Can Jim name a country that has gone metric after a referendum or other
form of consultation of all the people?
The use of the metric system has been legal in the USA since 1866, in
Britain since 1864, in Myanmar (Burma) since 1920.
In a constitutional democracy (or republic, or monarchy, whichever your particular flavor is), the people elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf. Not everyone is going to like all the decisions, but in general things happen the way most people want, most of the time. Factors that can skew this are: powerful interests who influence the representatives, representatives who are more worried about re-election than doing the right thing, and representatives who listen only to the whiners and think that they speak for everyone. Not everyone agrees to that system, of course, but considering the alternatives, it seems to work.
Carleotn
