People don't vote for stuff on the basis of facts or arguments, political debate is nearly always based on emotional appeals which cannot sensibly be reflected in policy because their purpose is not to explain an actual course of action, it is to persuade voters that a set of politicians share their view of the world.

For democracy to work properly it must be two sided - with politicians telling the truth to a populace who are interested in being told it. We aren't, they don't, and we consistently reward the biggest liars with the best jobs, so nobody comes out of it smelling too good if you really look at the process.

The euro debate is a case in point - on a grand scale. Both sides of the debate have been hijacked by utopian fantasists with simplistic mythologies to peddle. The EU is a mess because a series of German politicians have hoped against all evidence that they can inculcate their tardy neighbours with some kind of work ethic, but they have been consistently outmanoeuvred by Frenchmen and Italians clinging to a pathetic notion that everything can be kept exactly as it is forever if you close your eyes and wish real hard.

Our Eurosceptics think we're the only people who care about doing anything properly, they are prisoners of a delusion that we would unleash a mighty torrent of entrepreneurialism if only we would make it easier to sack people and harder to avoid deportation. And our Europhiles think much the same way as the Germans, except with an extra topping of fatalism that we are some kind of insignificant little island that must cling to the Euro skirt for protection (handily getting their excuses in early). European Anglosceptics think that if we bugger off that means they won't lose out, and Anglophiles (some of those euro guys are actually glad to have us around) think that our obstreperous tendencies can be curbed and we can actually become good neighbours.

All of those people are deluded. Especially the last set.

But would it be democratic? If the majority want policies that are, in the final analysis, very mild nazi delusions, is it right or wrong to let them have them?