Democratic Participation with Feedback - Continuous Voting

THE PROBLEM
My starting point is that most people feel disillusioned with government. They feel that they have no participation within the process of government. They seem to be disenfranchised and frustrated because of it. A voters contribution over a lifetime, is to put maybe 10 crosses in a box, which quite frankly, is insulting. The system we have is from a different age. What's needed is a shift in the system to bring the voter/people back into the political triangle where our voice, pleasure or displeasure can be heard.

At the moment there is no direct feedback from the voters to the Government. When an unpopular and/or unjust decision is made, at the moment a good politician can spin it, forcing people in debates and speculation. They can probably ride it out over time, wait for people to forget about it or the press to focus on something else. But ultimately there’s no mechanism to stop and make them think reconsider.

In fact the only feedback back into ‘The Halls of Power’ which we currently have, are ‘The Press’. If they really get their teeth into something they can hound and push an agenda. Hopefully they’ll push an agenda that they feel will sell newspapers to the people. Sometimes (as we’ve all seen) they have their own agenda and at worst are overtly partisan. Other than that you're stuck with a politician whose main priority is to stay in power. At the moment that might be done by pleasing lobbyists, businesses, journalists, or any of a number of people working within that murky, backroom world of power. It’s not necessarily always pleasing ‘us’, the majority they are supposed to be representing the interests of.

The other way that our voice can be heard is by protesting. But unless the protests are reported by the media (they have to be large numbers of people and lengthy in time), there's probably no chance of a government responding and reacting to it. Anyway it's only a minority of the voting public that are protesting. Students have the time to participate but ordinary people are far too busy getting on with their ‘real lives’ to take part in anything like that. Plus most of the time it’s the people with the most extreme views who are the ones willing to voice their opinions and protest. So we can’t always rely on that.

THE SUGGESTION
Our election system currently is archaic and was designed nearly a couple of hundred years ago. I don't see how difficult it would be in an electronic age to setup a system whereby instead of having one vote every 4 to 5 years, you have a ‘Continuous Voting System’. So not just an electronic/computer voting system, one day every 4 years, just on Election day. It would be continuous, in that you could vote everyday of the year, or not.

So imagine, on ‘Day One’ of a new government, you 'set-up' (online, or via a telephone) your vote. You are a voter for Party A. Say, for example this happens to be the party in power. Should Party A do something you disagree with you have the opportunity to change your vote, (either on-line or via telephone) any day of the year, any time of the day or night. This would make Party A instantly aware of how their policies/laws are going to effect them come election time.

At any time you could recast your vote and as many times as you want. When it comes to election time either you vote again, as we do now. Or your current vote that is ‘held in the system’ at the stroke of midnight on election night holds as your vote for the General Election. Whether you changed it 1000 times or not at all since last election-day, 4 years before.

CONCLUSIONS & QUESTIONS
Before anyone says it, the current system is just as open to fraud as this Modern one would be. But I accept that there’s a whole other discussion there. So forget the details of it. It may be subject to fraud even with ID, or it may not. I’m not so much interested in the operational aspect of it but is the principal of it. In principal would it work.? Would politicians be more receptive to the wishes of the voters. Or would it cause chaos? Would Politicians stop making the difficult, yet right decisions, in search for vote grabbing?

I think in the UK and US approx. 60% of those who are eligible, actually vote. So the silent mass of voters that currently do not exercise their vote, would now be forced to vote. That in-itself might shake up the system.
In a continuous voting system parties not in power could gain a following which over time may grow purely from the fact that people can see that their vote wouldn't be wasted, come election time. So consider that it might end the 2 party system we seem to be stuck with now.

I think it would engage the public more, make the politicians work harder to give us what we want. It might even give the politicians a useful tool to get decisions close to the 'will of the people'. It may also take all the money out of the run-up to the Election because you’ve effectively already voted on what they’ve done or said every day of the year. Or maybe not.

It seems that we are just going to continue voting defective personalities into power unless there are big changes with ‘The System’. The power to instantly adjust your standing vote would be a powerful tool. We can’t vote on every decision a government has to make but we could have ‘the option’ to.

Remember the Egyptian Uprising and the role Facebook played? Could Virtual-Protests could be organized amongst like-minded people. Instead of marching in the streets they could organize themselves and tactically switch their standing vote.

The way the system currently works means that it is not going to get torn down. So we are stuck with it but a small shift using technology might refresh the system.

The saddest thing in modern history is that our vote doesn't matter.

reply to post by region331


I think we should turn banks into voting centers. They hardly ever duplicate a withdrawal or deposit.

I think we need to go back to smaller governments. As much as we want to believe this myth that Americans are one people and one community, the fact is nationalism and now globalism are alienating us from our neighbors. We cling to our guns and our flags and our religion, shop at cloned big box stores, and increasingly all speak the same generic Californian accent because we are terrified of our neighbors.

Plug into your community and reconnect to your sense of place! Also look up Cascadia and bioregionalism.

Originally posted by inj3ct0r
The saddest thing in modern history is that our vote doesn't matter.

Your vote either gives a nominated person the reigns of power or takes it away. I think that's quite important

reply to post by lampsalot


There another thread going on at the moment discussing Tribalism. Is that what you want? I think it's a step backwards myself.

I do recognise their is price to pay for globalisation. We may be swapping a diverse and varied landscape for a homogeneous one. You're quite right.

Originally posted by region331
reply to post by lampsalot

 

There another thread gong on at the moment discussing Tribalism. Is that what you want? I think it's a step backwards myself.

I do recognise their is price to pay for globalisation. We may be swapping a diverse and varied landscape for a homogeneous one. You're quite right.

The pro-globalization people sell their ideology on the note that if we don't assimilate into western consumer culture and all become reality TV loving, fast food eating with valley girl accents we will never unite as a Human Family. It's absolute bull in my opinion.

I think we can be Tribal and still love other Tribes and recognize their humanity.

Originally posted by frazzle
reply to post by region331

 

I think we should turn banks into voting centers. They hardly ever duplicate a withdrawal or deposit.

I think you're being facetious but why not? You get a bank statement and you know if you get a duplicate entry or not.

If you had something similar with regard to tracking your vote you could at least keep track of its status from your end of the transaction, so to speak. What the government does with it, at the other end, is another matter.

reply to post by lampsalot


I'm not dismissing what you say but there is a lot of evidence to suggest that Tribalism does divide people.

Originally posted by region331
reply to post by lampsalot

 

I'm not dismissing what you say but there is a lot of evidence to suggest that Tribalism does divide people.

There will still be tribes in a Globalized world. They will just call themselves Goths, Emos, Punks, Liberals, Conservatives, etc rather than Americans, Chinese, Greeks, and Russians.

I think having a connection to place is vital for a person's sanity. The whole planet is too large for a human being to comprehend or feel an attachment towards. Worrying about every bad thing that happens on this earth just contributes to anxiety.

Why does nobody trust anyone anymore? Because whenever something bad happens, if a kid is kidnapped even 3000 miles away, parents freak out and isolate their families.

Originally posted by lampsalot

There will still be tribes in a Globalized world. They will just call themselves Goths, Emos, Punks, Liberals, Conservatives, etc rather than Americans, Chinese, Greeks, and Russians.

I think having a connection to place is vital for a person's sanity. The whole planet is too large for a human being to comprehend or feel an attachment towards. Worrying about every bad thing that happens on this earth just contributes to anxiety.

Why does nobody trust anyone anymore? Because whenever something bad happens, if a kid is kidnapped even 3000 miles away, parents freak out and isolate their families.

We do decide to put on a coloured shirt and join a club but isn't it all childish. Shouldn't it be something we should grow out of rather than encourage?

Originally posted by region331
We do decide to put on a coloured shirt and join a club but isn't it all childish. Shouldn't it be something we should grow out of rather than encourage?

Community and tribe is an extension of family. Should we abolish the family and raise children in boarding schools without mothers and tell them the Earth is their Mother?

I love my family but that doesn't mean I don't love my friends too. It's the same with a person's tribe vs. another tribe. The problem isn't that tribes exist, the problem is people have hate in their hearts.

Being an 'American' or a 'Brit' or an 'Earthling' is just too vast a pool to feel much of a real love for actual individual people who fall under the bracket. On the other hand, it's much easier to feel kinship with say, someone in your own neighborhood or small town or even someone who shares your unique local culture. Being a Geordie or a Newfoundlander is a much more real connection than being an English person or a Canadian, since in the former cases you're much more likely to be socially connected in a real way to those people, not just in a symbolic false way sharing centuries-old values and imagery in your head.

In a world of reality TV shows, maybe we should start having the candidates battle it out in a Presidential Survivor.
Every week we get to decide and vote on who gets booted off the island.

Hate to disrespect the office of the Presidency but that's what it's come to.

Another plus, this should reduced the campaign season by about 1/4.

Boomtown' Report: Corporations Received 22,000% Return on Investment from Lobbying. America is being sacked just like Rome was sacked. Lobbyists run the country by filling politicians pockets. Washington is a boom town. Until the lobbyists are put in check there will not be change. It is just too profitable, politicians allocate billions to companies for the benefit of their families. We are literally being sacked.

Originally posted by jimmiec
Boomtown' Report: Corporations Received 22,000% Return on Investment from Lobbying. America is being sacked just like Rome was sacked. Lobbyists run the country by filling politicians pockets. Washington is a boom town. Until the lobbyists are put in check there will not be change. It is just too profitable, politicians allocate billions to companies for the benefit of their families. We are literally being sacked.

The fact you blame the greedy elites rather than the people on benefits shows you have a good heart.

Originally posted by lampsalot

Community and tribe is an extension of family. Should we abolish the family and raise children in boarding schools without mothers and tell them the Earth is their Mother?

I love my family but that doesn't mean I don't love my friends too. It's the same with a person's tribe vs. another tribe. The problem isn't that tribes exist, the problem is people have hate in their hearts.

Being an 'American' or a 'Brit' or an 'Earthling' is just too vast a pool to feel much of a real love for actual individual people who fall under the bracket. On the other hand, it's much easier to feel kinship with say, someone in your own neighborhood or small town or even someone who shares your unique local culture. Being a Geordie or a Newfoundlander is a much more real connection than being an English person or a Canadian, since in the former cases you're much more likely to be socially connected in a real way to those people, not just in a symbolic false way sharing centuries-old values and imagery in your head.

edit on 3-2-2013 by lampsalot because: (no reason given)

My view on Tribes is probably different to yours. Modern tribal behaviour seems to be a choice. Once that Tribal mentality kicks in hate is often the only driving force against the other Tribes, like mob mentality.

My view, stems from that of an American, but it seems to me that this is a big part of the problem...

An individual, a few hundred or a few thousand years ago, could really only affect changes at a very local level. The same rings true, today! But, in this age of "global" communication, news and politics, we are led to believe that we can facilitate change on much more grand scale. We look at the whole, as a single unit, because we have been conditioned to do so. But, when we do this, we minimize and overlook, the true sociological differences at each of the lesser levels.

This, in and of itself, is the reason why globalization will not work!

We MUST get back to our roots! We must restructure Government back to a minimalist entity. The ONLY things that Govt. should be allowed control of, are things that truly apply to everyone in the state or country, of which the elected, preside.

Everything else, must be returned to LOCAL control. Because the locals, are the ONLY ones who know their own issues and therefore can apply their own means of dealing with them.

The problem remains though, how do we facilitate such a radical departure from the norm, without reeking havoc on the body that is instituting the change?

reply to post by lampsalot


Entitlements are just another means to garner votes to keep them in power. Make no mistake, I am against entitlements. Just not for the reason most people are. When people need help I am all for helping. The entitlement craze we see today is simply keeping politicians in office and wealthy by buying votes.

reply to post by GoOfYFoOt


I think its more realistic to tweak something in the current system. Anything else would require puling the system down and starting from scratch. It would be like pulling the tax framework apart and starting again. Which is what needs to happen but it would cause chaos. The tax system gets tweaked every year. Why can't the electoral system?