In what ways does public opinion influence the formation of a democratic society?

In what way does public opinion influence the formation of a democratic society? Well, there are many different ways that public opinion influences the way the government is created. When our forefathers were setting out a new government in lieu of the revolution from England, they had the public opinion of how a Government for the people actually worked. Back then we only had 13 colonies and a few thousand people to worry about. Representatives from each Colony were actual people from the land, and not paid for their services. Now a days, we actually hold elections for our Representatives and they decide what to do about their individual state. I feel that Public opinion can change certain things, such as Immigration and Abortion. Ultimately the person who decides is the people in office and how they decide is what we have to live by. The way I feel may not be the way someone else feels and so forth, so getting the full public opinion is quite hard. Would it be easier if we elected someone to carry our message once a year? It would most definitely be interesting to see if that person could communicate fully the ideals of who they represent, better than we have now. Public Opinion also has a big impact on what the Government spends its money on, ideally, in an actual Democracy it does. I don’t particularly think we should spend as much on Defense as we do…but someone else may disagree with me and think the Defense budget should be increased.

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