View source for Thread:Talk:InstaGov/Demagoguery/reply

The main problem faced by any form of popular governance is demagoguery -- the co-opting of the discussion by small groups of monied or vocal people. Therefore an important question is how to prevent this demagoguery. How do we ensure the right of the majority to decide what to decide, and how does the majority frame the question? Can we find a way to prevent someone from highjacking the discussion by repeated interjections? Can we prevent someone from structuring the debate by buying the news?

The important and hard problem is making up the lists collectively. Being able to exclude issues because the majority doesn't want them considered even if some religious group considers it very important. Being able to divide things up into x,y,z rather than a,b,c because the majority would rather consider then in the frame x,y,z even though advertisers would prefer the structure a,b,c.