11–20 of 37 posts
What a marvelously ignorant idea. Why is it so hard to understand that there will be no magic machine that will allow you to live happily ever after without need to think.
Further, all of these theoretical goals break down when the theories collide with reality. All systems can be gamed, and the way to reduce the effects of it is not to embark on quixotic quest to create a completely transparent party where everybody has perfect information of all things at all time. Rather, focus on incentivising whistleblowers and removing corruption when it meets the light of day.
Voluntary voting effectively gives people with a single-issue obsession more power than everyone else, because they show up to vote. In compulsory voting systems, the outliers are moderated by the median, whose concerns are typically less emotional (abortion, guns) and more economic (price of milk, mortgage rates). Political parties are a concentrated form of voluntary voting. One of the reasons the USA's primaries s…
Representative forms of democracy can be implemented on top of direct democracy, no?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Representative forms of democracy can be implemented on top of direct democracy, no?
Yes, you're right, it can. I believe liquid democracy is a good compromise between the two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg0_Vhldz-8
Nice proposal, looking forward what will come of it.
Voluntary voting effectively gives people with a single-issue obsession more power than everyone else, because they show up to vote. In compulsory voting systems, the outliers are moderated by the median, whose concerns are typically less emotional (abortion, guns) and more economic (price of milk, mortgage rates). Political parties are a concentrated form of voluntary voting. One of the reasons the USA's primaries s…
Representative forms of democracy can be implemented on top of direct democracy, no?
Sure, for the purposes of argument, you could draw a distinction.
The dynamics will look like direct democracy. With all the troubles there attending.
I imagine it would last until someone helpfully circulated a copy of Burke's Speech to the Electors of Bristol.
What a marvelously ignorant idea. Why is it so hard to understand that there will be no magic machine that will allow you to live happily ever after without need to think.
Why is it so hard to understand that there will be no magic machine that will fly into space and put satellites that will relay our messages to one another...oh wait...
M5S is trying to do that in Italy.[1] Though they don't use any crypto technologies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Star_Movement#Ideology
Trying to end corruption in the US, I'm starting to think, is what has brought American politics to its current low state. I think the worst political decision of the past few decades was the move to ban earmarks. Whatever negative things you can say about them, earmarks gave congresspeople a way to please their constituency without reference to some particular ideological test. They could always say: "Well sure, I d…
I'm not totally sold on your position, but I definitely agree that ideology has become a huge problem in politics. It's totally driven out the "git r done" types of real problem solvers in favor of deluded ideologues unwilling to compromise and therefore unable to do anything other than posture for their constituents. Meanwhile all the real wheeling and dealing is driven to the margins and into the dark.
I wonder if another symptom of what you describe is stuff being railroaded through with trade deals instead of domestic laws.
Trying to end corruption in the US, I'm starting to think, is what has brought American politics to its current low state. I think the worst political decision of the past few decades was the move to ban earmarks. Whatever negative things you can say about them, earmarks gave congresspeople a way to please their constituency without reference to some particular ideological test. They could always say: "Well sure, I d…
> you've just put the big donors totally in charge of the campaign, because their spending dwarfs the spending of the candidates themselves.
When the donors are the corporations, and earmarks result in higher profits for the corporations, a dangerous positive feedback loop occurs where you basically end up with corporations controlling the government instead of the elected politicians.
As far as the worst political decision of the past few decades, watch this video if you have an hour to spare. It lays out the case where adding transparency in congressional voting is really the root cause of Congress being so screwed up. It might change your mind... https://youtu.be/1gEz__sMVaY
This techno-utopianism "solution" fails to understand that the basic goal of a political party is to get people elected into office, full stop. Even if your radical decentralised crowdfunded party makes you feel good, if you're not getting people into legislative and executive positions, you are doing it wrong. Further, all of these theoretical goals break down when the theories collide with reality. All systems can…
You'd be surprised how many people think that parties exist to promote a certain ideology and bring it into power -- not necessarily by getting elected.