The Future of Democracy Newsletter: December, 2020

On December 7, we discussed a proposal by Martin McIntyre titled: “One Human(e) Society.” The group had a mixed reaction to the ideas in the plan.

The essential idea behind this proposal is not to replace the governments of the world, but to establish direct communication about major issues by people over the Internet. Anyone over 15 could join but would need to agree to vote on two-thirds of the ideas proposed.

This proposal was at first created 50 years ago and then updated over the years when the Internet became widely available. Its intent is to enfranchise people around the world who otherwise believe they have no voice in the direction of their countries and the world.

Ideas for action would be brought by members and then voted on. Membership would be anonymous. The issues considered could be any that currently are affected — or neglected — by our governments. These might include areas such as human rights, environmental issues, health benefits, education, water rights, nuclear weapons, etc.

The hope is that if enough people would be willing to communicate in an international communication format like this it would have a number of benefits:
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1. The society would encourage expression of views by many who now consider themselves disenfranchised, including minorities and young people.
2. It would allow those most disaffected by their domestic and foreign governments to directly state their views about possible solutions to their issues and the direction of their countries.
3. It would have the potential to lessen the likelihood of war by substituting communication among those most likely to be affected.
4. It would encourage those of different political backgrounds to communicate about issues directly rather than dwelling on partisanship or ideology.

Although the results would not be legally binding, they likely would have considerable influence on democratic governments who would have access to the views of a large group of individuals. Moral suasion — along with economic suasion such as boycotts — has worked to change policies such as apartheid in South Africa and poor treatment of farm workers in California.

Ideally, such a system would be conducted over its own dedicated internet network, but that would be expensive to set up, so the regular internet would probably have to suffice at the beginning. That could be subject to hackers, so a stable, hacker-free network could, it is hoped, be established.

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Your comments and thoughts always are welcome. Also, don’t forget to look at our blog site: renewingdemocracy.org

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