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| Democracy and checks and balances | |
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| Gary Younge writes (10 November): “Most pundits said they wouldn’t do it; most pollsters insisted they couldn’t do it; everyone from the pope to Beyoncé said they shouldn’t do it. Now it’s done.” Indeed. One resounding message from the seismic electoral events of 2016 – Brexit and now Trump – is that democracy has been badly served by pundits and pollsters. In the aftermath of Brexit, many voters said they would have voted differently had they known how finely balanced the referendum was going to be, while significant numbers of Democrat-leaning non-voting Americans might have acted differently had they known the true strength of Trump’s support when making their fateful decision to stay away from the polling stations this Tuesday. | Gary Younge writes (10 November): “Most pundits said they wouldn’t do it; most pollsters insisted they couldn’t do it; everyone from the pope to Beyoncé said they shouldn’t do it. Now it’s done.” Indeed. One resounding message from the seismic electoral events of 2016 – Brexit and now Trump – is that democracy has been badly served by pundits and pollsters. In the aftermath of Brexit, many voters said they would have voted differently had they known how finely balanced the referendum was going to be, while significant numbers of Democrat-leaning non-voting Americans might have acted differently had they known the true strength of Trump’s support when making their fateful decision to stay away from the polling stations this Tuesday. |
| Without knowing the electorate’s true voting intentions, voters are blind. Worse, if provided with inaccurate information, they think they can see when in fact they cannot. People need to be able to make important decisions in an informed manner. Pollsters, psephologists and political scientists must, therefore, either get considerably better at assessing the voting intentions of the electorate, or stop attempting to do so altogether. The consequences of getting it wrong are too serious.Professor Carenza LewisLincoln | Without knowing the electorate’s true voting intentions, voters are blind. Worse, if provided with inaccurate information, they think they can see when in fact they cannot. People need to be able to make important decisions in an informed manner. Pollsters, psephologists and political scientists must, therefore, either get considerably better at assessing the voting intentions of the electorate, or stop attempting to do so altogether. The consequences of getting it wrong are too serious.Professor Carenza LewisLincoln |
| • No one can express an opinion accurately with just a single x. Experience in Northern Ireland shows that extremists are less likely to cross the party divides. Thus single-preference voting often gives extremists more success than is their due. The trouble with Trump (and Brexit) was that the vote was, in effect, binary. If the US election had been preferential – with, say, Clinton, Cruz, Johnson, Sanders, Stein and Trump – the outcome could have been a more accurate reflection of the general will, and Trump would probably now not be the president-elect. If democracy is to survive, preferential voting is essential, both in elections and in decision-making, both in Congress/parliament and in the country at large.Peter EmersonDirector, De Borda Institute, Belfast | • No one can express an opinion accurately with just a single x. Experience in Northern Ireland shows that extremists are less likely to cross the party divides. Thus single-preference voting often gives extremists more success than is their due. The trouble with Trump (and Brexit) was that the vote was, in effect, binary. If the US election had been preferential – with, say, Clinton, Cruz, Johnson, Sanders, Stein and Trump – the outcome could have been a more accurate reflection of the general will, and Trump would probably now not be the president-elect. If democracy is to survive, preferential voting is essential, both in elections and in decision-making, both in Congress/parliament and in the country at large.Peter EmersonDirector, De Borda Institute, Belfast |
| • Thomas Frank claims “liberals” put Trump in the White House. In the UK we have heard similar claims that Brexit is really the fault of a pro-EU liberal “elite”. As someone who grew up in a single-parent family on a council estate, far from any liberal elites, I was taught that a vote is a powerful and valuable tool to be wielded responsibly. So can we stop all the patronising liberal hand-wringing and grant people enough respect as adults in a democracy to be accountable for their own actions? Nobody forced anyone to vote for Trump or Brexit: people made their own choices and should accept responsibility for them.Chris WebsterAbergavenny, Monmouthshire | • Thomas Frank claims “liberals” put Trump in the White House. In the UK we have heard similar claims that Brexit is really the fault of a pro-EU liberal “elite”. As someone who grew up in a single-parent family on a council estate, far from any liberal elites, I was taught that a vote is a powerful and valuable tool to be wielded responsibly. So can we stop all the patronising liberal hand-wringing and grant people enough respect as adults in a democracy to be accountable for their own actions? Nobody forced anyone to vote for Trump or Brexit: people made their own choices and should accept responsibility for them.Chris WebsterAbergavenny, Monmouthshire |
| • Trump’s victory is being explained in terms of the political elite being out of touch with, and unrepresentative of, the ordinary people. But if those people are racist, misogynist, homophobic and bigoted, or are tolerant of those attitudes in their political leaders, then shouldn’t it be seen as a good thing they are not represented? It is better that those who make the important decisions don’t share those views and instead work to change those attitudes where they are held by “the people”, than that they echo them and govern their country in that spirit. David WallNorthampton | • Trump’s victory is being explained in terms of the political elite being out of touch with, and unrepresentative of, the ordinary people. But if those people are racist, misogynist, homophobic and bigoted, or are tolerant of those attitudes in their political leaders, then shouldn’t it be seen as a good thing they are not represented? It is better that those who make the important decisions don’t share those views and instead work to change those attitudes where they are held by “the people”, than that they echo them and govern their country in that spirit. David WallNorthampton |
| • Surely in a democracy an official body (in Britain the Electoral Commission) should have power to prevent the serial telling of lies to gain advantage in a poll. It is no good prosecuting after the event (Brexit: Vote Leave leaders may face court for ‘misleading’ voters, 8 November). Such liars should be made to own up to the error of their ways or barred from further engagement in the proceedings. It cannot be right that two vital decisions in two major democracies have been influenced by repeated mendacious duplicity.Brian ClaydenBradwell-on-Sea, Essex | • Surely in a democracy an official body (in Britain the Electoral Commission) should have power to prevent the serial telling of lies to gain advantage in a poll. It is no good prosecuting after the event (Brexit: Vote Leave leaders may face court for ‘misleading’ voters, 8 November). Such liars should be made to own up to the error of their ways or barred from further engagement in the proceedings. It cannot be right that two vital decisions in two major democracies have been influenced by repeated mendacious duplicity.Brian ClaydenBradwell-on-Sea, Essex |
| • Jonathan Freedland argues (10 November) that the checks and balances that the US could normally have called upon to restrain Donald Trump may no longer exist. He suggests that we can’t rely on the military to stop Trump from getting out of hand. I am not so sure. The most steadfast modern constitutional guardians probably are the military, as once they were in Turkey. What is to prevent them from stepping in? Also, unimaginably, we might find ourselves welcoming that.Richard WilsonOxford | • Jonathan Freedland argues (10 November) that the checks and balances that the US could normally have called upon to restrain Donald Trump may no longer exist. He suggests that we can’t rely on the military to stop Trump from getting out of hand. I am not so sure. The most steadfast modern constitutional guardians probably are the military, as once they were in Turkey. What is to prevent them from stepping in? Also, unimaginably, we might find ourselves welcoming that.Richard WilsonOxford |
| • Why are people on the left not accepting democracy any more? Having lost Brexit the challenges go to the courts; having lost out to Donald Trump in the US presidential election, the challenges are taken to the streets. For good or ill the votes have to be respected or else we are all lost. The alternative is mob rule or dictatorship.Tim RaymondHythe, Kent | • Why are people on the left not accepting democracy any more? Having lost Brexit the challenges go to the courts; having lost out to Donald Trump in the US presidential election, the challenges are taken to the streets. For good or ill the votes have to be respected or else we are all lost. The alternative is mob rule or dictatorship.Tim RaymondHythe, Kent |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |
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