The arguments for and against a state's exercising forms of direct democracy?

Answer 1

By direct democracy, we mean a referendum, a vote which is put to the general public. In favor of referenda, is the fact that it is more democratic to allow the general public to vote, rather than letting elected officials make decisions on behalf of the public which elected them. The argument against referenda is that the general public does not necessarily understand the issues upon which they have been asked to vote, and may make more foolish decisions than their elected representatives would make. It may be that a professional politician who is able to fully devote his or her time to studying the issues, will be able to understand those issues better than the average voter. Of course, that is not always the case, since some politicians are corrupt or incompetent. But in theory, the public can elect good people who will then make good decisions on behalf of the people who elected them.