10-13-2019, 08:33 PM
(10-13-2019, 08:19 PM)jwilliamson Wrote:(10-13-2019, 07:48 PM)jgsz Wrote: We live in a representative democracy. So who does an “independent” representative represent?
An independent representative is an oxymoron so far as I’m concerned. So is “representative democracy.” The ancient Greeks did not have representatives. They voted directly. In a complex society such as ours I realize we can’t vote directly. And that’s probably a good thing because if we voted directly we’d probably end up with some kind of mob rule. So it’s for some of these reasons that I favour a pure and simple, easy to understand, proportional representation. I think that’s the closest we can get to the Greek ideal of democracy. Mixed member or ranked ballots just doesn’t do it for me. They only obfuscate the process and confuse the average voter.
An independent representative is a representative who isn't in a political party. They still represent their constituents, they just don't have formal ties to other representatives. I'm not sure why that is somehow inimical to representative democracy.
But their constituents are not a monolithic block. They have various diverse and conflicting views. Which constitutes would the independent represent?