49 Comments
Apr 1, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

I think we need to simplify things…

Bills should be no longer than 10 pages (or a reasonable number so people can read it and things can’t be hidden).

Tax code should be no more than 2 pages- end all exemptions. Personally I think consumption tax is the fairest way to tax everyone (exclude necessities like food).

Eliminate the electoral college.

Reduction of non elected people making policy.

Public funding of campaigns so all runners have the same playing field. No private money in elections.

Corporations are not people. No corporate money in politics.

Politicians should not get paid after office or have insurance. How many other places can you work and then keep getting a salary afterwards.

These are just a few thoughts…

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author

Thanks for sharing. How do we get from A to B? Wouldn’t a new agreement of sorts out us all on the same page?

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People in power never want to lose their power. I think it will be very difficult and you will have to do in slowly starting with limiting corporate rights. Then removing money from politics. That will be the hardest one. You would literally have to remove everyone from elected government and elect those willing to see change happen.

So if you have a new agreement, how do you get everyone on the same page? How do you move that agenda forward peacefully? How do you keep that from being corrupted? I know you made a big push for technology as the way to do it, but what tech has not been hacked?

I'm sorry I'm jumping all over the place.

The truth that we need to understand is that people in power think they are above the people they serve. So just replacing people doesn't solve the problem, we need a check to keep them grounded.

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Brian let me ask you a question: Are you sick enough yet of how our governments are treating us? Well me too. Would you agree to an agreement with me about doing our best to change it? Yes? Well then that’s a start. Now how many other people out there do you think feel this way? I think it is more than you imagine.

An amazing society is possible. But it won’t happen by accident.

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Apr 2, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

Josh,

You are trying to get my fired up. Our gov’t no longer has the general publics best interest at heart. They only serve those with money. But how do you make a change peacefully? Not many people have the stomach for war.

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Brian I am telling you we can do this. But it isn't going to happen by accident. We need to decide to. And transparency and decentralization is the way to do it peacefully.

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Exactly why decentralization is the only way. It avoids the conflict with the power.

And blockchain is not hackable (yet).

You do it in a small scale first like a mayor race or a county, and the idea spreads. This is what happened during the sunflower revolution in Taiwan. More on that here:

https://joshketry.substack.com/p/the-case-for-building-a-new-open?s=w

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Jun 26, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

How about we start with just 2 things: 1) term limits, 2) make lobbying illegal (effectively similar to revoking the law that made corporations "people").

I would LOVE to see bills limited to ONE subject, limited to 10 pages for each day of review (3 days, 30 pages max, etc). And many other things, but first get the lifers out of politics. Oh and add that Congress cannot be exempt from any bill they pass.

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I love all of this. A transparent system would allow us to get there. You are talking about changing laws but we cannot change laws until we have control of the system first. But I bet most people would agree to all these terms as well.

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I don't think "Eliminate the electoral college" is a good one,

...but the others are.

Flat taxes would also work. Flat taxes, maximum of 3 bands (by income), treat all income the same, no deductions. In addition to being much fairer, it would be SO much easier to administer. The administrative cost savings would be immense.

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Eliminate electoral college I wouldn't agree to either. Were you talking about the article? Because I don't see that. Unless you mean "voting" in terms of the simple unvoting blockchain polling in our new tech hubs. Those wouldn't be real votes but rather just super accurate poling votes with tech that has yet to be corrupted.

We are all about a fair, flat tax. But can't put the cart before the horse - so to speak.

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Jul 9, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

Abolish the secret ballot.

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author

What is the secret ballot?

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It has degrees, such as you can't check your vote was correctly tallied. (As is the case in Utah.) However, I meant any you can't obtain an attested copy of your declaration of ballot preferences for.

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Please see why the secret ballot must be REINSTATED if you want to regain control of government..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gEz__sMVaY

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Jul 7, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

No, the article didn't imply that.

I was replying to Brian's comment - I like many of the suggestions on his proposed list there, but not:

Eliminate the electoral college

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Ah ok thank you. The comment section on Substack really is the best. People engaging with intellect and purpose. Love it. Thanks again!

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Not eliminate the Electoral College. Each state deserves a say, even if it is underpopulated.

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Replace the electoral college with what? A lottery?

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author

I am confused. Did I mention ending the electoral college?

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Jul 7, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

Brian did.

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The electoral college was put in place and its members hand-picked to make sure the upper echelons of society would watch out for their own. There is no need for anything but a direct vote cast by the populace, and there is no need for this to be tallied by state when choosing the presidential ticket. Votes get tallied; whomever receives more votes wins. It does not need to be more complicated than that.

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Brilliant. So, California claims 100 million voters for its preferred candidate and takes the presidential election. Next presidential election, New York claims 500 million voters and gets its preference. Next time, Illinois claims 2 billion voters. Is that what you want? And how does "whom" get to be nominative?

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Jul 5, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

Just a thought, first priority is abolishing central banks, all of them. All activity, economic, social, political, has flowed under that system from its inception, 109 years ago in the U.S., longer in Europe/British Empire (ugh). Until that model is abolished there will be no significant shift in what drives or underpins other various systems activity (government/political, corporate, secular, ecclesiastical...). If the central bank model stands I suspect the types that want more (more money, power, control) will continue to finagle their way to the top, hacking what the idealists consider impervious transparency models because... they’re just that personality type. They will consort with and be beholden to the bankers who control the flow of that which fuels and fulfills their (never ending) desires. Heck, we’ll all be servants of the central bankers, particularly a continued, the now on the brink of collapse debt-based system.

Don’t get me wrong. I applaud and support your notions about how things need to change. My brain doesn’t gravitate toward the particulars of systems I have little knowledge of. We all have strengths and weaknesses. I’m plentiful on the weaknesses side. Intuition, problem spotting, plan implementation <- strengths. Constructing solutions <- weakness. A frustrating combo.

Intuition, that inner knowing/guidance tells me that heart-based crafted solutions are what will be fundamental to creating new or renewed systems that will elevate society in its evolution. That consciousness, the coming-from-the-heart, is pretty much the only way out of a repeat of prior systems. It’s airy-fairy sounding on the page, but you, Josh, are on that track.

Ah I’m just an old gal with hope for the future. Unless I survive / to a hundred and five 🎶 I probably won’t see the fruits of what will be built after the decimation of the globalists.

See? Optimist, lots o’ hope. Actually I lied. First priority is ensuring decimation of the globalists. The rebuild plan is simultaneous, enacted in concert. I can only do one thing at a time. I’m committed to destruction piece. Aware of the creation piece, but unobligingly less hands on at this stage.

Hm. Bit of a windbag, eh? Not much pragmatism on tap.

Keep on. Course correct as needed. You are the vanguard stirring the ashes from within. Methinks we’re in for an extended rough ride but we’ll be ok. Brilliant in fact. *casual salute

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author

The best way to beat a centralized entity that is corrupted is with transparency and decentralization. Thanks for reading and for adding some perspectives to the conversation!

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Jun 26, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

Love it!! Let’s roll!

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Jul 7, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

I tried to read through the comments, but there are a lot of them. It seems the biggest stumbling block is just getting started. Here's an idea: like all good things, we start local. If it is software, we need some volunteers to help develop it (I can't help here). But once a Beta version is ready, we deploy it in local city/county politics. We can refine it from there. I am willing to help.

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100% You get it.

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Jul 9, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

While I am at it, how is it there are NO requirements to be elected to Congress? I suggest coursework in government, law, and ethics at a minimum. How is it our congresspeople live a lavish life out of lobbyist donations (I'm sure many of them in-kind) and the like, when they are "civil servants?" Why and how is it okay our elected lawmakers only show up for work when they feel like it? And how the hell are we electing two senators per state? I guess Wyoming and Montana must be extremely pleased about that; California and New York, not so much. It's antithetical to democracy, which by definition is equally representative for all.

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What's it matter? You'd prefer 1 Senator per State? Would you still provide 2 senatorial votes per State in the electoral College you want to trashcan? Will you also trashcan the Census?

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Jun 28, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

Great concept, challenging to implement but definitely worth the effort. Model this on Singapore and their view of corruption. All systems of government collapse under corruption, and as you said, transparency is kryptonite to corruption

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Hey Nick, thanks for the feedback! Did you ever see how they do it in Taiwan? And the sunflower revolution? We wrote about that too, here https://joshketry.substack.com/p/the-case-for-building-a-new-open

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Surely returning the power to the States would be a good step in the direction of decentralization? The Federal government and its agencies have amassed far too much power in too few hands.

Maybe doing away with the political parties would be a good idea too. The people’s representatives are just that - representatives of the people who elected them - and not beholden to a party and all the dark money that seems to attract.

Some limitations on campaign finances would be good. Maybe even a system where they all get allocated a set amount to spend?

Get rid of professional lobbying too.

Term limits sounds like a sensible idea. Although if there weren’t the millions to be made from corruption maybe they would not stay around so long.

I wholeheartedly agree with reducing the complexity and length of bills. So much wastage and cronyism involved there.

Just some thoughts.

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I am very happy with the progress. Open source government is the way to go.

Transparency is critical but must not include voting. Voting must be secret or it will ALWAYS be subverted by those with the most money as has happened now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gEz__sMVaY

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You can't use a party system. Cuz you can't fix a broken system with a broken system this is like a Roman Cannon law system and it's run by these Franken SABBATEAN Jesuits you have infiltrated state governments. We are under Roman canon law currently and they are going to continue to use other methods and I really don't know how much longer we have cuz I think we're going to go through a geomagnetic Excursion but regardless I think it's best we focus on reminding these people that are holding positions in the states we are in sending Letters Out to the legislatures Declarations and reminding them of their oath that they took this would go come along with mailing the United Nations among others

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True, but how to we get to here from there without violence? We need to build a new system and plug it in to the broken one.

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1st draft. Always live so that if you had to make a serious move away from where you now are...your resources allow for this. The system is so deeply corrupt that I don't know anyone who has the time our resources to seriously change it. So how about living in a way to enables you to avoid the worst of it ?

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We should also insist on empirical policy making. The current policy environment is corrupted by allegedly predictive models and “theories ” which fiddle scenarios helping the elite to drive policy in their interests. . In key policy areas Covid, climate change, economic forecasting, discrimination l empirical results have falsified models and theories..

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A great idea worthy of followthrough. I come across movements every so often that want to make real change. In following The Venus Project for several years and think a lot of their mission statement and consciousness is similar to yours. If like minded movements can get common ground together, there is hope.

The Venus Project is a non-profit organization that recognizes the important connection between global resource mismanagement and problems such as war, climate change, poverty, and hunger. In the broader context, these are all detrimental results of the current socio-economic operating system. In response to these challenges, our organization presents solutions through the holistic application of science and technology; two areas in which recent advancements hold the potential to make far-reaching positive impacts.

However, while technology may succeed in gradually alleviating some of these problems, they cannot be resolved by simply addressing symptoms, as we do now, because they are byproducts of a much larger problem. Another major issue is that business interests currently require short-term planning and timely returns on investments. For these reasons, in addition to our expanded technical approach, our proposals include an alternative economic model which overcomes these artificial barriers to planetary wellbeing.

Our methodologies are designed to realize the full potential of science and technology to achieve social betterment for all living systems. We advocate new ways of thinking and living to enable human beings, technology, and nature to progress sustainably.

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Thanks for the reply! I am familiar with the Venus project as well and used to follow them quite a bit pre-pandemic. I loved that idea and movement.

But, I am at the point now where I feel like we cannot accomplish anything - and our societies worldwide will all be in trouble - unless we can fix the corruption in our systems.

All of the problems the Venus Project wants to tackle are noble ones. But as long as the corruption has control of the system we can never get there.

In order to fix the corruption we need to either make a new system that makes the old one obsolete. Or - we need to wait for the old one to break. But of the old one breaks there will be a lot of pain and suffering.

I look at it like the world is one giant computer. Our computer has been hacked by criminals. all of the individual problems - the environment, health, poverty, etc etc - are all programs that run on the computer. But as long as the computer is hacked those programs will never work. We need to fix the SYSTEM FIRST. So we need to use technology to create a digital shock collar for the people we elect to run our governments - then hold them all accountable and end corruption. Then we can start to tackle the individual problems.

So maybe if you have some ins at the Venus Project you could see if they would be interested in teaming up to fix the broken system first. If the technology existed I am confident we could implement it and change everything.

Speaking of movements....I wrote about that here:

https://joshketry.substack.com/p/what-we-need-is-a-transparency-movement

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Aug 17, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

I certainly hear what you are saying. Yes the computer is hacked, and by powerful forces. The system is corrupted. I've been there and had a nervous breakdown back in the 80's fighting the nuclear war machine. One organization cannot do it alone. My question is: When and where hasn't it been corrupted? All history is thick with corruption.

It's a lot of hair pulling and sweat to get organizations together but our global crisis is beyond the 11th hour. The doomsday clock is at 100 seconds to midnight. Yet, on a more optimistic side, the moment is absolutely ripe to make it happen. I think a "Common Ground" coalition with your goal is desperately needed and overdue. Those interested may not agree on every detail of another group's isms but could totally agree with a strong "mission statement" demanding political transparency, accountability, and an end of corruption.

Brian

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Thanks for the feedback. I am not 100% married to any idea or concept, except the fact that if we can prevent corruption then we can stop how our governments are controlled by colluding Globalists. I am willing to explore any and all avenues to get there. But how do we begin to get there? First we need a virtual meeting place where ideas can percolate and become actionable. The Substack comment section is a good place to kindle this, but we need something better.

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Looks like "Woke on Steroids"

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Looks like woke on steroids? Fixing our corrupted system looks like woke on steroids to you? How did you get there my dude? Woke is the corruption we are fighting. Woke is the subversion we are trying to expose.

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Like here is the plan, and it is the opposite of "woke".... Ask Jordan Peterson if this sounds "woke" to him. Listen to his last interview in Iceland when he talks about the needs of government to decentralize to avoid corruption.

Read this plan and lay out details. It's not fair to criticize with such a shallow comment, then not elaborate so I do hope you lay out a more comprehensive reasoning so we can help each other better understand each other. Because it sounds like we have common enemies, because I have a strong disdain for those pushing the woke agenda.

Anyway…. This is the plan:

https://joshketry.substack.com/p/what-we-need-is-a-transparency-movement

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“If you betray ‘the agreement’ and sign this NDA, we’ll give someone an advance worth millions of dollars for a book that we’ll have authored.”

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The ways to game the system will always evolve, and that is why the ways to protect it need to evolve more rapidly. And decentralized is the fastest to adapt.

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Jun 29, 2022Liked by The Society of Problem Solvers

Your hearts in the right place. They can’t payoff everyone, right?

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That’s why it has to be decentralized. And also that’s why the technology needs a place to out all the ways they could be bribed or blackmailed.

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