I posted this answer:
This question presupposes the question, “Effective, by what standard?” To answer that question, one must first answer the question, “What is the proper purpose of government?”
The proper purpose of government is to protect individual rights. As the Declaration of Independence states, “to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
This applies to any government, including democratically elected governments, whether direct or representative. In order to protect individual rights, a government’s powers must be constitutionally limited to only those powers necessary and proper to achieve that purpose--in other words, a constitutional republic.
In a democracy, properly understood, there are no constraints on government powers. President Biden captured the essence of democracy when he said, “the fundamental right to vote is the right from which all other rights flow.” This means all of our rights are subject to a vote, and that government can strip us of any right because it is elected. This contradicts the fundamental premise of America, that all individuals possess certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and property, which governments are instituted to protect, but can never violate (which is what “inalienable” means).
In a constitutional republic, some form of democratic process is crucial to effective governance. The right to vote is an important derivative of our fundamental inalienable rights. I would say representative democracy is not only best, but in all but the tiniest societies, the only form of democracy that can work. The idea that every issue can be decided by popular vote of millions of voters is utopian nonsense. It would be chaos. The popular election of a small number of representatives who then gather to institute laws allows for thoughtful, contemplative face-to-face debate and argumentation, where all aspects and nuances and perspectives can be fleshed out rationally and objectively, makes effective government much easier to achieve, as long as it occurs in the context of a constitutionally limited republic. This level of deliberation is something that mass popular voting leaves little room for. I believe that direct democracy in most cases is not only ineffective, but ultimately chaotic, unworkable, and the path to despotism and societal collapse.
Related Reading:
America; Democracy or Republic or Both--Why it Matters
Constitutional Republicanism: A Counter-Argument to Barbara Rank’s Ode to Democracy
Mesmerized by Elections, the NJ Star-Ledger Forgot that Tyranny is Tyranny
The Conscience of the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Liberty—Timothy Sandefur
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