By Scott Nesler (credit will be given based on participation)
Democracy requires participation. Argument tends to go through a period of disagreement before agreement is reached. Please help make this message worthy of public discussion.
Values of our Current System. Politicians tend to use the Bible, the Constitution, the words of the prophets and our forefathers to their advantage. Why not, lacking a debate, the truth is whatever they make it. Many campaign on a platform of undeliverable values. The real and hidden value of a political ideology is authority. The demographics of authority concerns democracy. Our current system values narrow control, while democracy has an expansive requirement.
The rise of a republic. Gaining independence from a British Empire, the forefathers of the United States established a set of checks and balances to protect against excess authority of an individual or like thinking group. We the people, the first three words of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, is a declaration of democracy. Upon leaving Independence Hall on the final day of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 Benjamin Franklin response was "A Republic, if you can keep it" when queried "Well, Doctor, what have we got – a Republic or a Monarchy".
And then its fall. The prized system of representative government approaching democracy has fallen from the citizens hands and grasped by a system of Oligarchy.
True Democracy. Times have changed. The technology exist allowing the populace to make broader decisions with wider appeal. Democracy can rule. The oligarchs can be defeated. A revolution is not required.
Start small. The idea could be implemented one district at a time. An elected official would still be required, though the decision making would be transferred to an electronic internet voting system guaranteeing each citizen at most one vote per congressional decision. To work in the United State's form of government the elected official would still be required to vote the constituency's decision. To insure the representative abides to the citizenry, district rules would be adjusted to ease the impeachment process and for a quick transfer of power. The duty of a congressman would be as a journalist and spokesperson. Lobbying would be to the appeasement of the people not an elected official.
Citizen envolvement. The Do Good Gauge proposal describes a process where citizens use respect, coaching, iteration, publication, and public measurement to build intelligent solutions with community involvement and consensus. It is through this process a community would achieve democratic success.
Democratic Voice. The output of the Do Good Gauge process would be an electronic newsletter containing public propositions, citizen feedback, and reports with accurate and timely statistical data. The newsletter would contain a representive corner with feedback of happenings at the federal, state, or county seat. Though this democratic plan is weighted toward internet adept citizens, a special tax would be granted to optionally distribute the newsletter and facilitate voting through public libraries or the postal system.
If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost. -- Aristotle
The following suggestion for the Do Good Gauge is pertinent in building a democratic system of government: