3 ms·

What you are suggesting is only plausible under a system where every official, institution, and policy can be voted on, and with said entities having no signifi

What you are suggesting is only plausible under a system where every official, institution, and policy can be voted on, and with said entities having no significant sway over each other. That's not how Canada or America works, and perhaps no government in existence. > It is almost like someone had designed a system so that a few people could represent the will of the population without everyone having to break out the pitchforks. That hardly works in practice. Why would it? Government officials are not afraid of minuscule uprisings. The ability to actually rebel is not present in the average western human being today.

pksebben 3y ago
We absolutely have the tech to implement direct democracy in an efficient and effective manner. The fact that we haven't is pure evidence that Democracy (tm) doesn't actually do what it says on the label.
- threesevenths 3y ago
  Democracy will ensure that democracy remains as the governing method. Also, try building a bridge between two cities across from each other with direct democracy.
  - pksebben 3y ago
    So I kind of know what you're getting at - and it's true that "everyone votes on everything" isn't feasible if that's all that you do. Here's one way it could work: - everyone gets one vote on all the things - all the things are complicated, so in order to streamline things, you can grant voting power to someone else. Let's call this a representative in this context. (I know this sounds a lot like what we have right now, but bear with me) - anyone is able to choose their representative at any time. Representation is immediately revocable and unconstrained by parties, primaries, timing, or other concerns. You need only be a citizen and consent to being a rep to be a rep. - representatives are paid based on the number of people they represent, let's say a dollar a head. This could scale by some factor in relation to how local a rep we're talking about. - you can keep up with the voting of your chosen rep on the Democracy App (tm). - If a vote is on something you particularly care about / have deep knowledge of, you can take the vote back and use it directly just for that vote, keeping your rep for all the other boring stuff - When your rep casts a vote, there is a grace period (let's say a week for chuckles) wherein you can choose to revoke that vote and recast it, and additionally choose a new rep if the vote cast is particularly egregious to you. This is a trivial system to set up from a technical standpoint, and it accomplishes the most important thing our current system does not - it forces representatives to care about the concerns of the people they nominally represent. It gets past superdelegates, party politics, special interest groups, and campaign finance breezily and ensures a government that's actually by and for the people.
bcrl 3y ago
Canadians are able to throw their governments out of office when they don't like their policies. Having 3 parties and minorities from time to time results in policies promoted by the NDP (the third party) benefiting Canadians getting passed from time to time (like public health care, and now programs like the national pharma care, dental care and day care programs). The dynamic is rather different than the gerrymandered mess south of the border where the options seem to be perpetually tweedle dum and tweedle dumber.
- threesevenths 3y ago
  Generally there is a flip every 2-3 terms between the liberals and conservatives. It is also common for Ontario and the federal government to have opposing parties. If the conservatives win the federal election next year expect Ontario to elect a liberal government next.

pksebben 3y ago

We absolutely have the tech to implement direct democracy in an efficient and effective manner. The fact that we haven't is pure evidence that Democracy (tm) doesn't actually do what it says on the label.

threesevenths 3y ago
Democracy will ensure that democracy remains as the governing method. Also, try building a bridge between two cities across from each other with direct democracy.
- pksebben 3y ago
  So I kind of know what you're getting at - and it's true that "everyone votes on everything" isn't feasible if that's all that you do. Here's one way it could work: - everyone gets one vote on all the things - all the things are complicated, so in order to streamline things, you can grant voting power to someone else. Let's call this a representative in this context. (I know this sounds a lot like what we have right now, but bear with me) - anyone is able to choose their representative at any time. Representation is immediately revocable and unconstrained by parties, primaries, timing, or other concerns. You need only be a citizen and consent to being a rep to be a rep. - representatives are paid based on the number of people they represent, let's say a dollar a head. This could scale by some factor in relation to how local a rep we're talking about. - you can keep up with the voting of your chosen rep on the Democracy App (tm). - If a vote is on something you particularly care about / have deep knowledge of, you can take the vote back and use it directly just for that vote, keeping your rep for all the other boring stuff - When your rep casts a vote, there is a grace period (let's say a week for chuckles) wherein you can choose to revoke that vote and recast it, and additionally choose a new rep if the vote cast is particularly egregious to you. This is a trivial system to set up from a technical standpoint, and it accomplishes the most important thing our current system does not - it forces representatives to care about the concerns of the people they nominally represent. It gets past superdelegates, party politics, special interest groups, and campaign finance breezily and ensures a government that's actually by and for the people.

bcrl 3y ago

Canadians are able to throw their governments out of office when they don't like their policies. Having 3 parties and minorities from time to time results in policies promoted by the NDP (the third party) benefiting Canadians getting passed from time to time (like public health care, and now programs like the national pharma care, dental care and day care programs). The dynamic is rather different than the gerrymandered mess south of the border where the options seem to be perpetually tweedle dum and tweedle dumber.

threesevenths 3y ago
Generally there is a flip every 2-3 terms between the liberals and conservatives. It is also common for Ontario and the federal government to have opposing parties. If the conservatives win the federal election next year expect Ontario to elect a liberal government next.