Claim: Major policy decisions should always be left to politicians and other government experts.
Reason: Politicians and other government experts are more informed and thus have better judgment and perspective than do members of the general public.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.
When major decisions of policy making are handed over to the general public, it is done through a system called ‘referendum’. It gives the right to every citizen to vote on significant issues concerning the State or the public. Although this system has a number of advantages and has been adopted by many countries, yet the disadvantages associate with it are destructive and many a times overshadow the merits. Hence, not all major policy decisions should be left for the people to decide, as that would put a Nation’s future at stake.
To begin with, previously in the olden days we had mob justice wherein the one found guilty, was handed over to the mob and they collectively decided punishment. That system went wrong on many facets. The unruly and irrational behavior of the mob made trials unjustifiable and punished the innocent. It eventually encouraged us to have courts where a few adept people (judges) were chosen or elected to offer justice. Since we cannot rely upon the rationality of crowd behavior, we cannot likewise assume they can decide cohenrently on matters as important as justice, finance or deciding on minority rights. Of course, there have been many instances around the world where the practise of referendums have profoundly benefitted the government and the nation, however on a closer inspection we are bound to encounter the disastrous side of it. The masses are always more prone to emotions and a crowd is always irrational than an individual. The United States of America has very well realised this aspect and have intelligently limited the participation of the crowd to simply decide the ruling party. The other major decisions are made by the people forming the Government. This makes the US government system so stable despite the hugeness of the country and diversity of its inhabitants.
The harmful effects of crowd participation in matters of national interest or simply, the referendums is visible in situations like the Brexit. The Britons were swayed by the popular notion that immigrants have taken up the jobs or posts that they deserved. Influenced by the hatred propaganda and overwhelmed by emotions, they voted for exiting the EU, not knowing how much loss it could mean to their finances, jobs or the overall stability of UK. Another example is the state of California. One can hardly not mention Proposition 13 when it comes to demerits of referendums. These referendums practically brankrupted the state where, as a reputed analyst says, the citizens were influenced by things as picayune as the hair colour of the candidates, while deciding to vote. Other disturbing effects can be seen in the case of Italian referendums. Italy chooses a handful of voters to elect or vote for or against a proposition. These definite voters sometimes need to vote on as many as as 12 issues on the same day. Other than the issue of unawareness on every of these propositions, the voters only perfunctorily do their assigned duty. Another situation maybe where people must decide whether minority rights are needed. Here, majoritisation can significantly influence the vote count and instead pave the way for communal disputes. Hence keeping the unmeritorious consequences of referendums in view, policy making on national, cultural and public issues should be entrusted solely to the government formers.
Of course there are various instances of successful referendums being passed where the nation and public have been greatly benefitted. For instance, Switzerland is one country that exercises the maximum public participation on policy making through referendums. The country is also one of the most stable and peaceful on the planet. Many have attributed this success to the referendums. However, the government of Switzerland calls upon the public to vote for each and every policy, minor or major and this can be done on any day. This tires out the public so much so that on many occassions the turnout is below 50%. The policy would be decided by as low as 10 voters on any particular day. This situation carries the element of doubt on the credibility of the votes cast. On the other hand, Swedish referendums are popularly known to be successful. But here again, we must note that Sweden also contain the highest percentage of literate people in the world. Their voters have been found to be highly informed on the policies they are required to vote for. Hence we see that unless the public are informed and educated, allowing them to decide on important matters must be avoided. Even in the most stable countries like Switzerland, referendums are likely to belie the intended purpose.
The representatives of the government normally pass through a series of tests and analysis proving their worth, before being elected to form government. Therefore, other than the task of electing the representatives, the public must be limited of their capacity to decide on important matters. Crowd psycology can have adverse effects on their decisions or on the overall voting outcomes. Since an individual is always more sane and pragmatic than a mob, the major decisions should always be left to the government experts and the chosen politicians.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 62, Rule ID: GENERAL_XX[1]
Message: Use simply 'public'.
Suggestion: public
...of policy making are handed over to the general public, it is done through a system called ‘re...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 382, Rule ID: A_PLURAL[1]
Message: Don't use indefinite articles with plural words. Did you mean 'a time' or simply 'times'?
Suggestion: a time; times
...ociate with it are destructive and many a times overshadow the merits. Hence, not all m...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 129, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...lty, was handed over to the mob and they collectively decided punishment. That sy...
^^
Line 3, column 1105, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...rowd to simply decide the ruling party. The other major decisions are made by the p...
^^^
Line 5, column 988, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a word
Suggestion: as
...oters sometimes need to vote on as many as as 12 issues on the same day. Other than t...
^^^^^
Line 5, column 1340, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Hence,
...ead pave the way for communal disputes. Hence keeping the unmeritorious consequences ...
^^^^^
Line 7, column 1060, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Hence,
...policies they are required to vote for. Hence we see that unless the public are infor...
^^^^^
Discourse Markers used:
['also', 'but', 'hence', 'however', 'if', 'likewise', 'may', 'so', 'therefore', 'well', 'while', 'for instance', 'of course', 'to begin with', 'on the other hand']
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance in Part of Speech:
Nouns: 0.228051391863 0.240241500013 95% => OK
Verbs: 0.167023554604 0.157235817809 106% => OK
Adjectives: 0.0792291220557 0.0880659088768 90% => OK
Adverbs: 0.0599571734475 0.0497285424764 121% => OK
Pronouns: 0.0289079229122 0.0444667217837 65% => OK
Prepositions: 0.124197002141 0.12292977631 101% => OK
Participles: 0.0610278372591 0.0406280797675 150% => OK
Conjunctions: 2.87194055672 2.79330140395 103% => OK
Infinitives: 0.0289079229122 0.030933414821 93% => OK
Particles: 0.00214132762313 0.0016655270985 129% => OK
Determiners: 0.125267665953 0.0997080785238 126% => OK
Modal_auxiliary: 0.0192719486081 0.0249443105267 77% => OK
WH_determiners: 0.00963597430407 0.0148568991511 65% => OK
Vocabulary words and sentences:
No of characters: 5209.0 2732.02544248 191% => OK
No of words: 853.0 452.878318584 188% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 6.10668229777 6.0361032391 101% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.40427272933 4.58838876751 118% => OK
words length more than 5 chars: 0.384525205158 0.366273622748 105% => OK
words length more than 6 chars: 0.275498241501 0.280924506359 98% => OK
words length more than 7 chars: 0.186400937866 0.200843997647 93% => OK
words length more than 8 chars: 0.138335287222 0.132149295362 105% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.87194055672 2.79330140395 103% => OK
Unique words: 397.0 219.290929204 181% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.465416178195 0.48968727796 95% => OK
Word variations: 62.8647088333 55.4138127331 113% => OK
How many sentences: 44.0 20.6194690265 213% => Less sentences wanted.
Sentence length: 19.3863636364 23.380412469 83% => OK
Sentence length SD: 43.4999465659 59.4972553346 73% => OK
Chars per sentence: 118.386363636 141.124799967 84% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.3863636364 23.380412469 83% => OK
Discourse Markers: 0.340909090909 0.674092028746 51% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.94800884956 101% => OK
Language errors: 7.0 5.21349557522 134% => OK
Readability: 46.9361877864 51.4728631049 91% => OK
Elegance: 1.61506276151 1.64882698954 98% => OK
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.340016003547 0.391690518653 87% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence: 0.0697005492695 0.123202303941 57% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence SD: 0.0565246048905 0.077325440228 73% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence: 0.477758510054 0.547984918172 87% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence SD: 0.142858262733 0.149214159877 96% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.121189978907 0.161403998019 75% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0860130431904 0.0892212321368 96% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence: 0.611411179262 0.385218514788 159% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence SD: 0.0607095754476 0.0692045440612 88% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.274676086296 0.275328986314 100% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0651483786036 0.0653680567796 100% => OK
Task Achievement:
Sentences with positive sentiment : 15.0 10.4325221239 144% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 13.0 5.30420353982 245% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 16.0 4.88274336283 328% => Less neutral sentences wanted.
Positive topic words: 10.0 7.22455752212 138% => OK
Negative topic words: 9.0 3.66592920354 246% => OK
Neutral topic words: 10.0 2.70907079646 369% => OK
Total topic words: 29.0 13.5995575221 213% => OK
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Rates: 79.17 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.75 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations to cover all aspects.