafting of statute, the structure of a budget, the detail of regulation. By having representatives, people leave the responsibility of direct voting up to people who specialize in politics and who spend their working lives acquiring that knowledge. A citizen with a different occupation cannot be expected to master every question that arises, yet under direct voting they would be required to decide it anyway. Representation therefore delivers decisions that are both practicable to reach and better informed than a general vote would produce, which is why proponents hold that a republic is the best system of government.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Having government representatives vote for the civilian population robs a person the right to understand how government works. In a poll taken in America, less than 20% of the people who were asked about their state politics knew who the state’s legislator was. If there weren’t any representatives, people would be more motivated to be involved in their country’s government.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P3] Voting should be put directly in civilian hands. Without being involved, people won’t be able to educate themselves on how the government works.