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Comment by erichocean | Hacker News Reader

It's far better to let CA voters decide in November how they want Uber/Lyft to be regulated on this issue.

Once that's done, the court can either continue the stay or enforce it depending on the outcome. Either way, democracy wins.

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Direct democracy is bad. All one has to do is whip people into an emotional frenzy. Essentially you are arguing that the people should further circumscribe Individual rights like entering into a contract. Now people that made extra money, probably needed extra money, will be denied this option because the people will put the requirement of health benefits onto the contracting company.

All 'democracy' is bad. People should just decide for themselves and not for others and not enforce their opinions ("laws") on others using government force.

While I agree with this in the abstract, government force is needed to prevent a vendetta system to rise in its absence.

So you create a vendetta system to prevent one?

So everything is up for grabs? A person can decide that he should be able to drink and drive.

Everyone can live and do as they like as long as they respect the right to life of everyone else.

We don't support democracy because it always produces the "right' answer, we support it because the alternative is authoritarian rule and violence.

Far better to have the consent of the governed, even when imperfect.

You can do this with a republic. California’s direct democracy has shown itself time and again to be a bad idea. People vote emotionally. They approve expenses without requiring funding. They vote property taxes down. Ultimately you need the buffer of a republican system to cool heads.

> we support it because the alternative is authoritarian rule and violence.

False dichotomy.

A middle ground can include people with expertise voting on a specific matter, and not any random layperson who can easily be manipulated.

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