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Rebooting Democracy

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Highlights

What matters is that—whatever our nationality, political orientation and main grievances might be—we all realize that those who govern us do not represent us. That shared awareness unites us, and it means that we can do something about it. — location: 63 ^ref-22302

All over the globe, large parts of the population find themselves with no control over the crucial decisions that their political classes make, some of which will bind them for generations to come. — location: 79 ^ref-48101

a strong sense of autonomy is one of the essential elements for mental well-being. — location: 82 ^ref-47968

one has substantial control over one’s activities and endorses the values implicit in them. — location: 84 ^ref-39939

The first four address our central concern: namely, increasing citizens’ control over their government and, thus, ensuring that it acts in line with the public interest. The fifth proposal focuses on defining this very notion of “public interest” in a way that is adequately long-term oriented rather than myopic. — location: 142 ^ref-3737

In most countries, there is no mechanism for citizens to effectively block a measure being advanced by their elected government and parliament. — location: 209 ^ref-5727

Our elected politicians are both pulled towards inaction in matters where change is required and encouraged to make “daring” major decisions without public consultation. — location: 245 ^ref-45128

much of what we witnessed was the result of ideology—often with the undertones of a morality play—winning out over reason and evidence. — location: 310 ^ref-12284

The large extent to which our elected representatives and those speaking on behalf of big business share demographic traits and/or backgrounds is yet another reason to fear that our representatives will unduly identify with members of that other group and, thus, fail to adequately represent us. — location: 342 ^ref-36484

pressing global issues—such as regulating an out-of-control financial sector and addressing climate change, to name but two examples—have little chance of making substantial progress outside of the murky, unreliable processes of international conferences.[v] — location: 385 ^ref-9730

a true culture of public service, evidence suggests that it is now almost universally extinct. — location: 445 ^ref-50026

If media accounts are any indication, a culture of cutthroat electioneering and PR strategizing currently dominates the field of professional politics. It is, thus, highly unlikely that social norms of (for example) “serving the public interest” will ensure proper behavior by the political class. — location: 446 ^ref-14411

including “informed” citizens who follow the news, neglect to thoroughly study the most important policy issues. We vote for a candidate based largely on what are little more than “gut feelings” regarding her honesty and reasonableness. — location: 480 ^ref-25887

“rational ignorance”: in a modern-day representative democracy, it simply does not pay for the voter to be fully informed on policy issues. — location: 497 ^ref-18419

The cornerstone of these problems is that this wealth of information will tend to be processed by individuals in largely the same “snap,” unreflective manner that currently plagues most voters’ judgment of politicians. — location: 507 ^ref-32558

we stick to the fiction that elections provide us with an adequate mechanism to accurately evaluate and compare the political options presented to us. — location: 545 ^ref-44886

we are likewise stuck on the receiving end of this kind of deeply asymmetric “cognitive warfare.” — location: 551 ^ref-40791

An intelligent, well-meaning voter who relies on the passive, individual consumption of secondary sources is condemned to be largely overpowered by the combination of vast resources and state-of-the-art marketing techniques aimed at influencing his views. Competition among different political messages will, at best, result in the party with the most appealing message—often the one with the largest marketing budget—winning — location: 552 ^ref-10311

would first need to collectively agree on what they want. — location: 577 ^ref-25677

itizens can become better informed and master the most complex issues of state government if they are given the chance.” — location: 638 ^ref-42823

promoting the establishment of citizens’ chambers at the city level. — location: 767 ^ref-47201