I argued below that leadership and democracy are at odds when everyone votes on all matters of importance. This leads to a lack of leadership which in turn tends to support high discount rates which means future costs are undervalued relative to present sacrifice.
Representative democracy (in which elected representatives make particular policy choices, rather than the voters show choose only between representatives) helps but doesn't fix this problem. Career politicians may take a longer term view but when, as has happened recently, they are turfed out by a disgruntled electorate, and replaced by representatives who have little desire to spend their lives in politics, short term solutions dominate since the shadow of the future has disappeared, at least for those newly elected.
If I stand for election knowing I will not be standing again in 2 years time, I have no extrinsic incentive to ensure that my decisions work for those I represent in the longer term.
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