Gordon Brown's legacy

[SueEllen]

It's another expression of the fundamental problem in our Democracy - it's too big. I don't mean too big as in 'government is too big' I mean too big as in 'too many people are governed by it'.

There is no way for us as voters to understand enough of what's going on to make rational voting decisions, because the systems of government are so large and complex that understanding them at even an abstract level requires specialist knowledge. The systems themselves cannot be simplified too much, because their complexity is an unavoidable result of governing 80 million people.

We vote for people to represent us so we don't have to - that's the entire point of democracy.

Unfortunately using different voting systems for different elections in the UK makes it a bloody mess as people don't know how their vote makes an impact. Though if your parliamentary constituency is a marginal seat than your vote counts, likewise if local MP/councillors are fraudsters or paedophiles than your vote to get them out counts.

Most people also don't understand the powers that the elected official will have. Though with the police commissioners approximately 85% of people eligible to vote guessed right.