Why is democracy broken, and how can we fix broken? How can active citizens keep up with the deluge of issues and information? How do we cope with a government that never really truly represents us? How can one be an active citizen these days?
These questions led me to consider an alternate. Call it the Citizens Union for now.
The idea is that citizens could delegate their voice to *other citizens* of their own choosing. For citizens too busy to handle the information overload, they could simply select a fellow citizen whom they trust, to carry their democratic voice on specific issues.
Picture this: *one well-informed citizen* in a community could attend a town meeting, representing 100 consenting people, providing articulate arguments on their behalf, and avoiding the logistical nightmare of scheduling, childcare, time off work, and transportation for 100 people. This could finally level the playing field between the dispersed political power of citizens, and centralized power of government.
Imagine if *one well-informed citizen* in a community could write letters, and sign petitions, on behalf all of their voluntary supporters. Imagine their one signature carrying the weight of 1000 citizens.
Picture the active citizens you admire and agree with the most, and imagine granting them the power to use your democratic voice directly in their work, outside the formal democratic process.
This selection could be changed at any time. It could allow representation on a specific topic only -- for example, I might choose Alice to carry my voice on Health Care issues, and Bob for Transportation. This separation of concerns is called "un-bundling" in political science.
FAQ
These questions led me to consider an alternate. Call it the Citizens Union for now.
The idea is that citizens could delegate their voice to *other citizens* of their own choosing. For citizens too busy to handle the information overload, they could simply select a fellow citizen whom they trust, to carry their democratic voice on specific issues.
Imagine if *one well-informed citizen* in a community could write letters, and sign petitions, on behalf all of their voluntary supporters. Imagine their one signature carrying the weight of 1000 citizens.
Picture the active citizens you admire and agree with the most, and imagine granting them the power to use your democratic voice directly in their work, outside the formal democratic process.
This selection could be changed at any time. It could allow representation on a specific topic only -- for example, I might choose Alice to carry my voice on Health Care issues, and Bob for Transportation. This separation of concerns is called "un-bundling" in political science.
FAQ
- How is this different than current democracy?
- We can select any citizen we feel is more knowledgeable and active than us in some specific areas. It does not involve running for office, or elections. Selections can be changed at any time. No "terms". No "parties". No "elections". It does not replace the existing government, because that is a logistical impossibility. It is meant to help citizens organize according to their own wishes.
- How can this be implemented?
- Probably using some sort of computer technology, probably involving cryptography. I am more concerned with the concept than implementation at this point.
- How does this differ from Advocacy groups?
- It is similar in some way. But the idea is to provide an open field for any citizen to represent others across different issues, without the overhead of managing an advocacy group.
- Wouldn't this be subject to fraud?
- Possibly, and I want to explore fraud scenarios and how to combat them. The most obvious one being people being paid or coerced to select someone who does not truly represent them. More work needs to be done here.
- Isn't this just Liquid Democracy or Delegative Democracy?
- That term is used to describe real-time delegation of democratic powers. Yes it is similar, however I am not proposing replacing the existing governmental democracy with this system; rather, using it as a way to allow active citizens to self-organize in a parallel structure, to make active citizens far more effective.
- What if the government officials do not recognize the delegated authority?
- They probably won't at first. But it is useful in the meantime (more...).
- Could delegates themselves choose higher-level delegates?
- Ideally yes. This would allow the wisest and most effective people, to empower those they feel are the wisest and most effective, on up the chain. The result would be an organic, multilevel, yet fully grass-roots political structure that is truly for and of the citizens.
