A True Democracy
When our Founding Fathers put together the Constitution, the concept of instantaneous communication was not even a possibility. The fastest mode of transportation was the horse or the sailing vessel. Communication took days to reach another state and months to reach another country. If memory serves, in the War of 1812, at the Battle of New Orleans, the war was already over when the two armies clashed. I am sure that this was not the only instance of that occurring. But technology has provided us with the ability to stand almost anywhere on Earth and with the push of a button, talk to almost anyone on Earth. This is beyond anything that could have been imagined in 1789.
So, with the ability to communicate instantly, we have the ability to be relay information in the same manner. We have moved to electronic voting machines to elect our officials. Why don’t we take that a step further and eliminate the elected officials? Our elected officials have become dynastic in how they are elected to office with families becoming brand names for the masses. The idea of ruling families are one of the things we fought a revolution to get away from. They are so absorbed with maintaining their positions that they are ignoring the wishes of those they govern. There has to be a better way to create and pass legislation that does not require a group of pampered men and women to do what they think is best without the blessing of those they govern.
With the advent of instant communication and the computer, it is possible to vote on legislation and do it in a truly democratic manner. Instead of a representative democracy, we could become a direct democracy where the people choose instead of families of people who are there only to enrich themselves. It eliminates the privilege of being elected and changes it to people taking responsibility for themselves. Instead of blaming the government for creating laws or not fixing problems, the people would only have themselves to blame. It would take a Constitutional amendment to eliminate a branch of government but it would only be the method that was eliminated, not the practice of majority rules. Of course, the people that would be responsible for putting this in place are the very ones that would be out of a job. Maybe a grass roots movement to get the right people elected in mass would provide the catalyst for change.
So you ask, “What am I smoking?” It is certainly not OP’s.
Icool
Cobb
So, with the ability to communicate instantly, we have the ability to be relay information in the same manner. We have moved to electronic voting machines to elect our officials. Why don’t we take that a step further and eliminate the elected officials? Our elected officials have become dynastic in how they are elected to office with families becoming brand names for the masses. The idea of ruling families are one of the things we fought a revolution to get away from. They are so absorbed with maintaining their positions that they are ignoring the wishes of those they govern. There has to be a better way to create and pass legislation that does not require a group of pampered men and women to do what they think is best without the blessing of those they govern.
With the advent of instant communication and the computer, it is possible to vote on legislation and do it in a truly democratic manner. Instead of a representative democracy, we could become a direct democracy where the people choose instead of families of people who are there only to enrich themselves. It eliminates the privilege of being elected and changes it to people taking responsibility for themselves. Instead of blaming the government for creating laws or not fixing problems, the people would only have themselves to blame. It would take a Constitutional amendment to eliminate a branch of government but it would only be the method that was eliminated, not the practice of majority rules. Of course, the people that would be responsible for putting this in place are the very ones that would be out of a job. Maybe a grass roots movement to get the right people elected in mass would provide the catalyst for change.
So you ask, “What am I smoking?” It is certainly not OP’s.
Icool
Cobb
posted by Cobb at
9:56 AM
1 Comments:
I agree with a couple reservations:
1. All eligible voters would need access to some minimum standard of voting technology.
2. Those with just a little means could program software that would keep an eye on issues and auto-vote according to their own profile program.
I like this because it takes the intent of our founding fathers back to its original philosophy of a quasi representative democracy, but uses the technology to eliminate the concentration of power by an elite class (i.e. congress and senate and lobbiests). In essence the computer and program becomes your personal representative. Congress would still right bills but the vote would be from the nation not the present representatives whose vote is being bought (really it is our vote, but the representatives don’t take very good care of it).
Peace,
Gary <><
By
tiger bass, at 1:49 PM
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