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The founders didn't design things they way they did because they traveled by horse (and I highly doubt it took a week from Monticello to Philadelphia), they des

by beefman 15y ago

The founders didn't design things they way they did because they traveled by horse (and I highly doubt it took a week from Monticello to Philadelphia), they designed things so that only the most capable citizens would be elected to leadership. They say this explicitly in the Federalist Papers (ok, maybe that bit was Hamilton, but still). They rejected direct democracy: by framing the nation as a "republic", with the assumption that only landowners would vote, through the electoral college, through the creation of the Senate, and by vesting remaining powers to the States. The term "democracy" is hard to find in American political discourse prior to the McKinley administration (the start of American imperialism) and didn't really get going until Wilson (entry into WWI). The most populist Presidents (Jackson and Bush II) have notably been among the worst. Then again, if this tool really scales to 300M people, what's to stop the delegation of votes from leading to the same representative power structures and coalitions (which have more to do with game theory and human psychology than the prevailing mode of transport)?

breckinloggins 15y ago
Why not take a hybrid approach: leave the current power structure but replace the House of Representatives with this? That way you still have a check on the masses vis-a-vis the Senate (and the President).
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nathansobo 15y ago
"It was a long journey in those days from Monticello to Philadelphia, where the Congress was held. Part of the road ran through the wilderness, and it took more than a week to get there." http://all-biographies.com/presidents/thomas_jefferson.htm http://all-biographies.com/presidents/thomas_jefferson.htm Footnote at the bottom of the page: Source: "The Lives of the Presidents and How They Reached the White House" by Charles Morris, LL.D., 1903. (We didn't check the book though)

by beefman 15y ago

breckinloggins 15y ago

Why not take a hybrid approach: leave the current power structure but replace the House of Representatives with this? That way you still have a check on the masses vis-a-vis the Senate (and the President).

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nathansobo 15y ago

"It was a long journey in those days from Monticello to Philadelphia, where the Congress was held. Part of the road ran through the wilderness, and it took more than a week to get there." http://all-biographies.com/presidents/thomas_jefferson.htm http://all-biographies.com/presidents/thomas_jefferson.htm Footnote at the bottom of the page: Source: "The Lives of the Presidents and How They Reached the White House" by Charles Morris, LL.D., 1903. (We didn't check the book though)