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I used to feel that way, and was strongly against the argument of using tech for direct democracy. For years I worked on leveraging tech to improve the transpa

I used to feel that way, and was strongly against the argument of using tech for direct democracy. For years I worked on leveraging tech to improve the transparency of (local) government, and to close the gap between the voters and their representatives. I believed in the representative democracy (unlike many other techies), I just believed it needed to be improved. I unfortunately came to the conclusion that party politics have completely corrupted the current systems. Over generations the establishment has learned to game the system so perfectly that the elite will remain in charge no matter what happens. Even new "anti-establishment" parties are quickly absorbed or corrupted. I've come to believe that the essence of renewing democracy is change itself. Not because one system is fundamentally better than the other, but because it will break the stranglehold the current political elite has on the existing system. Change is the essential ingredient. Undermine the power of the establish parties by any means necessary, even if that means decision making will initially get "worse". At least it will be a return to actual democracy. That, and transparency. Pretty much any political system can benefit from much more transparency

seandhi 12y ago
I think I would be okay with a direct democracy as long as any legislation passed through direct means underwent a judicial review for constitutional issues before someone was directly harmed by said legislation. The current system of requiring locus standi before a law can be challenged is bad enough with representatives who are supposedly more educated on legal matters passing laws of questionable constitutional legality - I could only imagine how much worse it would be with a largely uneducated (on legal matters) population. What's that saying? Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner or something?
- warfangle 12y ago
  That's what Great Pyrenees are for ;)
tedks 12y ago
> Over generations the establishment has learned to game the system so perfectly that the elite will remain in charge no matter what happens. Even new "anti-establishment" parties are quickly absorbed or corrupted. Is this a bug or a feature? Consider who the user of this system is, in this instance.
zby 12y ago
I do believe that transparency is already changing politics. This is unstoppable - from the FOIA formal rights to lowering the barriers for mass distribution of information with internet to the the miniaturization of microphones and cameras (plus commercial drones). The rulers have never been so much under susveillance. But what the effects will be is not very clear - surely we'll see a lot of good stuff - but I am afraid that this can lead also to the a kind of 'small village mentality' - where everyone knows everything about everyone - and the social pressure for conformity is enormous.

seandhi 12y ago

I think I would be okay with a direct democracy as long as any legislation passed through direct means underwent a judicial review for constitutional issues before someone was directly harmed by said legislation. The current system of requiring locus standi before a law can be challenged is bad enough with representatives who are supposedly more educated on legal matters passing laws of questionable constitutional legality - I could only imagine how much worse it would be with a largely uneducated (on legal matters) population. What's that saying? Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner or something?

warfangle 12y ago
That's what Great Pyrenees are for ;)

tedks 12y ago

> Over generations the establishment has learned to game the system so perfectly that the elite will remain in charge no matter what happens. Even new "anti-establishment" parties are quickly absorbed or corrupted. Is this a bug or a feature? Consider who the user of this system is, in this instance.

zby 12y ago

I do believe that transparency is already changing politics. This is unstoppable - from the FOIA formal rights to lowering the barriers for mass distribution of information with internet to the the miniaturization of microphones and cameras (plus commercial drones). The rulers have never been so much under susveillance. But what the effects will be is not very clear - surely we'll see a lot of good stuff - but I am afraid that this can lead also to the a kind of 'small village mentality' - where everyone knows everything about everyone - and the social pressure for conformity is enormous.