• surph_ninja@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Absolutely. More direct democracy. The whole point of representative democracy is issues of time and distance. Now that we can communicate fast and across the globe, average citizens should play a much larger & more active role in directing the government.

      • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        How do you solve the problem that half the country can’t even be bothered to participate once every four years?

        Don’t get me wrong, I’m with you 100%, but how would we get people to engage with such a system?

        • lonerangers1@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Imagine you had a lemmy instance that every post was a proposal for regulation in your community/region. Anyone can make a post, some will gain traction and support, some will be worthless and fall off quickly. If the proposal gains enough support it then goes to a vote post where people get to make an official vote. Could be to charge $40 for a speeding ticket instead of $50, could be a trade agreement with another region.

          I think this method would give people equity in the system. Maybe it could also be scored on a curve depending on how much it effects you as an individual. Maybe having advanced education on a topic means your say has more weight to it than someone without.

          I was thinking of ways to move towards this and so far my best idea is to build it and run it in parrelel with what we have now. Get it functioning and trusted and simply try to roll over what we have now. I figure something tragic would need to happen to create a power void for full implementation. Like yellowstone erupting or something. I was also thinking that we need to teach the kids. We need to give them tools to build on so they can take this kind of idea to fruition.

          I am just a regular idiot, so feel free to add anything constructive.

          • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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            4 hours ago

            It’s a great idea. I think half the people just don’t give a fuck at all.

            Among people who say they care- look how rapidly disinformation is spread about anything and everything. Billionaires would be gaming the system from the get-go. I’m just pessimistic. I really do love the idea and I hope we get there some day.

            Based on how Trump 2.0 is going though we might just get that tragedy.

            • lonerangers1@lemmy.world
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              4 hours ago

              I don’t think this idea I have involves any billionaires with power. It would be pointless. With everything decentralized there would be no mega corps at all. They wouldn’t have politicians to bribe. They would have to make the majority of people happy with them to be allowed. I also consider that in a world designed for quality of life instead of profit we wouldn’t need to have 9-5 jobs to survive. Our production has been growing rapidly for a long time and all of the proceeds have been getting held by ~1000 people who have centralized profits to themselves. With decentralized communism the economy would be like one big co-op. No company owners, the community would have say in how products are sourced and distributed. How people who invest more in the system are rewarded by the system. Couple things to help understand where my head is at. I think we can decentralize and open source services like amazon, home depot, walmart,… We don’t need oligarchy to come together and use economy of scale. We could have a sales platform free for everyone that could source directly from manufacturers. No mark up, not even in the manufacturing. No profit model at all. This factors in that labor needs are going to plummet. Take media, I predict all media will be AI generated and personalized. You could have a never ending show. One that knows how to keep you entertained. You could even be a character in it where your screen is just the view, so now we are in VR, like a gta map. Now the big change, This will all happen in our heads. check this shit out https://synchron.com/ . We are about to have hivemind irl. I only want to discuss posative implications. I am super fucked up over thinking about what capitalism is going to do with direct access to our subconsciousness.

              • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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                3 hours ago

                I’m all the way with you politically.

                Synchron seems awesome and yeah terrifying under the current economic and government systems that dominate the world.

                I doubt I’ll live long though to become a cyborg but I’ve always said I’ll be one of the first once it’s publicly available. I’m 41, I don’t expect to live much past 70. Maybe I’ll get to try it before I die.

                But the revolution is much more exciting than the tech. I’m armed and trained. Are you?

        • comfy@lemmy.ml
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          3 days ago

          How do you solve the problem that half the country can’t even be bothered to participate once every four years?

          I assume you’re talking about the US electoral system?? That’s very different.

          but how would we get people to engage with such a system?

          By empowering them.

          Consider how the current electoral system disempowers people:

          1. Some people literally cannot vote or risk jeopardizing their job taking the day off, others face voter suppression tactics

          2. The FPTP system (esp. spoiler effect) and the present political circumstances mean that there are really only two viable options for political parties for most people, so many feel that neither option represents them, let alone their individual positions on policy

          3. Politics is widely considered to be corrupt and break electoral promises regularly. There is little faith in either party to represent voters

          But, in a system where you are able to represent yourself at will, engagement is actually rewarding and meaningful. It won’t magically make everyone care, but direct democracy alongside voter rights reform would likely make more people think it’s worth polling.

          • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            I hope you’re right. I would love to see it. I actually support mandatory voting like in Australia. With mostly current laws everyone could get a mail in ballot. If you don’t want to participate just check that box at the top, sign it, and send it in.

            Your system sounds much better but would require a lot more legislation.

            • comfy@lemmy.ml
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              3 days ago

              Well, it would require more than just legislation change. Truth be told, in the US, a working democracy requires some form of revolution since the people holding all the power benefit from the broken system. But on the other hand, organizations and communities (including territories of hundreds of thousands) practicing direct democracy on a smaller scale have seen success with these strategies.