text: I respect your point a view, but I think it is worth pointing out that not everyone shares it.  I like a representative democracy, where we vote in people to represent us and they make decisions on our behalf.  I feel that the representatives have greater access to more information, and as they are involved in weighing ALL the issues, they have a better sense of how to balance them.  Individuals may be passionate about a certain issue, and they may not be taking into account other seemingly (to them) unrelated issues.   I have a concern that a public vote takes the control out of the hands of the representatives we elected to do this work to govern us.  In issues of economic development, I have a concern that the voting populace will not take the time to educate themselves on the issues enough to make an informed decision.   Note that this is a belief about a system of governance that I know not all share.  I prefer a representative democracy and not direct democracy.