Issues and culture are not simple. PeopleCount proposes a pretty simple system, but many Americans find it easy to misunderstand. This is because we don’t use the word “accountability” very much in politics except when there’s a mistake or corruption. But you’ll be able to use PeopleCount easily even without understanding it at first. As you use it, you’ll naturally learn about political accountability.

Examples of learning by using

It’s sort of like electricity. Much of it is pretty simple. But it took humanity a long time to understand, because humans didn’t understand the nature of atoms and electric charge, nor “force at a distance,” like gravity and electric charge and magnetism. But once we did, it became easier. Now, we all use it and accept it. Not all of us understand the details, but we all use it easily and naturally throughout our lives.

A bicycle is another good example. Figuring out how a bicycle balances is complex, if you’re working with paper and pencil (I did this in college physics courses.) And when someone first gets on a bike, it seems impossible. But once it starts moving fast enough, almost everyone learns how to balance on it. And now it makes sense to almost every culture that bicycles are widely useful.

My writing seems complex

Partly, my writing seems complex because we have an incomplete, primitive notion of “political accountability.” I’m bright, with math and science and computer programming education and degrees. As a computer engineer, I deal with some concepts most people find unthinkable. Plus, my thinking easily gets very precise about language. My brain often corrects my (and other people’s) words when we describe something important, but our words for it are approximate.

This is how it is with political accountability. If you read my definition of it, you’ll see it’s a richer than how we usually think of it.

It’s hard to want something that has never existed

Like electricity and other things that grew easy to understand once we used it, political accountability will become easier to understand.  Right now, it’s a foreign concept. In our political system, there’s no way for our leaders and lawmakers to deliver accountability daily. We want accountability, but we don’t realize we need it in the form of actions, both for us and for our leaders.

Here’s an analogy. We wanted light in our homes, but we didn’t know we needed switches and bulbs and electricity. Plus either wiring and a grid or batteries and ways to charge them. We’re complaining about lack of political accountability like we complained about lack of light. It’ll take a bit of work to make and use the system, but like electricity and lights, it’ll transform society completely.

Learn about political accountability by using it

When Edison invented the electric light bulb, it was hard to understand and it changed nothing. And it took a lot of changes. Factories had to make these new “bulbs” and more wire and stores had to sell them and much much more. But as people used it, it became accepted. We learned by using it. And it transformed our lives and society.

PeopleCount is beginning that with political accountability. With your help, it can happen. Add your email address to our announcement list and we’ll invite you to the beta.