Complications of pure democracy
Brookshire addresses the innate difficulties of pure democracy. He provides an example of how democracy could hinder the administration of city services.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Stanford Raynold Brookshire, August 18, 1975. Interview B-0067. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- BILL MOYE:
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That, in a way, is why I was asking that. It seems that the group who
wanted consolidation might have realized, before appointing such a broad
commission, that by appointing such a broad commission you might open
the door to getting beyond what they wanted into a sort of
unworkable...
- STANFORD RAYNOLD BROOKSHIRE:
-
Well, I guess we just weren't wise enough or smart enough to
see that. Didn't anticipate that. Back to the point I just
made or the opinion that I expressed that pure democracy
doesn't work, I'll illustrate that. During the
hearings for the proposed goals for Charlotte Mecklenburg last May a
year ago in one of the meetings which I attended, one man got up and
proposed that one of the goals provide for a referendum on city and
county budgets. That before adopting a city budget, for example, the
City Council would hold a city-wide referendum to approve the proposed
budget. That particular individual also wanted, after the adoption of
such a budget, all expenditures of over $100, I believe he
said, to be approved by referendum. Well, can you
imagine...
- BILL MOYE:
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You'd have a hard time.
- STANFORD RAYNOLD BROOKSHIRE:
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The administration of city affairs would get stalled on the first
referendum. But, that would be pure democracy if everybody had a right
to say how the city money was to be spent under given budgets.
- BILL MOYE:
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Something of an unworkable situation.
- STANFORD RAYNOLD BROOKSHIRE:
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That's right.
