Tag Archives: democracy

Making Supreme Power Vested in the People

There is a term called “The Wisdom of Crowds” discussed in the book “The Wisdom of Crowds” by James Surowiecki. It says that the average wisdom of a group of people is greater than one person’s wisdom, you can read more in the book, or if you’re lazy (like I am) in the Wikipedia page linked above.

So I start again with a heavy subject which extends my last post and is connected and based on the idea of the wisdom of the crowds. For those who have read my last post, you probably (or more correctly, I hope you…) reacted to the post by thinking – “Well, it’s a nice idea, I don’t fully understand it yet, but say I do, what can it practically change?” So yes, I have written the last post pretty broad, and it’s okay you feel that way, that’s why I’m writing this post.

Lets start. The question above arose when I thought what idea of a law could I write and discuss in talkPeace. I didn’t have an immediate law so I came back to my comfort zone, a zone which every Israeli (including me) has probably discussed – The Israeli – Palestinian Conflict – double emphasized because it is possibly the hardest, oldest and most annoying  conflict we have. I am not a politician, nor do I have a degree in politics or anything similar, but as everyone, I do have an opinion (which I won’t discuss here).

Without discussing my personal opinion, I believe people from both sides (Israeli and Palestinian) just want to live in peace and safety, and the way I see it, the real problem is the big egos of the leaders. So here comes my solution – A special team of experts from both sides is created, they discuss the issue until they come to a possible solution, which is approved by the majority of people in the teams. The catch is that instead of the leaders accepting this agreement, it is converted to a poll on talkPeace so that every person on both sides (restricted to people in the Israeli and Palestinian circles) can vote (for people who don’t have computers, public computers can be accessible in libraries, or even the governments could put outdoor computers in every neighborhood or street) if they agree to the compromise or disagree. I believe, and more than that, I’m almost 100% sure that on the first poll, the majority of both sides will agree to the compromise, and here you go, you have peace!

I’m not saying it’s that easy (though why shouldn’t it be?). I’d like to emphasize,  I think the majority of both sides just want peace and safety, they don’t care if this square kilometer is ours or theirs. To conclude the way I see this conflict, I think peace is still a long way ahead because leaders check for reasons why not, but people don’t have to check why yes, they know that yes will make their lives easier safer and happier, and that’s why the people should have more influence.

So that was my big thought of how talkPeace could vest the power in the people. I know it sounds very naive, very ambitious, very simple, probably more simple than it is, and just to make it clear, I don’t think that by just making a website you could solve all the world’s problems, but I do think that the people know the best, and that we need to have more power to control our world and future. I think that talkPeace is ideal to a conflict like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because of the desire of nearly all people for peace, but the situation that I described above and similar situations could be solved with talkPeace only if talkPeace will be enshrined in the constitution and will have a big and significant place in the governments of the world.

So, like in the previous post, if you think talkPeace could work, and you believe in this project please contact me.

Standard

New Democracy with talkPeace

talkPeaceLogo

Well, you probably don’t start your first blog post with something so heavy, but that’s why I opened this blog from the start, so why shouldn’t I start with it?

So what is democracy?

Dictionary.com definition: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

So lets say, in the most “advanced”/”western” countries, democracy isn’t “exercised directly by them (the people)”, does it? It is exercised by their elected agents under a free electoral system (I hope). But is it enough? Do the “elected agents” do enough to help the people? Do they listen enough to enough people? Well maybe they do (in some places), but is it enough for you?

In my opinion, democracy shouldn’t make us go through all the bureaucracy, pain and anger just to change a little tiny bit of our life and other’s lives too. Sure, every change, as many advantages as it will have, has some disadvantages, but that shouldn’t keep us from trying to change. This bureaucracy just keeps the people from trying to change, and it strengthens the power of the “elected agents”, even though I bet it’s a pain in the ass for them too.

So, here comes my idea. The bureaucracy is meant to polish new laws so that they do well with most people, and so they have more advantages than disadvantages, so why can’t we do this step ourselves (the people) before sending our ideas to the government?

talkPeace Website Mockup

talkPeace is a social network of people who care. Anyone can write his idea on how to improve a social circle – from family and friends to countries and the whole world. People who are connected to this circle can comment on this idea and discuss it until all people involved in the discussion get to an agreement. After they get to an agreement, the discussion is converted to a poll which is visible to the whole circle, and if above (lets say) 70% of the circle is supports the idea, it is sent to the leaders/government of this circle for final judgment and decision.

I think talkPeace can change the way democracy works these days, if only the right people and enough people support it. First step is to get the site running, for that I need web developers and designers. Second, governmental cooperation will give a great boost. And third, people who want to change the world, have enough time and think this can work. Finally, money can always help. So all of the above, or anyone else who thinks this can work and change, please contact me.

Thank you very much!

Related articles
Standard