Often, I’ve found political discourse to be uncivil.  There are half-truths, name-calling, accusations and completely unfair blame, not only aimed at our officials, but also at other people commenting.  Why?

I said in the last blog, “what I see is that the results we have are a natural design of our system.”  Let’s look at uncivil discourse from the same perspective.  Why would uncivil, even nasty, comments arise in our current political system?

Because nothing else works.  If you’re polite, what difference does it make?  Sure, you might convince people or have a better conversation, even a great one.  But, what difference does it make?  In my experience, no conversation that I have sways my representatives.  They don’t seem to make a difference.

Now add swearing and name-calling and blame.  Adding these, and anger, give me a little release, and I can go away blaming our situation on them.  It gives me a little satisfaction.  (Of course, I’ve been pretty good about not actually spewing this kind of stuff, but I’ve had lapses.  And more than once I’ve typed such drivel and caught myself before hitting the “post” button…)

In politics, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”  We’re encouraged to “make noise”, phone our representatives, write blogs and editorials, go out on the street with signs, sign petition after petition.  These are the teachings of our culture.  Of course, we’re cautioned to stay peaceful, even respectful.  Why?  Because making noise is also the result of throwing a tantrum, including yelling, swearing, name-calling, and blaming.

Imagine if everyone used PeopleCount.org and we were all voting on issues. Imagine we each took 20 minutes a week, 10 minutes to complete a new profile and 10 minutes to check to see progress on the areas we’re most interested in. Imagine we’re seeing progress in the areas where we agree and in most of the other areas, we’re seeing opportunities for compromise and we’re seeing new questions or answers about new solutions.

We’d no longer have to make noise.  When we can communicate effectively about what we want and our representatives can use that information to build solutions, we can stop throwing tantrums.

Of course, some people will still throw tantrums, partly because they are accustomed to it or are more overcome by their emotions.  And partly because it takes time to break a habit.  But over time, our culture will shift.  With voting on issues making the most difference, people will turn to voting, rather than blaming. Sense something’s wrong?  Vote.  See an issue that needs addressing?  Alert PeopleCount.

And, we’ve identified several other new technologies that help make yelling and blaming unnecessary.  There are several exciting projects underway to produce better conversations and identify better sources of information.  They’re still being developed, but they’re very promising.

All you have to do is vote.  Of course, more support is welcome.  Inviting your friends and family will increase our user base so the results of votes become more valuable and potential donors see us valued by more people.  Donating money and promising to donate that every year (in the Demographics profile) will demonstrate more tangible support and that when we become used by millions, we can be self-sufficient.  You can also help by giving us a “Like” on Facebook or by following us on Twitter, or by volunteering or introducing us to others who’d like to transform politics.