I mean, ostensibly the issue that modern western democracies are facing is corruption. That corruption definitely has taken over in the past 30 years to where the grift is basically in the open and further moves toward authoritarianism are happening to solidify the scheme and close doors to the corrupt facing repercussions. Absolutely, the wealthy elites are largely to blame for this situation. Though their power doesn't just come from the financial resources they wield, but also the corruptible nature of humanity. We need to remove that lane of corruption by making the people they need to corrupt basically everyone.
We've tried taking away their means to corrupt in the past and over time they just regain it. Too many people have been brainwashed to think that letting them have that power is a good thing. Hence, we turn our own power seeking nature in upon itself and offer those very same brainwashed people more direct control over their own society. It entails risk to be sure and by no means would it be easily achievable, but it holds the benefit of being a novel idea in today's society. By being novel and by being able to appeal to the individualist beliefs of those on the right, it holds real potential if you can organize a push for it before they can adapt their means of corruption to stop it.
Again, I know it's very unlikely, but by doing the thing they don't expect to stop them, it might actually be a lot easier than fighting them head on. With it we would see the effective end of political parties and all the baggage, rhetoric and special interests that go along with them. People could return to having a nuanced set of beliefs and having agency over their lives in an ever expanding radius. It's the soft revolution that happens from within and if nobody ever called it that a majority would be none the wiser.
vivadanang@lemm.ee 8 months ago
This is well put. Thank you for sharing; I agree, but worry we don’t have time for soft revolutions as the world burns.
TinyPizza@kbin.social 8 months ago
If we go hard revolution I feel like we end up getting fucked by who ends up on top, regardless of the views they support. We potentially end up with a new government and a new system of government, but that machinery also takes forever to get functioning correctly. I think it takes a lot more time in the long run than stacking victories for digital direct democracy and getting it incrementally implemented. The reasoning being that changing it from within still allows us to functionally address the evolving problems we're currently facing and the cascading effects that are soon to come.
If digital direct democracy can prove itself highly adept and quickly adaptable at addressing these problems then maybe its widespread adoption becomes preferable even to those who stand to lose power. If it's revolution in the streets then so be it. But what if instead we can inspire a choice in humanity to believe in each other and move on to the next era of civilization?
I fucking hate Milton Friedman, but he was known to say that in times of crisis and stagnation society will grasp for any ideas that are just laying around. Here in the states that grotesque piece of shit used that to ram neo-classical economics and neo-liberal policy into the heart of our society. And that was mostly on the back of stagflation and a made up gas crisis. People here have been ramping up to eat each others faces for 8 years and if we can simultaneously shock the status quo and make the narrative creators stumble then maybe it'll be enough for people to see that exit ramp and opt to take it instead.
I've been knocking on doors talking to people from both sides of the spectrum and when it clicks in their mind that there's a way to have no more politicians or political parties or people telling them how they're going to live their life (civil rights and liberties excluded of course;) there's a look on their face that makes me want to keep at it. Taxes as low locally as they can possibly be? Go right ahead and they can all see where dirt roads and no schools goes. Turn 1/3 of the local streets into no/low car areas? Pull up your municipalities budget and see if you think the data makes it a compelling community investment. We can democratize these devices and information systems at our fingertips to actually give us the ability to wield collective power with perspective and guidance based on unbiased data. If that can be harnessed by a single state, province, or region and run for long enough, I think it will begin to spread faster than we might think.
Humans are tool and culture based animals. It only takes one to see another doing something before the act of benefit is repeated. People who saw some of the first wood and cloth planes fly also saw motherfuckers landing on the moon. Maybe this can be like that but with a purpose. Imagining what happens if a unified humanity had unlimited support for arts, science and technology gives me goosebumps. More than anything I wish that's where we could get to and I think DDD is the path that potentially leads there.
vivadanang@lemm.ee 8 months ago
digital direct democracy is fascinating but I see way too many power structures that would violently oppose it’s implementation, heck, even it’s discussion here in the US. is it something you think is achievable in the UK?