VoxPop - A "New" Democratic System
Day 695, 18:50
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Published in Australia 
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by
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by Derek Apollyon
The way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion. ~Lewis Mumford
We all know what Democracy is, or at the very least we pretend to know what it really is. But do we honestly live in a Democratic eCountry? Is Democracy just casting your ballot for the guy who says he'd do something that you agree with and hope that he actually does it? Or is there more to it than that?
de⋅moc⋅ra⋅cy
Use democracy in a Sentence
–noun, plural -cies.
1. government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
2. a state having such a form of government: The United States and Canada are democracies.
3. a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges.
4. political or social equality; democratic spirit.
5. the common people of a community as distinguished from any privileged class; the common people with respect to their political power.
Under the preceding description, we do indeed live in a Democratic eCountry. However, it's not a "full blooded" democratic system we're currently under but one that's called a Representative Democracy.
Under a Representative Democracy, we elect men (or women) to make the decisions for us (in regards to the running of the country) and basically hope that they follow their promises on what they wanted to do while in power; and with there being no 100% effective method of removing one from power coupled with the "sheep vote" (ie two-clickers) this is a potential recipe for disaster.
So now you may be thinking: "What can be done about this?"
The answer is surprisingly simple: Forming a Participatory Democracy.
But why am I advocating a system like this and not a direct democracy? Due to certain "technologicial" constraints it's virtually impossible to implement a effective way of running a vote on a large scale (at this point, I am working on such a system though - but the going is slow).
So why can't we have a system where anybody who want's to be active in the drafting and voting of legislation can do so? It would not be hard to make the needed changes to the Senate.
Anybody (could make membership of a party on the forums a requirement) who want's access to the Senate must post a agreement to the SCCP for that month, they will then be given access and are also subject to the requirements in regards to the Code of Ethics, Impeachment, etc.
Why do we have to have a system that is partially based on a semi-elitist view on the governance of the nation and not on the participation of any/all who want to help?
"Democracy is not just voting every 5 years and watching Big Brother in between and wondering why nothing happens. Democracy is what we do and say where we live and work." ~Tony Benn
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Comments
i like it. getting more people interested and active in politics would exceptional
Wow - This gives me a lot to think about. If we can administrate something like this ... weed out the spam, etc., it's a really good concept. You've inspired me!
@DF: We already have the needed protocols in place. Upon signing the SCCP (Senate Code of Conduct and Procedures) a person would be admitted to a special group for participation in Senate Affairs, upon breaking any of the rules (incl. spamming), membership would be rejected and re-admittance would be subject to Senate Poll (and that's just one way of doing it).
With a bit of rewording in the Senate Impeachment Act, this could be extremely useful. You've got my support 🙂
You mean I could be a Senator and fight whereever I want? AWESOME.
voted; the eworld is small and electronic, making particiaptory (or even direct) democracy practical and worthwhile.
Too true, we are online and won't reallye xperience any of the problems that would generally be assosciated with any type of 'true' democracy out in the real world. Voting will be very easy for anybody who is active enough to care. I guess the only downside I can see is that it might make it a little easier for a PTO to occur.
Cozlam supports this message.
Good idea, not sure how well it would work
Sounds interesting and I'd be in support but would wonder if this sort of system would make things like political takeovers more likely?
an interesting concept and worth looking into. why not take advantage of the benefits of our virtual world and its liberties? good work DA.
Derek FTW 🙂
Love the idea - voted.
This sounds like a very good idea to me. From the recent articles regarding boredom among the citizens, this might be a cure for their ailment!
Ok guys, awesome feedback/comments/concerns (which I will address in the next article).
After a very good IRC chat session w/ TBA, CF, and a few others. I've gotten some good parts of the "technical" side of things pretty much ironed out, so I'll be publishing a follow-up article after this one is removed from the top five.
And comments/concerns are still more than welcomed (it'd be somewhat ironic if I didn't want then, the main objective of this is more participation by everybody 😛 ).
Certainly something we should try. I'm not sure exactly how it will work out, but we can still try it - it would only take a few minor protocol amendments and we'd be set.
very, interesting. Arresting the elitism that already exists in this virtual world i am very supportive.
Hmmmm...Interesting idea.
While not an Australian citizen myself, I agree. Participatory Democracy is the key to fixing Representative Democracy's many problems, including its extreme potential for corruption with fraudulent promises. Finally, someone else who realizes the dangers of such elitist forms of government!
Good on ya, mate! 😃