Let's face it - Representative Democracy is Dead

[ymetca]

It became obsolete with the advent of the Internet. It was always a stop-gap measure anyway, conceived in an age of oil lamps and horse-drawn carriages. It's a vestigial appendage of a bygone era. It is really WAY past time for an upgrade.

I, like most people, would much rather vote directly for policies and projects, than for someone who supposedly represents me, which is surely an impossibility. If we have the means to establish a Global Direct Democracy, why then should we not do so?

We know what stops us, of course --cabals of the wealthy and powerful coupled with atavistic religious sentiments and teary-eyed flag-waving. We have been duped by advertising. We have been lulled into obedience, ping-ponged between fear and helplessness. Competing empires of hierarchical control systems weave webs of conflicting laws and overlapping jurisdictions, establishing dubious borders, patents and property rights, and myriad other schemes to oppress the hoi polloi. "One Person, One Vote" equals "Mob Rule" we are told, over and over. Is it not the first fear that pops into your mind when I tell you that all votes can and should be equal?

But we forget the strategy of our vast underclasses --that there is safety in numbers. It is statistically unlikely we can all agree on anything, let alone our own mass-destruction. Direct Democracy is a balancing of the needle around the middle of the bell curve. And laws we all agree upon would be few, but likely sweeping. I doubt the majority of people on this planet want to exterminate any other class but that of the rich and powerful. And therein lies the rub, and why we don't have it already.

Still, we are afraid of it. Of the truth that Representative Democracy is a Fake Democracy. We know that in order to establish a Global Direct Democracy we need technologies as corruptible as any. We know we need biometric uniqueness to ensure the integrity of a single vote, but we need it without absolute identity being divulged and thus coerced. We know we must re-conceive voting as an integral daily practice of all Earth Citizens; that voting is not either/or but a spectrum from very much for to very much against, and that the needle of reasonable certitude must constantly be re-calibrated. Are you still very much for or against this or that? Is there some other law you wish to be enacted? Has this law harmed you? Do you have the means of redress?

Whew! All this probing seems like a ridiculous amount of work. Especially when we've all been conditioned to a set-it-and-forget-it attitude towards the things we take for granted. But that is kind of the point. The things some take for granted others do not. And I would think that a Direct Democracy, over time, would gradually move such things from the Dire Needs to the Things We Take For Granted column. Things like clean air and water, food, clothing and shelter, education and self-actualization, would likely be our top priorities until those problems were solved for the 99%. It would be an exponential leap for humanity if we all became shareholders in a global prosperity system, instead of a bunch of individual cogs in a machine of endless toil creating crap destined ultimately for landfills. When all of us can truly participate in the democratic process --when my vote is as powerful as any senator's-- well, then, we shall see just what can be accomplished.

We must abandon, at long last, our allegiance to hierarchy. Those pyramids we found buried in the sands of Egypt and engulfed in the jungles of South America are not shining examples of what humanity can accomplish, but warning signs to be taken seriously. Even our current civilization will fail if we do not break our thralldom to hierarchy.

The long adolescence of humanity is coming to an end. Our King of Hill games are getting hackneyed. We can either transition ourselves into shared empathy systems of global prosperity and a clean environment, or fight yet again to plant a flag on a desolate rock.

...

The year is 2035. I am standing on a street corner when a blank slip of paper lands on my shoe. I pick it up and words appear on it: Welcome to the GDD! You have been registered, and now you have a say so in everything. Do you need something right now? Or, if not, would you like to weigh in on some of the pressing issues of the day?

[CJCRANE]

1. I almost posted an OP with the same title several months ago.

However, I'm not sure that a global technocratic version of direct democracy is the answer.

I think we need to go back to nation states and smaller polities ruled by analog systems.

[ymetca]

4. Yes, that is alluring,

like the "think globally, act locally" meme. But remember that nation states and corporations were invented at about the same time. The royals cut deals with their rivals the rich merchants, and that's what we've been stuck with pretty much ever since.

Also, it is unscientific to parse Earth into tribal systems of control. Our ecosystem is planet-wide, and humanity is top-dog. We can either start to become better stewards, or continue to trash the place.

Yes, I know that is an oversimplification, but I think we have to somehow embrace complexity and diversity while at the same time being wary of systems tending toward simplicity and uniformity. The former leads to expansion of individual rights, while the latter leads to contraction, consolidation, and constriction of rights.

I like to think long-term, in that we are currently in a critical phase right before we start becoming a space-faring species. We have to clean up our launching pad, more fully understand how our planet works, and how to sustain it and ourselves properly, before the next phase of our ever-outward migration can begin.

Yeah, I know. Dreamer stuff. And probably not going to happen before I die anyway.

[jeepers]

6. Dreamer, You are not the only one.

[VanillaRhapsody]

2. ...

[leveymg]

3. Representative Democracy is only as good as the representatives and the democracy

At the present time, the American political system and corporate economy are so corrupt that even relatively intelligent, well-intentioned elected officials can't help but be part of the problem. As are we all.

[ymetca]

5. How about we turn these edicts into something that can be legislated?

1. Work only for wealth accumulation
2. Pleasuring yourself more than others
3. Knowledge kept secret used only for self-advantage
4. Business that does not acknowledge everyone as a shareholder
5. Science that destroys more than it sustains
6. Religions that preach nothing but sacrifice
7. Politics that does not address properly items 1 through 6

[jeepers]

7. Don't stop. explain it further

[ymetca]

8. Aargh.. brain hurts .. will try ..

1. Work only for wealth accumulation

Perhaps incorporation rules would require that each employee of a company be treated as "shares" in some fashion that gives individual employees more power to influence business decisions. Maybe something like, if a million shares in a company are created then that number is divided by the number of employees, making each employee worth that many shares. Yeah, I know, lots of problems with that, but at least big shareholders would have to take employees into consideration, and having fewer employees would then become a disincentive, as each would have proportionately more power.

2. Pleasuring yourself more than others

I think our collective denial and sex-negativity, especially toward the desires of women, are especially corrosive. We made "pleasure" a "dirty word" by design. It's only allowed to be indulged in by the very rich. Why? because the great masses of the unwashed have been needed to keep the mills going. If we all had to time for leisure, pleasure and self-indulgence, why who'd keep the lights on? All of it is a remnant of the "work is good" ethos of a bygone era. Those who see pleasure as an evil are probably not getting much of it, and that is really just sad. When one fully experiences pleasure one tends to want to share such pleasure with others. But of course, we have centuries of people exploiting that impulse for their own personal gain.

3. Knowledge kept secret used only for self-advantage

This mostly has to do with patent laws, which just put the breaks on innovation, and lately have become a card game between big businesses. If we were all shareholders in a collective prosperity, then the need for patents becomes absurd. In a patent-free world, where everyone benefits, we'd want technological innovation to accelerate, as that would mean more shared ease, comfort and general "wealth" for everyone. Patent law is just another vestige of hierarchy, where scarcity is exacerbated by excessive wealth concentration.

4. Business that does not acknowledge everyone as a shareholder

I think I kind of explained this. An "everyone is a shareholder" global corporation (heh heh, let's call it the Umbrella Corp.) is a necessary corollary of a Global Direct Democracy.

5. Science that destroys more than it sustains

Scientists are starting to understand this, and are starting to address the hidden costs of industries that "privatize wealth and socialize waste". Sustainability models for business enterprises are starting to include environmental costs more and more, despite the best efforts of the fossil fuels industry. Even their scientists are starting to acknowledge their industry's limits (while we stay on this planet anyway).

6. Religions that preach nothing but sacrifice

Most religions, unfortunately, serve to maintain hierarchy. Non-hierarchical religions are starting to emerge, despite being dismissed as "new age pablum", or even decried as "satanic". The number of humans now stating that they "have their own ideas" about spirituality are growing. The Slave/Death cults of the Old World are in their final stages. Their power to sway people would lesson much more quickly if everyone became a global citizen.

7. Politics that does not address properly items 1 through 6

I guess the whole point is to figure out a political system that is more self-correcting than the current hodge-podge of political systems competing for global resources. Some form of democratic process seems better than the alternatives. In order to let cooler heads prevail, we all need a stake in everything that happens everywhere. Otherwise, we're only as good as the last ruling cabal that gained temporary control of most of the stuff most of the time.

[jeepers]

9. thank you for that

I will study and think and anticipate talking with you again.

[jeepers]

10. I like that you think globally. Nationalism is a big obstacle

One hopes that when the internet is done strangling the plutocracy it will give rise to a new and true democracy.

I think representatives govt is necessary. We must have a class of people dedicated to understanding how America and its people work. Give them the power to investigate and the responsibility educate the public and prepare them in their roll as voters. Then they work for us.

I don't want politicians tempted or corrupted by the power of having to decide who gets the purse.

p.s. Citizenship is the share you are looking for