With PeopleCount, we’ll have more accountability to people and less corruption.
In the last post, I showed how PeopleCount will have politicians competing to serve people best, instead of to collect campaign contributions. And voters will have more reason to learn about issues. When we care, we’ll be able to make a difference immediately instead of just having frustration, so we’ll let ourselves care more, reducing apathy.
Freedom from being Accountable to the Wealthy
I’ve already discussed how PeopleCount will enable accountability. The essence of accountability is the Guide/Expect/Report/Judge relationship. This is impossible today, but is exactly what PeopleCount is designed to enable.
Besides supporting accountability to citizens, PeopleCount will free politicians from the need to gather a huge campaign fund. It will free politicians from being accountable to wealthy donors. Currently, candidates with the most money wins 91% of the time. This accountability to the wealthy is a huge reason why they don’t try harder to be accountable to most citizens.
Freedom from being Accountable to the Parties
Plus, currently candidates don’t really know what people think. They know what their polls tell them, but the polls ask only the most superficial questions. And they ask people who normally think their opinions don’t matter, so they’re largely ignorant and apathetic.
Politicians know this, so they can’t reliably stake out a position. And if it’s not a mainstream position, it won’t really be defensible. So they adopt mostly party positions. So they rarely think for themselves, since that doesn’t produce results. Our system trains them to be partisan and echo the party line. One could say they huddle together with the party for security.
With PeopleCount, they’ll know how the public really feels on each issue. And if they want to stake out a position, they can. They’ll be able to tell voters concerned about that issue what they see and why. And people can even change their answers to show their support. It’s real 2-way communication on issues.
Less Corruption
Why is there corruption in Congress? Most politicians go to Congress to serve the people, to make a difference. But then they encounter partisan gridlock. They report not being able to get anything done and they have to spend time fundraising, which most dislike. Why stay in that job? The pressure to make some money and get out are enormous.
With PeopleCount, they’ll be able to represent their constituents and see what America wants so they can find solutions and compromises. And they’ll be able to report back. Having job satisfaction, actually serving the people they want to serve will give them huge reason to stay honest.
Plus they’ll be able to represent their constituents honestly. Today they have to adapt to extremist party positions and promise things they don’t believe. That kind of dishonesty is a slippery slope that has corrupted a lot of politicians.
A System the Works
Basically, we want politicians to be accountable to people. But our current system isn’t designed to allow that. However, without changing any laws, simply by using this small, dedicated system we’re building, it’ll not just be allowed, it’ll be rewarded and reinforced.
With PeopleCount, you’ll have politicians accountable to you, just like you always wanted. And politicians will be able to reach you on the issues you care about and know what you want. They’ll be able to serve you and make a difference, just like they wanted to when they started their careers.
Please join us today. Please add your email address to our announcement list.
(Edited: #1 went on and on.)
1. Politicians do not go to Congress to serve the people, they go to serve themselves. Power mongers graduate to the next level. Control is what they want, to hold the reins. (Edited: this went on and on…)
2. No matter what is done, it will be subverted. That is the trouble with electronic election booths. It is difficult enough to prevent corrupt elections.
3. I understand that Hillary”s popular vote was corrupt and not even valid, Trump won the popular and electoral vote. What to do, what to do.
1. Actually, many DO go to Congress to serve people. It’s becoming less common due to Corruption and the huge expense of a campaign. It’s a lot to sign up for. Perhaps many go to serve themselves, too, I don’t know. Perhaps many go to serve a philosophy or their most ardent supporters. Whatever the case, they’re insulated from voters, not accountable. The point of PeopleCount is to MAKE them accountable.
2. This is your attitude, not truth. Yes, whatever system of power we have, some will try to subvert it. Electronic voting can be more reliable than physical voting. Open-source software can be a big part of that. There are ways to have checks and verifications. Consider your credit card purchases. Credit card companies mostly get 2% in fees, so whatever losses there are are less than that. Remember, I’m a Stanford graduate with a masters in computer science. I’m not just making stuff up. Voting can be as reliable as we want it to be.
3. There’s a lot of fake news that the popular vote wasn’t valid. Trump made a lot of claims. The justice department then had to prosecute the violations. They found almost none. It was insignificant. Voter fraud by Democrats is highly desired by Republicans. You’d be able to find articles detailing the convictions, and could easily find out names of people convicted. I found one with about a dozen fraudulent votes. It’s much, much less common that check fraud. (In fact, if you wanted to find an area with lots and lots of fraud claims, look at people who’ve done business with Trump. Or look at his honesty record on fact-check sites.)
A husband holds his wife accountable, a wife holds her husband accountable, yet there are many divorces because of dishonesty.
Re: husband and wife…
Isn’t that what you want with politics- ending relationships with politicians who are dishonest? We don’t have that now because there’s so little competition. Most people would take the dishonest politician of their own party over someone in the other party. PeopleCount will make it easier for new challengers to run and become known, as well as to expose the inadequacies of incumbents, including dishonesty. PeopleCount bring inexpensive communication and competition to politics.
I’ve only read these 6 articles and I’m stoked and hope filled! I recently saw a headline of some sort that said a man running for office in I think Colorado was going to use a computer app to tally votes from constituents to conduct his voting. Are you familiar with this? I’ll do some research.