The Top 3 Technologies We Should be Using to Take Control Of Our Governments Again

We shouldn't fear technology just because it can be used as a weapon against us. Instead, we should wield it’s power as a weapon against corruption.

We need to start getting serious about discussing solutions - before it is too late.

If you have been reading The Rationalist for any length of time you know that our goal is to constantly try and boil our problems down to the simplest explanation, and thus expose the most efficient fix . But that’s not always so easy to do with complex problems. So we need jiu jitsu (maximum efficiency, minimum effort), but applied to our current situation. In this case: government.

Once boiled down, the one reoccurring root cause of most of our problems is simply this: The systems that govern over our lives have been corrupted by colluding forces that don’t have our best interests in mind.

That’s why this should be the main focus of all people - worldwide - who care about not just saving our countries, but also about making the best world possible. Until we stop our systems from being corrupted, they will continue to work only for those who have orchestrated the corruption.

You see, the problem isn’t the greedy colluding oligarchs. Like criminals, these will always exist. The problem is that our systems don’t protect us from these types of people. Just like a good society should protect itself from criminals , a good system should protect itself from those trying to corrupt it.

Our systems have been gamed.

So, what’s the best way to fix our system (without breaking the whole thing first)? We believe it is to find a new type of representative willing to use technology as a virtual shock collar back onto themselves. Think like how big tech and big government (NSA, CIA, TSA, social media companies) use technology on the citizens now. Now let’s do the same thing back on government representatives.

Combine this technology with a simple new agreement between voters (found here) that basically says we will no longer vote for anyone who accepts money in politics, or who fails to use our new technology in good faith, and suddenly we have a action plan.

The best part is that this plan spans across the political spectrum. Think about it: The Left hates the Right not just because of their policies, but more so because they believe the “other side” is corrupted. And why does the Right hate the Left? The same reason: corruption. And here is the thing: They are BOTH right. Corruption is rampant everywhere. Heck, we all know that bribing officials is practically legalized.

The solution starts here: We should ALL (left, right and in between) want to have the systems that govern over our lives be trustworthy and difficult to corrupt. We should also all want the punishment to be high for anyone who tries to corrupt our systems - because that harms us all. Anyone who is against fixing the system and preventing corruption will expose themselves as someone who is benefitting from that corruption. They will be easy to pick out even behind the cover of the best propagandists.

So let’s examine this like a position in jiu jitsu. Now that we understand that the problem is the corrupting of our systems, what can be done?

The answer is remarkably obvious. We need better tools, and we need to force all future representatives (maybe by finding more honorable volunteers to replace the current ones) to use our new digital tools in order to create a better system that punishes corruption as a crime of the highest order, and creates transparency in government thus exposing the corruption. But since the politicians are never going to build their own shock collars, we need to do it first and insist that they wear them (or again, find honorable people willing to serve our country in a new way and volunteer to wear them into office). These “shock collars” will come in the form of new technologies that we need to develop - together. Think about what body cameras did for policing, now let’s amplify that and do it for all political representatives.

NOTE: Whenever we bring this topic up we always receive pushback from people who fear technology. And we get it. A digital credit system (like what China has) is a totalitarian's wet dream. But we shouldn't fear technology just because it can be used as a weapon against us. Instead, we should wield it’s power as a weapon against corruption.

The people who are corrupting our system are also the same ones who design the playing field. They are the ones writing the laws and passing the bills. And they are the ones using advanced technology against us. This gives us - the individuals - an unfair disadvantage. But if we design our own tech - with better parameters - we can play on our own home field and keep that technology evolving, open, and transparent thus constantly combating corruption. This is the only peaceful way we see to finally hold those who try to corrupt our systems accountable.

So without further ado, here are the Top 3 Technologies We The People Should be Using to Take Control Of Our Governments Again:

1) A Digital Think Tank: This is step one. We need a safe meeting place where like minded individuals can meet and discuss a plan to implement without fear of censorship. This space need to protect from both bots and trolls. There should be a decentralized process to remove spam and fake accounts. And there should be checks and balances to prevent against those fake accounts such as multiple authentication processes. This does not need to be that elaborate of a system. It can also serve as a ground floor for the next round of technologies. (NOTE: If you are reading this and have an idea of where people can meet to make this happen, please comment below). This is the ground floor. We need coders, and techies, and strategic planners, and systems designers all working together - volunteering their time - to build this. The goal of this think tank is simple: What can we do as people - together - to stop and prevent our systems from being corrupted.

2) A New Social Media Platform For Participatory Government. This new platform would be the center of the new technology and the main topic of the think tank. It would be multifaceted and evolving - constantly changing to outpace the ways it can be corrupted. It would be decentralized, transparent, and 100% under the control of the people; i.e. there would be no government oversight, thus one less way to corrupt it. The main purpose of this platform would be to act as a buffer between voters and politicians, to ensure that the politicians are working for the people and not for the Oligarchs who currently control the system via corruption.

With the technology of today the voice of the voters should be known in real time. There should be a feedback loop that we all can see that basically polls all of the constituents and pairs that to the actions of their direct representatives. Did the politician just vote on a bill? Does that pair up with the goals and the values of their constituents? Does it line up with the constitution and people's rights as citizens? Politicians should and could be held accountable, but we don’t have the tools to do that. This would be that tool.

After we create this platform to our specs, any candidates who refuse to use our new technology will become unelectable - it doesn’t matter what side they are on. If they feel like their privacy is being invaded they should because it will be - just like the NSA and spyware invades ours. This will have to be part of the sacrifice our new breed of honorable elected officials. They will sacrifice privacy in order to help us fix the system. Plus, there is nothing to fear if they have nothing to hide, right? (that’s what they always say to us).

This is how we end corruption.

…and this point needs to be reiterated: the new platform must be full of checks and balances to avoid trolls, bots, and people not directly in their voting districts from participating in it. This platform should include, but is not limited to the following line items and/or agreements:

• All politicians and voters will have profiles on the new platform. Voters can be anonymous but will have a blockchain or similar ledger to track all actions. If you are a voter you will see a clear list of all candidates you can vote on, when their election is coming up, and then have the ability to click on their profiles and learn about them. This will be for incumbents and new candidates running for each office. Reminders will be set on when to vote in both primaries and elections.

• Politicians will have all of the actions they take posted under their profile, all of the campaign promises they make and run on listed here, all the bills they vote on, all of the positions they take, and more. Voters will be able to see conflicts of interest, and any time the politicians act in secrecy or outside the scope of our new technology. Voters will be able to red flag representatives based on their actions. This will help give voters the most transparent look possible at all of the candidates. Politicians will be graded on their actions by the voters in their districts.

• Voters will have the ability to give feedback on all actions of candidates in real time. Sometimes with simple upvoting and downvoting. Sometimes with comments. The voting procedures on this new platform will be some kind of ultra secure and evolving technology (blockchain? Web3?) and we will have checks and balances in place to constantly test the system for corruption. This feedback loop will be like no other ever seen before.

• From this point forward politicians agree to video and audio record any and all meetings they have related to government that are not secretly classified. They will then upload these files to our new platform in real time (or as close to it as possible) so that we can all view them. All classified meetings will be recorded too, but kept in a safe area. Intentional failure to do this should be a zero tolerance policy by voters. If politicians violate this rule even once they should never be voted back into office and/or they should be immediately recalled. Also we should be trying to set them up and test their honesty to make sure they are not betraying the people, just like the way drug cops try to set up drug dealers.

• Any bills, acts, orders, laws, or any changes that effect the voters must be posted online before they become a law or before they are voted on and/or signed. There must be ample time for constituents to scrutinize, look for conflicts of interest, leave feedback, read the bills thoroughly, and a general consensus to be made over them by the communities they effect. Representatives must respond to inconsistencies and work to find compromises in the best interests of their constituents. And if for some reason they act against the will of the people their actions must be thoroughly explained in this new “virtual town hall.”

• All the contracts and money given out by government have to use an open transparent process that is monitored in real time by everyone. We should be able to see where our tax dollars are being spent in itemized fashion. It should be a constant open audit with real consequences. This new way of accounting may include smart contracts in the future - aka DAOs - in order to make government bidding more fair and transparent. Voters should be able to see where every single dollar is being spent.

• We will have the ability to run debates through this platform. The voters can use an upvoting and downvoting process to come up with the best questions to ask each candidate - this will replace the underhand softball debates currently run by the corporate media. Any candidate who fails to debate in our debates will become unelectable.

• This platform must be easily accessible for all communities and people - especially those in marginalized communities. It should be the goal of the think tank and people to find ways to make this happen, eventually using tax dollars to support tech hubs to help people be part of the participatory process.

• The platform should highlight and outline the process needed to run for offices. How many signatures are needed, what steps are needed, and more. We should want to diversify the number of people running for each office, so the more candidates we have the better chance we will find the right ones to help us fix the corruption.

3) An Idea Portal: A place where voters can air their ideas - not just their grievances - to the representatives. Here, voters can submit ideas for changes (specific to voting districts) and these ideas can then be viewed by all. These ideas will then be upvoted and downvoted by the electorate and the best ideas will percolate to the top. Commenting will not exist in this portion of the portal. Which means that naysayers can’t just come and shoot down ideas. The only way for comments to be made are with new ideas. So if your idea is better (even slightly - with amendments to existing ideas), then present your idea in the portal and the reasons why and make your case. This will keep the idea portal as a solutions-minded space. After ample time is given for new ideas, representatives agree to consider the best ideas by the voters.

Representatives that actually act and follow through on all of these issues should be sought after for the next elections. This should be the main criteria we hold representatives accountable to. Did they help us prevent corruption in the systems that govern over us?

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We need to build this technology, and try.

Then we need a movement of people working together like we wrote about here. (The Transparency Movement)

And then we need a new type of politician running for office willing to use our technology and serve the people. The main goal would be to re-infiltrate our governments with good, honorable people - ones who adhere to this new idea of governmental transparency and getting the money out of politics. Also, we need an army of these selfless new type of representatives willing to use this new technology to ward off corruption and put a spotlight on government. Then, once elected they can help us change the laws so we can combat it even more.

It might be best if we just nominated people for these positions from our communities (instead of going with actual politicians) with the number one most important trait being that we trust them.

Without trust our systems corrode. Think - for example - about the current systems of government, academia, medicine, voting, police, media, even language (what is a woman?). Lack of trust has corrupted them all. Trust and results are the things we cannot waiver from or society breaks down. Trust and results matter most.

The good news is that the fix is a mostly systematic one - not a personnel one. But at first we will need to find people we actually trust to help us implement it. So nominate the trustworthy and give them this new technology to shine a massive light on the corruption.

We talked about this process in a recent piece here.

Remember, if technology scares you think of it like this: Decentralized technology - controlled by the masses - is good. Centralized technology- controlled by a central government, corporation or other monolithic or colluding entity - is mostly bad. (Unless the centralized entity is controlled overall by the decentralized one). Overcoming the fear of technology is step one of creating the best future possible for humanity. Step two is building trust between people. Step three is decentralization and transparency.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks for reading.

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About the author:
Josh R. Ketry - Strategy and Systems Director - 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!