[nraynaud]

What you said is correct. The UK doesn’t have a system for referendum, so they hacked an opinion poll with the question: “do you want to leave the EU?”

In a normal democracy with a referendum system, the people vote on a text in place of having the politicians do it. The question is always “to you approve the text such and such.” The first problem is that the UK constitution doesn’t have this system I think, the second problem is what to vote on. They could either negotiate a treaty first and then ask people to approve it, or they could ask people to vote on the mission of the negotiators (but it’s tricky since the outcome is not known)

[DubiousPusher]

I've often thought referendums need a reconciliation process. My tri-county area in the US voted overwhelmingly for a tax and program package to build light rail transit.

Within 4 years they passed another referendum cutting the taxes they voted in to pay for the trains without repealing the referendum requiring the transit authority to build the trains. Doh!

[offtop5]

Build the trains without paying for them. California is much the same way, you have dozens of fantastic niche taxes to fund programs, but next thing you know you're paying $500,000 to house a single homeless family.

It would be easier to give said family $10,000 and exile them from the state, but then you'd have to face a very frank realization, California is not a good state for most working class people.

That's besides the point, let me know when this train gets built. More cities need public transit

[blibble]

> The UK doesn’t have a system for referendum

this isn't true, the UK doesn't have them very often but we had had two country-wide referendums prior to the EU referendum

and at the council/district level they are frequent, even being required by law for certain proposed changes