Why hasn’t technology delivered more democracy? This article missed a key answer.
Technology hasn’t aided democracy because few people have tried to improve democracy. Some have tried to improve our poorly functioning system, but the improvements to democracy were tiny.
Consider GovTrack.us. I used it recently to find the text of a House Resolution 207- it’s great! But it doesn’t change the system, it just makes it easier to use. Consider PopVox.com, a great tool for voting on bills. But who has time to evaluate and vote on bills?
Today’s political system wasn’t designed. It was just assumed that voting (or caucusing) to choose representatives would deliver “representative democracy”, that it would magically make politicians represent citizens and be accountable. Since many politicians labored under this belief as well, it sort of worked. But over the centuries it has failed many times. Similarly, our founding fathers did not accommodate political parties in the design, yet quickly they became fundamental (undesigned) parts of our system.
A basic foundation of representative democracy has been missing- a way for representatives, as well as citizens, to know what The People want, and a way for politicians to be accountable. Poor ways of doing this have existed, such as surveys and newsletters. Working poorly, they’ve simply been part of today’s failing system.
The real reason that technology hasn’t delivered a democratizing solution is that no one has had
- A solution
- A realistic plan for implementing it
- Backing.
As far as I’ve seen, the only real solution with a realistic implementation plan is PeopleCount.org‘s. So far, we’re lacked backing (the website is just a working prototype).
There are two vital pieces to understanding the solution. The first is imagining American society using PeopleCount.org’s proposed solution- oversimplified as:
- Vote on issues
- See the results
- View politicians’ reports.
It’s oversimplified. Imagine what it’d be like to vote on issues, then register on the site and try it. Most people report it’s very different from what they imagined. And there are many details to these features that are outside the scope of this post.
The second is understanding how to get from what we have today to the system we want. Please don’t mix these two concepts. Getting there isn’t hard but it takes resources we don’t yet have. Its details are also outside the scope of this blog.
Our political system is creating results consistent with its actual (not intended) design. Citizens, industrialists, wealthy interests, ideologues and parties all look at our political system and do exactly what they think needs to be done. Today’s politics and government are the result. Luckily, we don’t need a revolution. The system we already have can deliver the democratic results we want just by adding what we’ve designed at PeopleCount.org, a structure that supports political communication and accountability.
PeopleCount.org will empower and motivate Americans to be politically engaged and hold politicians accountable. It’ll empower and motivate politicians to represent citizens instead of special interests and donors. Plus it’ll lessen the importance of money in politics and lessen the polarization of candidates. The real changes will be up to you citizens.
Register on PeopleCount.org and vote on some issues. Then donate some money and invite your friends. I promise astounding results.