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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) d

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.

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.