Democracy gives me a vote to cast how I see fit. I am intelligent enough to think for myself and to not be manipulated by those people, or trends, or powers that be are considered *popular*. I can look past the scare mongering, spin and political spite that makes up our modern day government.
So thinketh all. Nobody believes they are wrong, or they'd change their beliefs.
Nobody thinks they're susceptible to propaganda either. It's always someone else. Incidentally, intelligence by no means makes you immune to propaganda. Believing that makes you more susceptible, as you're now less likely to consider that you might have been hoodwinked.
I voted out because I believe it will be better for the UK.
Yes. And that's the problem. Belief is no match for experience and expertise. The people who actually know about this stuff have repeatedly and virtually unanimously said it was a terrible idea. But belief trumped knowledge in this case.
You don't respect my right as a free independent citizen of the UK to cast my vote how I see fit - but you are adamant that I should respect yours.
Odd how you come to that conclusion,
seeing as I don't vote.
How has parliamnet failed in it's duty?
Let me hand you over to Edmund Burke, he's a good guy, unfortunately dead....
“It ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion, high respect; their business, unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own. But his unbiassed opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion….
“To deliver an opinion, is the right of all men; that of constituents is a weighty and respectable opinion, which a representative ought always to rejoice to hear; and which he ought always most seriously to consider. But authoritative instructions; mandates issued, which the member is bound blindly and implicitly to obey, to vote, and to argue for, though contrary to the clearest conviction of his judgment and conscience, these are things utterly unknown to the laws of this land, and which arise from a fundamental mistake of the whole order and tenor of our constitution.”
That is the basis of a Parliamentary democracy. That is the reason there isn't an iReferendum app that can instantly defer all decisions to the public.
Explain how democratic it is to ignore the majority vote of the people.
Because we live in a representative democracy, not a direct democracy. See above.
Who are these 'suitably qualified and rational people'?
Experts. Civil servants, diplomats, and suitably qualified and rational politicians.
From where I sit the whole government does not give 2 whatevers about the man on the street, and hasn't done for years - nor will they any time soon.
Agreed. And that is why I actually do respect and support your vote to leave. But I want you to own that vote, not pretend you did it to make things better. The referendum was a push back against the status quo for many of those who voted leave, and that I understand.
However, people voting to kick out foreigners whilst claiming to not be racist, or people voting for national sovereignty whilst typing on keyboards made in China, plugged into computers made with silicon procured in California, and turned into chips designed in Korea, all whilst drinking coffee from Brazil, aren't qualified to vote. These things come because of international trade. International trade happens because of negotiation and treaty. Any treaty is, by definition, a ceding of some sovereignty.
That Theresa May, a staunch stay supporter, is following the wishes of the people has actually started to restore my faith in our 'politcal elite'....
Theresa May is a woman obsessed with kicking out foreigners. Remember that speech? A "hostile atmosphere"? She's not doing this for you, she's doing this for her own twisted ideas on who should be allowed in "her" country.
