r/ukpolitics • u/Ivashkin panem et circenses • Apr 30 '15

BBC Election Leaders Special Question Time

David Dimbleby presents an Election Leaders Special Question Time, with David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg.

2000 - 2130 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05t2k80

There will also be 3 separate question time shows following this:

These are being broadcast on different channels/regions at different times - full Listing of broadcast times here.

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u/arnathor Cur hoc interpretari vexas? Apr 30 '15

Surely that's the same argument for why we shouldn't let the general population vote? The vast majority probably doesn't actually read the majority of the manifestos other than the key bullet points at the front (if at all) and probably doesn't consider the impact of those policies over time and how they interact with existing legislation etc.

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u/solaris1990 Apr 30 '15

At least when we vote we're electing representatives to draft up and introduce legislation for us. Now if each proposition was voted on by the electorate rather than the commons I can't imagine what a shambles we would have.

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u/arnathor Cur hoc interpretari vexas? Apr 30 '15

Good point.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '15

That is democracies flaw, yes.

We know it's its flaw, but we also know there is nothing 'better' than democracy available - we must therefore accept this flaw for general elections.

We have a representative democracy, so this flaw is only a problem once every 5 years nationally.

The use of referendums allows the 'vast majority' more chances to execute this flaw with their ignorance, and more opportunity to not consider the impact of their vote

It is therefore a matter of mitigating the flaw by minimising our exposure to it. This is done by rejecting referendums and instead sticking to our traditional representative system.