Can a direct democracy reflect the "will of the people" with a media controlled by the wealthy?

[SlipperySlope]

Funny thing; yesterday I was driving home and thinking about democracy and wishing I could post polls here on DU. Today I log in and what-do-you-know, someone has made a donation in my name.

With that, my first poll.

Pretend we lived in a political system built on direct democracy. Almost all important public issues were decided by a direct vote of the people.

My first thought was that a system like this would do a fairly good job of reflecting the will of the people.

But then I thought about the influence of money on media. If a question was before the public, and one outcome was greatly favored by moneyed interests, while the other outcome had no powerful backers, it seems like the vote could be skewed by media spending - even if the "non-moneyed" outcome was actually the one which would be better for the voters.

So, my question (I think) is;

Can a democratic system truly reflect the will of the people if money is free to influence voters?

[mix]

1. no nt

[Warpy]

2. "No" with a qualification

You can't lie to all the people all the time. At some point, cognitive dissonance sets in and people start to turn ornery.

That's where revolutions, peaceful and violent, come from.

[RBInMaine]

3. Sorry, Direct national democracy aint happening in such a big nation, Moot point really.

[SlipperySlope]

4. Well, treat it as a thought expiriment then...

I reached my own conclusion, but was interested in what others would think.

[RBInMaine]

7. I get the point about corporate media. We're all well aware of their bias. That is why wealthy Dems

like Soros and the Kennedys need to put together their own conglomeration of viable alternative media sources and progressive thinktanks. It is an issue that has been well hashed over.

[Sebastian Doyle]

5. It's because of the complicit whore media that most of the country fails to realize the fact

That "democracy" is being eliminated in this country. And it didn't start on 9-11-01. Or even 12-12-2000. But it definitely accelerated after those events.

I don't believe a population that was truly informed would be anywhere near as apathetic. Which is entirely the point of the media takeover in the first place. They don't WANT a well informed public.

[mmonk]

6. Direct democracy is a misnomer.

It's just the will of the majority at any given time. They could vote for dictatorship. Real Democracy has to have a framework for all voices and representation or the society in question isn't necessarily democratized.

[SlipperySlope]

10. Many questions ultimately come down to yes/no.

Issues can be debated and discussed to decide if all points have been respected and heard, but what happens when it is time to make a decision? Do you do something other than majority rules?

What would be *your* ideal?

[mmonk]

11. Let's say the majority want certain people to be discriminated

against in some fashion. Should they get their wish through a ballot box?

[SlipperySlope]

12. Of course not...

Of course not, but that is what I am asking. How do you make decisions?

And taking that to the extreme; Say you have a population of 200,000,000 citizens. Say that 1,999,999 vote to discriminate against the 1. How do you create a system where that discrimination is impossible? Where the 1 cannot have their rights taken away even if the 1,999,999 demand it?

[mmonk]

13. You have a representative system added to legal protections.

Direct Democracy ballot iniatives aren't based on the same premise. They are based on issues of the moment fueled by a majority gathered up to vote on the issue presented on the ballot instead of a legislative process.

[aquart]

8. No poor person has EVER owned a media outlet.

Get real.

[damntexdem]

9. No, neither can a representative democracy.

Nor a semidemocracy like ours.

[Lilith Velkor]

14. Ask Venezuela n/t

[redqueen]

15. Of course not.

"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government."
Thomas Jefferson to Richard Price, 1789