[gdewilde]

When democracy was implemented, representation was the technology to use. There was no consideration for the citizen to actively participate in the decision making process because there was no means that allowed for it. The option was never on the table.

They/we might have been a bit slow at times, democratic governments always tried to use the best technology available. Before the internet there was television, before television there was radio. The later 2 [at least] gave us top down communication. The voter could, all of a sudden, stay informed in real time. This was a big deal. We made huge progress right there.

We have internet now, we are obligated to use this to improve our democratic system.

It looks like it today (at least to me) but the reason we have representatives was not because we are to stupid to mow our own lawn. On the contrary, democracy assumes the voter to be competent. Would we not be competent enough to vote on specific things it automatically follows that we are not competent enough to vote at all.

We are the first generation to use representation as an excuse not to get involved.

Our politicians are suppose to guess what we want. Some end up choosing something that makes them rich. Not much of a coincidence there? It might be possible in theory for a representative to represent your interests better than you. But it isn't likely or even a believable scenario.