Peter Facey (London, Unlock Democracy): Jon Bright’s remarks (below) reflect one of the greatest challenges democratic reform in Britain faces: the “if we give them more power they may …” argument. It does not just apply to referendums but to any move to decentralize power in our country. And it shows why the government has tended to devolve power to do specific things, rather than give people and communities general tools or powers that they can use for their own ends.
In this example, Bright suggests that if we have more local referendums (particularly ones initiated by citizens) then they may introduce some nasty populist policies.
This argument puts those of us who support greater democratization in the position of having to either deny this possibility or resort to technical arguments about safeguards. So I will admit that they could be used in this manner, though international experience shows this less likely to happen than the critics suggest.
The problem is that populism is not the exclusive realm of direct democracy, as anyone who has watched local or national politics can attest to. Bright’s article could equally have been titled the “Democracy,the ugly side” because all of his criticisms apply to any form of democracy.
At the end of the day the only real reply is to say that empowering people is better than the alternatives. If you trust people they will get things right more often than not.
