>does a reasonable job of prevention the most stupid ideas from getting Mainstream attention.
Citation needed? Some pretty stupid ideas get through and lots of corruption (e.g. "bridge to nowhere").
>The people deciding political issues wouldn't be the reasonable and smart people who hang around here.
What kind of people do think are in the Senate/Congress? They're not the reasonable and smart people who hang around here either. And in any case, those people you so happily deride are choosing said representatives anyway.
Any problems you see with giving everyone a say exist with giving a subset of those people a say. In fact I would say the problem is exaggerated with the smaller group because the kind of people who would be good for government are the kind who would never be willing to do that job. I bet they would be willing to voice their opinions though.
Citation needed? Some pretty stupid ideas get through and lots of corruption (e.g. "bridge to nowhere").
>The people deciding political issues wouldn't be the reasonable and smart people who hang around here.
What kind of people do think are in the Senate/Congress? They're not the reasonable and smart people who hang around here either. And in any case, those people you so happily deride are choosing said representatives anyway.
Any problems you see with giving everyone a say exist with giving a subset of those people a say. In fact I would say the problem is exaggerated with the smaller group because the kind of people who would be good for government are the kind who would never be willing to do that job. I bet they would be willing to voice their opinions though.