Everyone knows that our electoral system is broken- yet we still vote, because we don't really have a choice. If we vote, at least we get a short burst of "pride", but that pride is quickly tempered by the fact that, aside from a few local races our vote almost never counts. And even when our candidate gets elected, there's no way to keep them accountable throughout their term! If they make a bad choice but also make good choices, it becomes hard to decide whether or not you will vote for them again.
Maybe in the 1800s we needed a system of representative government, but today we obviously don't. The first hurdle to any sort of political change is getting into power- and this is where a lot of young movements go wrong- or right, depending on your level of realism. What's been missing all this time is a widely-accepted and safe way for the people to express their will on public policy issues. I'm not talking about corruptible small-sample -size surveys, or easily hacked internet tallies and opinion polls.
I'm talking about a real direct-democracy voting system that is always on, all the time. A place where citizens can go to vote 7 days a week,
One of the biggest hurdles to e-democracy has been the fact that many home computers and smartphones are riddled with malware and viruses. Not only could these viruses spy on the user and steal highly sensitive personal info, they could alter the vote in ways that would be impossible to detect. This is why we go to such great lengths to produce application-specific voting machines that are harder to tamper with, and even then we only bring them out once every four years. We also hold elections in well-trafficked, public places to ensure people are not coerced into choosing a specific candidate. This poses a great many limitations for any home-internet voting system, which are more or less impossible to solve today.
Even with these challenges, nothing changes the fact that our current political system is broken beyond repair- with the levers of power kept far away from the general public. This is a problem that must be solved if we want to move forward with any type of proposal. There must be a direct link between the citizens and their government.
The secret then, is to continue holding elections in public areas, but instead of holding them once a year, hold them all year long. Citizens will be able to walk into any partnered business or school, swipe an identity card and make their voices heard when it comes to public policy issues.
The voting itself will happen on locked-down hardware: Laptops or smartphones that are not only chained to the desk, they will require a special code to change or alter the software. This is not unlike the filters that exist on school or work computers. This password will not be known by any one person- it will be split up, and placed in the hands of several trustees. The code may be well over 100 characters long, and in order for any changes in software to occur, all the trustees (or people who know the code) would need to be present. It would be best if a random group of citizens were chosen for this purpose, as they are less likely to become corrupted. When it comes time to access the central computer and unlock the results, people will be brought in one at a time, never meeting the other trustees.
These laptops would be available in any private business that wants them, and an app would show the locations of them in your city. All software and hardware would be open-source for transparency. The genius of this proposal is that it allows everyone to vote any time they wish, not on people, but on policies.
In order to authenticate voters, citizens would only need to swipe an identification card into an e-reader, not unlike the current system in Estonia: http://www.economist.com/news/international/21605923-national-identity-scheme-goes-global-estonia-takes-plunge
These new computers would not have any internet access beyond a very limited set of websites- all directly dealing with the democratic process. Here, citizens could view proposals, communicate and edit them. Note that each time a person attempted to visit an unauthorized website this attempt would be logged and published.
Businesses that have a voting terminal within them would see increased traffic and purchases, likely gaining a boost of goodwill too. The hardware exists and can be bought cheaply, with many computers available for under $200.
The software for liquid delegative democracy is also freely available and open source. There are many options, but helios and liquidfeedback are two of the best.
In order to implement the policies the citizenry chooses, (first at a local level, then state, then national), a new political party will need to be formed- but this one will be unique. It will have no platform, and only do what the citizens tell it to through the voting terminals. Beyond this, it will act as a major "disruptor"- shouting down politicians who don't follow the will of the people, demanding resignations, and making it political suicide not to listen to the demos. It will be incredibly hard for politicians to justify going directly against their constituents, unless they prefer an early retirement.
Of course, this party's ultimate goal will be transition of the world to a global liquid democracy- and this is a giant step in that direction. Eventually after this party gathers enough power it would simply abolish itself, and pass a law stating that from here on out, the word of the demos *is* law.
With democracy re-established, it will finally become possible for us to move towards a resource-based economy, and this political party will pave the way for sister organizations such as TZM and Copiosis to operate in each town. These organizations (remember tribes?) will take over many of the current roles of government, and said party would constantly cut taxes, take payment in alternative currencies and promote sustainable development, ensuring re-election.
Ideally, we want to make it impossible for any candidate to get elected unless they agree to vote the way the people do- and after a few years, representative government will be completely superfluous.
This is how we win: City by City, Street by Street.
Step one: Canvass local businesses to see if they would allow a voting terminal to be placed in their store. They have the freedom to set polling hours and days, and the app would recognize this when you search for open voting booths.
Step Two: Lay the groundwork and "register" voters. In comes the on-the-ground political organizing. We will give everyone a smartcard they can use to sign in and vote. Come next election we will win in a landslide, based on a platform of lower taxes, deregulation and direct democracy.
Step Three: Pave the way for the next level- Set up and invite sister organizations who can lay the groundwork for winning the next-higher level of government, whether this means protesting undemocratic political candidates (who go against their own constituents) or supporting policies conducive to an RBE (such as open borders, basic income etc). By this time, thanks to the sister organizations, many of the homeless will be housed and fed through great advancements in technology like automated farming and earthbag construction. Citizens of the cities will begin to see changes as well, as free food and other products are beginning to flow in. Investment will begin in building the new, efficient cities and the fever will spread.
Step Four: Create Local Confederations Of Convenience: Using the internet, groups of political leadership in certain cities and towns will connect together and form regional policy, laying the groundwork for a resource-based-economy. In the future, with each city being independent, confederations will provide services such as defense and policy co-ordination that can't efficiently be provided by one city on their own. These confederations will replace all current nations. Most will be rather small, but bigger confederations may be possible. Ultimately it's up to the voters of a city to decide if they want to join.
Step Five: Global domination: Not really. At this point, the citizens will have all the power, so the party's work will be done. With the direct-democracy system fully built-out, the party will disband itself and declare power officially devolved to the people. Not only will the party be dissolved, but borders and countries will be too. The world will finally be an open place.
While this change is occurring, new apps can be created to connect people who want to help their city. A good idea would be a "Cityvolunteer" application which would allow a group of people to crowdfund local improvement projects.
Businesses that have a voting terminal within them would see increased traffic and purchases, likely gaining a boost of goodwill too. The hardware exists and can be bought cheaply, with many computers available for under $200.
The software for liquid delegative democracy is also freely available and open source. There are many options, but helios and liquidfeedback are two of the best.
In order to implement the policies the citizenry chooses, (first at a local level, then state, then national), a new political party will need to be formed- but this one will be unique. It will have no platform, and only do what the citizens tell it to through the voting terminals. Beyond this, it will act as a major "disruptor"- shouting down politicians who don't follow the will of the people, demanding resignations, and making it political suicide not to listen to the demos. It will be incredibly hard for politicians to justify going directly against their constituents, unless they prefer an early retirement.
Of course, this party's ultimate goal will be transition of the world to a global liquid democracy- and this is a giant step in that direction. Eventually after this party gathers enough power it would simply abolish itself, and pass a law stating that from here on out, the word of the demos *is* law.
With democracy re-established, it will finally become possible for us to move towards a resource-based economy, and this political party will pave the way for sister organizations such as TZM and Copiosis to operate in each town. These organizations (remember tribes?) will take over many of the current roles of government, and said party would constantly cut taxes, take payment in alternative currencies and promote sustainable development, ensuring re-election.
Ideally, we want to make it impossible for any candidate to get elected unless they agree to vote the way the people do- and after a few years, representative government will be completely superfluous.
This is how we win: City by City, Street by Street.
Step one: Canvass local businesses to see if they would allow a voting terminal to be placed in their store. They have the freedom to set polling hours and days, and the app would recognize this when you search for open voting booths.
Step Two: Lay the groundwork and "register" voters. In comes the on-the-ground political organizing. We will give everyone a smartcard they can use to sign in and vote. Come next election we will win in a landslide, based on a platform of lower taxes, deregulation and direct democracy.
Step Three: Pave the way for the next level- Set up and invite sister organizations who can lay the groundwork for winning the next-higher level of government, whether this means protesting undemocratic political candidates (who go against their own constituents) or supporting policies conducive to an RBE (such as open borders, basic income etc). By this time, thanks to the sister organizations, many of the homeless will be housed and fed through great advancements in technology like automated farming and earthbag construction. Citizens of the cities will begin to see changes as well, as free food and other products are beginning to flow in. Investment will begin in building the new, efficient cities and the fever will spread.
Step Four: Create Local Confederations Of Convenience: Using the internet, groups of political leadership in certain cities and towns will connect together and form regional policy, laying the groundwork for a resource-based-economy. In the future, with each city being independent, confederations will provide services such as defense and policy co-ordination that can't efficiently be provided by one city on their own. These confederations will replace all current nations. Most will be rather small, but bigger confederations may be possible. Ultimately it's up to the voters of a city to decide if they want to join.
Step Five: Global domination: Not really. At this point, the citizens will have all the power, so the party's work will be done. With the direct-democracy system fully built-out, the party will disband itself and declare power officially devolved to the people. Not only will the party be dissolved, but borders and countries will be too. The world will finally be an open place.
While this change is occurring, new apps can be created to connect people who want to help their city. A good idea would be a "Cityvolunteer" application which would allow a group of people to crowdfund local improvement projects.
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