The Case for Building a New, Open, Digital Democratic System Online
The Case for Building a New, Open, Digital Democratic System Online
How decentralized technology is a way to get the power back to the people from the special interest groups that have corrupted our system; & the lessons we've learned from the Sunflower Revolution.
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” – Buckminster Fuller
If the technology of today had existed 250 years ago when the American Democratic Republic was founded, do you think it would have been used to the advantage of the voters in creating a government of, by and for the people?
The framers of the Constitution wanted to form a government that did not allow one person or entity to have too much control or authority. They knew that centralization was one of the most important ingredients for tyranny to arise. This is why - for the technology they had at the time - they decentralized by spreading the power out over the states.
A participatory democracy is a type of government that allows for citizens to partake in the creation of political decisions. Decentralization has proven to be one of the greatest tools in the history of mankind for this type of participation. Spreading out the power creates an efficient and reliable government, amplifies and improves local development, better ensures the rights of the voters to have a voice in government, and better protects minority groups in the long run (for example here in America we eventually abolished slavery, enacted child labor laws, and restored women’s rights to have an equal say etc. etc.). The more decentralized a government is the freer it is to debate, rationalize, contemplate itself, protest, lobby, and most importantly - evolve.
”The way to have good and safe government, is not to trust it all to one; but to divide it among the many. - Thomas Jefferson
On the opposite side of the spectrum, once an entity becomes too centrally controlled, all opposition to it will face great adversity. From monopolies to monarchies, when the power resides only in the hands of the few, the rights of the individual are lost.
There is one safe and proven way, however, to regain the power back to the individuals. Instead of attacking with another centralized entity, you could create a new decentralized platform to compete against it - or in this case, integrate with it. We’ll get to this in a moment, but first let’s make sure we all understand decentralization.
If you are unfamiliar with decentralization, let’s examine a great example to better realize its true power. Let’s look at what happened to the music (and eventually movie) industries in the early 2000s. In early 1999, the individual recording studios were on top of the world. Consolidated and centralized into a few behemoths, nearly all of the revenues that flowed through those industries went through only a handful of the biggest players there - MGM, Columbia, Sony, etc. However, within a very short time in the early 2000s sales were down 10% then 25% and plummeting…. what was happening?
As the brilliant book ‘The Starfish and the Spider’ explains:
“A no-named college freshman was too lazy to go to Tower Records… he wanted his music for free. Eighteen-year old Shawn Fanning, nicknamed “Napster” by his friends, launched a company out of his dorm room.”
Napster was a P2P (peer-to-peer) decentralized service. Where people online could simply copy and share files with each other. However, Napster was still a little too centralized - using a private server to operate. And it was soon shut down by the courts. But it didn’t take long for the millions of users who got a taste for the free music to become even more decentralized in their ways. Pretty soon websites like Kazaa, Grokster, and Morpheus popped up. Suddenly, the media and music giants were losing billions of dollars.
These centralized corporate entities realized they couldn’t stop the decentralized movement. In fact every time they counter attacked with lawsuits or lobbying efforts, the entities would regroup and return with even more innovative decentralization methods. In the end the massive conglomerates were forced to decentralize their products as well - forming services such as Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Netflix, Hulu, and more.
And who benefitted the most from this? The individual users.
Could you picture something similar happening with individual voters?
Over time, as the ways to corrupt our government systems have evolved, the ways to defend them have remained stagnant in the dark ages. Our failure to advance the way we interact with government and protect the system against corruption using modern technology has allowed special interest groups to seize control for their own objectives.
But it’s not too late to change that.
Imagine a new open, voluntary, digital system created and agreed upon by all of us, and then plugged into the existing system of government, with the idea of stopping corruption and creating trust again. Think about the way wearing body cameras changed how we police. Now imagine something like that for all of the politicians and government.
Tristan Harris of the Netflix Special “The Social Dilemma” explains on his podcast:
“Imagine if the United States and Western states around the World decided to become 21st century digital democracies - and we went through sweeping reforms that included a modernization of Congress, transparency of each member’s votes, video of all the conversations each Congress member had with all of the lobbyists and guests. Imagine that expressing outrage about your local political environment turned into a participatory process where you were invited to solve that problem and even entered into a face-to-face workshop. That pothole in the street that has been there for 4 years? Suddenly it’s changed.”
What’s largely appealing about this idea is that most people - no matter what political side they are on - find value in it. It brings people together. You may be from the left, right, or center politically. But there are - and should be - a lot of things we can all agree on that are not happening right now.
Things, for example, like eliminating the stranglehold corporate lobbyists have on the democratic process. Of course it’s easier to diagnose problems than come up with solutions. But if we had an open, digital system built in a way to nurture those solutions - one that connected voters and representatives - we would have the foundation and tools to foster exactly that, and more.
“Does this sound impossible? Well, it is ambitious and optimistic.” Says Tristan. But this is exactly the success story that has been implemented and developed in Taiwan since 2014. And by all accounts it is working amazingly well. It all started during what came to be known as Taiwan’s Sunflower Revolution.
In March 2014 Taiwan’s ruling party tried to force a trade agreement known as the CSSTA through the legislature without giving it a proper review. This created an uprising with many citizens believing that this was a backdoor ploy by the CCP to gain control of Taiwan, and on March 18th crowds of students and protestors climbed over the fence of the legislature and entered Taiwan’s Parliament - occupying it in a nonviolent protest.
The name “Sunflower Revolution” came shortly after when thousands of sunflowers were dropped off by a local florist and the protesters held them as a symbol of hope due to their heliotropic nature. “Heliotropic” means that sunflowers move in response to the direction of the sunlight, and the protestors were metaphorically doing the same thing (sunlight is the best disinfectant). This occupying of the legislative chamber led to a digital revolution. And at the center of it all was the current Digital Minister of Taiwan, Audrey Tang - a civic hacker and free software programmer at the time.
Audrey was born in Taipei in 1981 and was considered a child prodigy. By eight months old she was already speaking. By 14 she had quit school and was programming full time for a leading IT tech company.
As the 2014 protests unfolded, Audrey realized the occupying protestors had no Wi-Fi. So, she showed up with 350 meters of ethernet cables and installed a communications hub that was transparent, open, and responsive to the demands of the public, making sure that truth was spreading faster than rumors and propaganda. She set up a live stream to a large projector screen out in the street where tens of thousands of people could see in real time what was being debated in Parliament as it was occupied.
It was so successful that after the protests were peacefully resolved, Taiwan’s government invited Audrey to build a system of communication for the entire country that she now calls “a Listening Society.”
“It transformed our society,” says Audrey. “If you asked a random person in 2010 on the streets of Taiwan: ‘Would the people somehow unite under the banner (of this movement), people would look at you like you are crazy.”
“Transparency (in government) creates trust” is one of her mantras. And she lives by it. Every Wednesday from 10am to 10pm she meets with people in her government office. Like the police who wear body cameras, anyone is allowed to come and talk as long as they agree that their conversation will be video recorded and posted online in real time for everyone to see. Imagine if this was how government officials met in America or elsewhere?
She swears by the philosophy - what she calls “radical transparency” - where nearly all information concerning government (except the ultra sensitive) is disclosed online so that citizens can engage with the government on an even ground. She combines this with the principles of civic participation, and rough consensus using upvoting and downvoting platforms and polls.
Audrey adds, “The most important thing of course is trust… So through radical transparency, through open government… we make sure that people understand the context - the ‘why’ of policy making. Not just the ‘what’ of the result of the policy. We ensure that everybody is included in the discussion. And that makes it possible for Democracy to truly work.”
How well is it working? Well let’s take the pandemic as an example. Due to the participatory nature of government, Taiwan was a shining example of success. They were able to adapt fast, fix mistakes when they were made, and never had to shut down places like restaurants or public spaces. All while using information in real time - information that the public trusted because of the system of transparency.
But now the big question remains - could this work elsewhere?
With 23 million residents in Taiwan, it is quite an achievement. But what if this was tried in the United States? How could it be implemented with 330 million people?
The key would be starting small. In a city, town or county. And then letting it spread after proving it successful and working out the kinks. In Taiwan, they started in two mayoral races and it spread from there. All you need is the right technology to exist, a candidate willing to run on the platform, and a way to get the idea and technology to the people and get them involved to put pressure on the politicians.
Let’s conceptualize some possibilities.
Imagine downloading an app that had everything you needed for participatory government. Picture a virtual town hall for ideas to percolate, and instant feedback loops from up-voting and down-voting by voters. Imagine representatives following that feedback with their actions. Envision a video platform for those running to debate on, and a way for voters to generate questions to ask in the debates. Imagine having a newsfeed of all of the bills and actions your representatives are considering and voting on in the near future, along with Town Hall ideas of how to fix problems generated by your fellow citizens.
Visualize a truly transparent government - representatives that video record every meeting, every bill that is voted on, and posts them online in real time for constituents to check, review, dissect, and give feedback on.
Picture a way for government contracts to be only issued on merit using DAO technology. No special favors would be possible.
Envision a system that worked tirelessly to help marginalized communities connect with representatives, with ideas percolating to the top, instead of from the top down.
Imagine blockchain technology to ensure voting fraud is a thing of the past, but still has the possibility to protect anonymity - while at the same time preventing troll farms, bots, and spam.
Picture reviewing all the current laws and policies publicly online. And imagine a system so flexible it could be encouraged to reverse mistakes and remove bad laws from the books that cause more harm than good.
Visualize a platform that takes what people agree on - instead of what they disagree on - to find rational solutions to our problems (which is exactly the opposite of what social media platform algorithms do now). And the issues we disagree on most would use a developmental method to find the most balanced and innovative solutions possible.
Imagine a system providing real-time accurate polling and grading of representatives - graded by the voters and the constituents participating. Are the representatives doing what the people want? Are they acting with transparency? How do their actions line up with the desires of the constituents? Picture a similar way to how we review products online, but for our representatives.
Envision a government not controlled by special interests or Wall Street but instead actually of, by and for the people.
Let's reimagine what real representation could look like. For starters, representatives might have to swear to a new oath or constitution of sorts. One that was agreed upon, developed, and based on several fundamental tenets that help eliminate the ways our systems are currently corrupted.
But, you might be asking…. with all this, why would a representative want to join this open digital democracy?
Well, because if we all agreed to it - across party lines - it would be impossible for any representative to get elected through normal elections unless they volunteered to be part of the new digital system. We simply refuse to vote for anyone who doesn’t plug into it. If any politicians refuse to plug into the system, they expose themselves as having intentions of not being for the people and would become unelectable. To the surprise of many (especially the entrenched politicians) this is exactly what happened in Taiwan. Career politicians were replaced with those committed to the new system.
Are there obstacles to overcome? For sure.
In addition to the technology implementation and finding some fertile political ground to run this in beta, there is also just getting the simple idea across to people. Resisting change is human nature. People from the left often fear this as some kind of lawless Anarchy, and people from the right want to call it a form of communism. But it is neither. The system of checks and balances still exist. There is still the Constitution, the courts, and executive branches of government in place. This is just a decentralized layer in between the people and the government. A buffer. One that government doesn’t control like it would in a centralized communist system (which would lead to tyranny), and one that isn’t without iron clad checks and balances like what might be found in a lawless anarchist society (which would lead to chaos). Rather this system would simply be a conduit used to root out corruption and make the government more accountable and responsive to the people.
Today, the centralized monoliths are all using technology against the people - collecting data and using it to transfer wealth and power to themselves. The concept outlined here is just one possibility of how we could make the playing field level again. It would still have fail safes to protect rights, protect the free market, and protect against problems like the “tyranny of the masses” problem. In fact that could be one of the main duties of the new era of politicians.
The people who really fear a technology like this are those cronies entrenched in power and locked into the revolving door of the current opaque and corrupted systems.
As Naval Ravikant likes to say, “To me, the test of any good system is you build a system, hand it over to your enemies to run.” A good system should still run perfectly and be unbreakable. It shouldn’t matter who is running it. “That’s how you know it’s a good system.”
Our current system has failed at this, and the solution isn’t finding better people to run it. It’s creating a better system so the person who is elected matters less.
A new way of thinking about government is possible. But first we need people to help us build this and spread the word. We need programmers, coders, marketing people, people willing to run for office, people willing to share this idea, and more.
For more information please join the thinktank here.
Or check out:
The Center for Humane Technology
***Note: I sent this to both Tristan and Audrey Tang to review for accuracy. Audrey approved. I am still waiting to hear back from Tristan if anyone knows him please have him reach out.
As always the entire purpose of this is to connect with other solutions-minded people like yourself! For 4 billion years on this planet there were only single-celled organisms. Then one day they somehow learned to work together and make complex multi-celled creatures like you and me. Right now we are like those single-celled organisms. Our next evolution is finding how to work together, better.
In order to build the world we want to see we will need technology to help us. Please join the upcoming discussions in this group on the blockchain based social media platform called MINDS. There is no algorithm or censorship on this platform. Just the free exchange of ideas. The group was recently started but if we can get a few like-minded people working together, maybe we can be the catalyst that leads to a post scarcity world. HERE IS THE GROUP ON MINDS.
If you enjoyed this topic we explore it in several other articles we wrote here, here, and here.
Thanks for problem solving with us, you beautiful, rational creature.
About the author:
Josh R. Ketry - Director of Strategy and Systems - is an advocate for freedom, human growth, and human potential. A Brazilian Jiu Jitsu blackbelt and Academy owner. Growth Mindset student (for life). Entrepreneur. Writer. Philosophy fan. Long-time carnivore diet practitioner for autoimmune issues. Birder. Muskie fisherman. Photographer. No topic off limits. Thank you for reading!
This is brilliant
Thanks for reading!