What kind of democracy do we think we have?

After the 2010 UK election, the AV referendum and even now with the debt ceiling negotiations in the US, I am struck that we are not clear what kind of democracy we either want or have. Essentially, are we confused on what we are doing when we vote? Do we agree whether we are electing representatives or delegates?

The nagging in my brain got to the point where I thought best to do something about it, so in partnership with YouGov@Cambridge put a survey out to look into this. This led to a piece in the Huffington Post, The Leaders We Deserve, which gives the headline numbers from the survey and some colour commentary.

The numbers from the survey frankly depress me (summary data here)- two thirds of people seem to believe that they live in some form of direct democracy, which is not true, but worse only a third agree it is their responsibility to find out about the issues.

A part of the survey that we have not put into an article yet is a set of questions on what should be decided by referendum and whether referenda should be legally binding (which they are not). However, 68% of respondents agree or strongly agree that they should be legally binding.

Throughout the numbers the impression for me is that there is a terrible conjunction of people wanting control but not wanting the responsibility that goes with it. While I was putting the piece together a good friend pointed me at one of Peter Cook's early and least remembered movies, The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer. The story follows Rimmer as he blags his way into a failing advertising firm, then into politics, and finally as Prime Minister where he asks the general public to vote on every decision in government. Here's an excerpt .... Maybe this is where we are heading?

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