[simonh]

It clearly isn't impossible for direct democracy to work, but equally there is no guarantee that a measure that gets passed in that way will ever get implemented, or will be implemented in the way intended.

For a start, once the legislation hits reality and needs to be interpreted who decides how it was intended to be implemented? Who chooses which tradeoff should be made when measures conflict with each other? we had problems like this with Brexit in spades. We still have in the from of the relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic, our leaving the EU free trade zone creates direct conflict with out obligations under the Good Friday agreement. Fortunately we have a government lead by a Brexiteer so I'm sure he'll have all that sorted out in no time.

In 2014 the Swiss passed an initiative to introduce quotas on immigration from the EU, in direct conflict with a treaty between Switzerland and the EU on free movement. It was never implemented.

None of these are the end of the world, but they are problems with the model that need to be taken into account and that direct democracy advocates need to address.