The short answer is that we’re stuck. Including me. The state of American politics today is that we’re stuck in a dysfunctional system. Working within it keeps it strong, undemocratic, and dysfunctional. Please, join me. The solution isn’t to tear it down, nor to resist it. It needs repair.

The state of the status quo

The status quo is a complex tangle of players and powers and citizens working to keep our present system dysfunctional, all in the name of doing what seems appropriate.

Whether you’re a devoted Trump supporter or a Republican disgusted with your party’s retreat from morality, whether you’re a devoted Democrat, an inspired progressive, or just looking to restore ethics to government, being part of the current political system makes you, all of us, part of the problem. We spend most of our time and money fighting each other. This supports the status quo.

We focus on campaigns and political personalities. Yet these make hardly any difference. They seem to make a big difference in whether our unstable political pendulum swings to the left or right. But the key word is “seems.”

The parties

The Republicans were in control in 2016 and 2017. The result was chaos, not progress. Our political system is more divided than ever.

The Democrats were in control the first two years of Obama’s term. Obamacare was a tiny bit of progress, but ultimately divisive. His mistake was that he only tackled issues and avoided political reform. A year before he left office, he admitted that his biggest regret was not lessening the divisiveness. Yet he never used the power of his office to tackle it. There was no presidential commission, much less a constitutional convention.

The Republicans made a good point that the intellectual elites had failed. We, in universities, hospitals, managerial and legal occupations, and throughout the tech industry- pour our intellect into all sorts of things, privacy, security, data mining, artificial intelligence and social engineering. We have experts in political minutia, from voting methods to ballot security to a complete history of democracies, and non-democracies. Yet, we ignore the political system itself.

The same thing is true for the other parties, such as the Greens and Libertarians. They’re top-down organizations envying the power of the major parties. They support the edges of the status quo. The Movement for a People’s Party wants to join them.

Tech and Leaders?  Not listening

When I say “tech”, I mean both people like me, bright, innovative, thoughtful, moral workers, as well as our technical leaders, from hard-working CEOs to the infinitely wealthy, such as Bill Gates and many others. We all avoid politics because it’s messy and dirty. Partly this leaves it to the unsophisticated political “leaders” we have today, and partly this leaves no one to see what’s really happening.

8 years ago, I realized I was resigned and that my resignation made me part of the problem. Giving it up, I looked at politics anew. I looked at “the box”, our status quo and saw a remarkable, but dysfunctional system. Looking deeper, I saw there’s mainly one problem in its foundation. And it’s pretty easily fixed.

I’ve written about it extensively, starting here and here. But no one with resources seems interested. Tom Steyer, Bill Gates, Andrew Yang are all unreachable, by me. Similarly, conservative wealthy are unreachable, whether it was John McCain or Mitt Romney.

Senators and representatives are universally unreachable. While their offices can be reached, usually it’s by constituents only and even then, they’re focused on their jobs, supporting the current system they know, not listening for new ideas. I’ve spoken to my own member of Congress- she’s consumed by her current fights, with no attention left for a real solution. I spoke to a successful challenger in the last election and a new one in this election- they’re interested in PeopleCount, but neither willing to invest nor inform supporters or donors.

So many people believe they want to fix the system, but can’t seem to listen through the noise, can’t see the forest for the trees. People running for office have political campaigns which are part of the system. Their campaigns are set up to get the messages out, not to listen to anything new.

The solution is specific

The solution to our problem is specific, and I’ve written about it- a new way of participating in politics and reversing the process of political communication. It’s a way for politicians to actually serve citizens interactively, rather than working apart from people merely thinking that they’re serving citizens. It means listening for better ways of doing things and working together.

Listening and working together are difficult- it’s not what people are good at. It’s not what our tech leaders, our wealthy, nor our politicians are good at.  But it needs to be done.

If you don’t understand the specifics of my proposal, read more.  If you have resources or have access to such people, talk to them about PeopleCount. First, tell them what you understand. Second, have them call me- unlike they, I’m easy to reach.

What I’m offering is new and different, unlike the other proposals out there. Also unlike others, it’s specific- it’s not just ideas, but designs that are ready to be implemented, plus real plans for growth. It quickly modifies the political system to pull for democracy, for people working together, instead of being pulled apart by individuals. It focuses not on representatives trying to work together, but in citizens directing them to make progress on the same goals, free of the divisiveness or philosophies, parties, egos and special interests.

I’m sorry I can’t blurt it out in a way that makes it accessible. If I simplify it to a video, it might be approachable, but it leaves unanswered a thousand questions about how it’ll make a difference. And it’s at odds with most of what you know about politics…

The state of the disunion

Some people have told me to stop saying “PeopleCount will fix politics.”  It frightens investors. It’s too grandiose.

But is anything else worth doing? If we don’t fix our political system, nothing else will work. We’ve been trying lots of other things for decades and our results? Today’s mess.

Anything else requires clinging to the status quo, pretending our divisive, divided, dysfunctional, expensive system will somehow miraculously allow us to work together. Sure, with enough expense and work and luck we can make progress on an issue or two. But we need much more than that.

PeopleCount’s proposal is unlike anything in the status quo. Unfortunately, as humans, we easily recognize only the familiar.  Alone, I’m a bit insufficient to the task.

Please help.  The smallest thing you can do is join the mailing list.  The next, donate $20.  Better, put me in touch with people who have resources who want to fix politics- have them call me.  If you have time, lead a group to learn about PeopleCount and when you have a dozen people, send me a note. With enough such groups, we can start a crowdfunding campaign. Or if you have or can be part of a tech team, volunteer your services…