Who realizes that they themselves are NOT an expert at everything, but then elects a President or a Representative to make decisions, making laws for people, against even the people's majority collective will, and living with a massive amount of oppressive power as if he were an expert at anything?
A person that recognizes something has to get done, and a President doesn't rule by himself. He comes with a cabinet of people (experts) to inform him on a variety of topics. And she (may be a woman in 08!) is balanced by the House and Senate, and the judicial branch of government. All of whom are more educated than the typical American and have in their branches experts to inform them on all the various issues such as foreign policy, energy, the economy, etc.
It isn't that the representative is herself an expert, it is that they are educated enough to use the experts provided to them.
So I vote for a representative who most closely matches my own ideals, and then hope they will live up to those ideals, being informed by the experts that work for the Federal government for that purpose. I also attempt to vote for people I think are reasonably intelligent and well-educated. The type that will recognize what they don't know, and will go find the people who do know.
Why should I vote for someone who I KNOW is NOT the expert at anything except at getting elected?
For the reasons I outlined above. Most of the populace is uneducated, apathetic, and unwilling and/or unable to make sense out of experts' advice. The hope is that you elect someone who shares some or most of your ideals who happens to be educated and want to do something about the issues, so they will take advice from experts and make decisions about it.
It isn't a perfect system (naturally, what is?). However, it is a system that is preferable to decisions being made by people who are not only uneducated about the issues but also unwilling to spend any time learning about them.
I see that people are trying to elect a God... out of a man.
OK. That's your opinion and what you see. I see a bunch of folks trying to get a very large national government that works decently well and avoid total anarchy.
The President is hardly a God, nor does the President wield as much power as you propose. Our government is a system of checks and balances. Bush had a lot of power because the Legislative branch was Republican for most of his two terms and backed his decisions. But it isn't like the President is a dictator or anything. Much as I can't stand Bush myself, even I will admit that.
This nation was founded as a Republic for these types of reasons. And there is a reason that no nation, and certainly not large ones, runs the way you want it to. That's my opinion and observation.
Do I have the right to elect someone to write the laws that you and I must obey? No?
You don't have the right to do anything on your own. The majority has a right to elect someone to write the laws, yes.
How else would this really work, by the way? Do you propose that in a nation of approximately 300 million people, any person just throws anything they want out there, no matter how poorly written, how ill-thought out, how destructive to long-term collective good? Then we all vote on them and pray that the average person, who reads at a fourth-grade level and has little or no information about the issue, will choose the right path?
Do you have any idea of how dangerous it would be? Of how our civil rights could go away in a heartbeat? How minority groups could once again be abused? How horrific things like slavery could be legalized?
And then there is the practicality of it all. Any idea on how many laws would float out there to be voted on? Who would write this stuff up? Edit it? How would people vote on the never-ending stream of crap that would be out there? How much time would it take out of people's lives? Do you have any idea of what could happen- just a bunch of swinging back and forth on issues and wasting time and money?
Take the war, for example. Initially, the majority of voters were for it (by polls). But they only wanted to be in there for a year. Now the majority are against it. OK. So you think it's just a matter of go in when people say to and leave when people say to. Except that it isn't that simple. You can't go in to a country, bomb the heck out of it, get rid of its government, and then leave it like that. Why? It results in really bad foreign policy, long term security issues, etc. The public has no real basis for understanding when to go to war, how to do it, when to leave, etc. and most of them aren't very consistent in their own views.
Off the top of my head, I could come up with a ton of likely bad scenarios resulting from this sort of thing.
Then what makes anyone think they have the right to elect someone to write the laws for myself and neighbor to obey? You don't.
Actually, in the United States, I do. Or rather, the majority does.
You may disagree with how the nation was built and how the government runs, but it is what it is and it defines my rights and your rights.
I can think of lots of improvements to the system, but I don't think what you propose would be an improvement. Eh, to each our own. At least in the US we get to freely voice our opinions, which is nice.
I disown representative democracy. No government represents me. Not in my name. I refuse to elect another man to rule over my neighbor... my neighbor can represent himself, and I represent myself.
OK. So do you vote? Do you have any plan for implementing this, or is it just what your ideal is? Do you actively avoid voting since you live in a representative government?
It's all just kind of rhetorical to me. It's like me saying I want to live in a socialist state. I do like socialism more than capitalism, but it's kind of a non-issue. I live in a capitalist state, so it is what it is. I make different choices than many within capitalism, but I cannot make the choice to live in a socialist state by virtue of my birthplace.