Without Transparency, There Can Be No Democracy.

Having a say in self-governance cannot exist unless the people are allowed to see the actual problems. Where transparency lacks, corruption thrives.

First, let's not fill the comment section by endlessly debating the words "democracy" vs “republic” here. These ideas can and should co-exist. It is not an either-or semantical war here. To clarify, (as is needed in the world today since our word definitions are being purposely blurred for a culture war) here are our definitions for the article:

The word “democracy” means simply that the people get a say in their own self-governance. And a “republic” is a form of democracy usually with representatives where a set of rules or laws or code or a Constitution exists to protect the individual. To us, “democracy” is an umbrella term that includes republics, direct democracies and more. And while we do not fear direct democracies the way most people do (because we see evidence that the tyranny of the majority problem is a rare and solvable one) that is not what we are referring to here when we say “democracy.” We are simply referring to any system in which power resides with the people and/or their elected representatives.

No matter what system of democracy you think is best, without transparency it will always eventually become corrupted. Why? Because if the voters cannot see what is really happening, then we are not really participating in anything. Democracy requires the criticism and scrutiny of the people who have actual skin in the game in order to work.

For the record, The Society of Problem Solvers is absolutely for a Constitution or code that protects the individual - like what was intended to be done from the get go here in America. But let’s also be honest with ourselves. Our systems - including the Constitution - have become deeply corrupted. We need a new agreement or code between humanity in order to fix our problems,. But before that, if we cannot see the problems due to lack of transparency, then we will not be able to fix anything. It is that simple. It all starts with transparency and being able to correctly identify our problems.

In the last five years it has become blatantly clear that the biggest problem in the world today is that the systems that govern over our lives have become corrupted. Fixing the corrupted system should be line item #1. It should rank above all things - because nothing else matters if humanity’s core operating systems are being run by gangsters.

Fixing the corrupted system should be something all of us want - all sides of the political spectrum. No matter who you vote for or what your views are, we should all want the systems that govern over our lives to be bulletproof to outside forces such as special interest groups or regulatory capture. (Unless of course you are part of the corruption and benefitting somehow from it).

So let’s propose that we set aside the culture wars and hot button topics for long enough to work together on this one thing - ONE THING - and once it is fixed we can see just how much having a system that is trustworthy, transparent, accountable and actually responsive to representative democracy governing over us really changes how we grow as a society.

To us it is as simple as this: we need a movement. Call it a Transparency Movement, call it whatever you want, but we need groups of people across most spectrums of humanity thinking about this problem and all working together on it. Imagine the independent journalists of YouTube and Substack and the Podcast Universe getting behind a movement like this. Or, groups of tech thinkers working on and developing (open sourced? Blockchain?) software that is constantly evolving and testing itself against corruption, as a new platform for humanity to go solve our problems on (such as we wrote about HERE). We need people spreading the word and adding new ideas to how we can make this work as effectively as possible.

A transparency movement isn’t that hard to accomplish, but it’s not gonna happen without intent, either.

A Possible Plan.

Just like when America was formed, we should probably start with a new agreement. A new code to live by. One that addresses the flaws in our previous system where corruption found a way in. Imagine a new agreement that we worked on together (maybe using collective intelligence systems?), and one whose sole purpose was to fix the corruption in the systems that govern our lives. This would not replace any existing system but rather just make the ones we already have very difficult to corrupt, and with huge consequences where we actually hold accountable those who attempt to corrupt it.

Next, we would need new technologies designed specifically to help us participate in government, hold politicians accountable, and make government as transparent as possible. Ones 100% built and run directly by the people that exist outside of government as a tool to keep them in check, like we wrote about HERE. We could start by using these technologies on some small governments first - like mayoral races etc - and beta test the software and upgrade changes there then watch the idea spread as it succeeds. We could (and should) test several kinds of systems to do this and see which ones work best, based on metrics and desired outcomes.

Skeptics often fear technology because it has been used by the government against the people. And they have a point. Entities like big tech corporations, the NSA, etc., are constantly monitoring our lives. And we have all seen the terrifying social credit score system in China. But why can’t we use the same technology back on the politicians? Give them a live read of their own “political credit scores” with how we feel about their honesty, transparency and representation? We have not even begun to explore the ways where technology could be used for making a more accountable government.

In other words, we - as voters - should be using technology on the government officials in the same way the government uses the NSA on its own people.

As for adopting our new system, if our movement became unified and strong enough, the politicians would all happily volunteer to use the new technology because if they refused to, we wouldn’t vote for them, ever again - regardless of political affiliation. If we did this well, within 6 years every single corrupt politician could be replaced with a new kind of politician - a transparent one. One that is truly representing and listening to the people through our new Decentralized Digital Town Hall.

But again, first we would need a new agreement. It doesn’t have to be this exact one, but here are some of the most common answers we get when a question like “What should humanity agree to if we were trying to stop the corruption in our governing systems?” is run through a collective intelligence system.

THE AGREEMENT:

1) We agree to fix the system as line item #1 above all other issues. Our main goal is exposing and preventing future corruption.

2) We agree to remove money from politics. We will never vote for any politician regardless of party if they violate this rule after agreeing to it. This includes conflicts of interests, and backdoor or dark money deals with relatives or family members etc etc. All of it will be monitored with our new technology, and we will directly hold politicians accountable with zero tolerance.

3) We agree to never vote for any politician who refuses to use our new technology platform / Decentralized and transparent digital town hall with us - up to the standards we set for them (and those standards will constantly evolve).

Possibilities under #3:
Imagine if every politician video recorded every meeting they had and posted it online in real time. Failure to do so - even once -and they would be voted out for life, or immediately recalled if possible. Real accountability. Or imagine if politicians were required to get feedback from their constituents on all bills they voted on or wrote, and post the bills online with the people for a min of 30 days before voting on them. Or, Imagine if all governmental expenses, spending, contracts, and accounting was posted online on blockchain for all of us to see in real time (It’s our money isn’t it?). Imagine a blockchain social media platform for governing - with real time polling and upvoting that gave immediate feedback and accountability to our representatives - one that was run by the people and the government had no control over. Imagine if we used DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) as a fair way to handle contracts and bids with taxpayer money to prevent favoritism and cronyism. The technology - done right - could do for politicians what body cams did for policing - but even better. The possibilities are endless, and we have barely begun to scratch the surface.

4) We agree to only vote for politicians who make fixing corruption in the actual system the focal point of their platforms. They must be advocates for improving the system and have tangible plans on how to eliminate corruption from the government and surrounding systems. We could even have pre-arranged contracts between the people and politicians like we wrote about HERE.

5) We agree to work towards helping marginalized communities gain access to the new technologies so everyone can participate in government.

6) We agree to work to create more decentralization in governmental systems (Explore this idea more here).

7) We agree to work towards ending insider trading by politicians.

8) We agree to hold politicians accountable and punish people if they attempt to corrupt any of our governmental systems. Corrupting our systems is a form of treason.

9) We start to look at the role of the politician as once again a service and a sacrifice - much like the military. A duty - not to government, but to the people. We might even choose to compensate people in better ways who produce results that the people want.

10) Anyone who serves in office and adheres to our new agreement should be honored and praised. After agreeing to our New Agreement it will put a spotlight on them - a level of transparency that will require vulnerability and exposure. Any little blemish is going to be magnified. It should be commendable for people to do this, and we should be understanding of their vulnerability and be somewhat forgiving. Representing the people will once again truly be an honorable thing.

And that’s it. A Transparency movement. Would you agree to this?

A recap:

Step one - form an agreement between all people and our representatives, and we all take a new oath to uphold the agreement. The purpose of the agreement is simply to end corruption in the systems that govern our lives and rebuild trust in them.

Step two - create new and evolving technologies - controlled by the people (government has no say or control of) - that are tools needed to prevent corruption and make politicians accountable and responsive to their constituents.

Step three - Force all representatives to use the new technology systems with the unified oath of the people not voting for them, recalling them, and giving them zero tolerance if they fail to comply. In other words, we only vote for representatives who agree to our new agreement and who also agree to use our new technologies up to the standards we set. We collectively blacklist any politician who rejects these terms, and we collectively honor those who serve them well.

Step four: The people regain control of the systems, fix them, and watch how much better everything runs when the whole thing isn’t corrupted.

As Naval Ravikant likes to say: “A sign of a good system is that you should be able to turn it over to your enemies - have them purposely try and break it - and it should still run perfectly.” Well, the systems that govern our lives are being run by our enemies, or at least by people who do not have our best interests in mind, and they are no longer trustworthy. So we need to adapt and build a new system that helps us fight against the ways it is being gamed. And at the root, that starts with radical transparency and accountability in our systems.

If we were to do this, what would be the next step? Spread the word!

Thanks for Reading!
#TransparencyMovement

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All problems that do not defy the laws of physics are solvable.
Solving problems is happiness.
And humans solve problems better in high-trust groups.
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