John Macgregor (democracy re-design)

There's just the initial psychological hurdle.

Since the Romans, descent into oligarchy destroys society—yet changing things structurally is rarely done.

Ruin is seen as less bothersome.

books2read.com/thirddraft

#ThirdDraftDemocracy #Democracy

That is, in lieu of fighting social problems & war in a made crafted to optimise them, I've designed leverage points by which to shift the system

Compared to what we're doing now—which has the circularity of a positive feedback loop—it's IMO an easier route to rational governance & a happy society.

Constitutions seem set in stone.

Nonetheless, an obsolete constitutional design is, ultimately, the generator of the disaster we now see arriving—on the instalment plan—throughout the Western system.

If I want to solve social problems & war—I avoid trying to solve social problems & war.

In a political system, if you want "modest efforts to yield disproportionate results" (Donna Meadows), it's best to think upstream of the system.

To its design.

We don't tend to do this, as it appears too hard to change anything there.

Voting for the other party next time won’t change anything of substance: in every nation, all major parties are bought.

Things will only change once our system is replaced by rational governance.

#Democratization #ThirdDraftDemocracy

books2read.com/thirddraft

In today's West, government policy is driven by corporate profit, not sound geostrategy—let alone what’s good for the people.

We have been overtaken by China because even one-party rule beats captured democracy.

𝐕i𝐝e𝐨: T𝐡e b𝐮l𝐥e𝐭 𝐭r𝐚i𝐧 𝐟r𝐨m S𝐡e𝐧z𝐡e𝐧 𝐭o C𝐚n𝐭o𝐧 𝐭h𝐢s w𝐞e𝐤, a𝐬 𝐢t a𝐩p𝐫o𝐚c𝐡e𝐝 𝟑5𝟎 𝐤p𝐡

#ThirdDraftDemocracy #Democracy

𝐡𝐭𝐭𝐩𝐬://𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬𝟐𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝.𝐜𝐨𝐦/𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭

We don’t get to survive without system change.

*𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙: 𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙍𝙤𝙡𝙡 𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚 & 𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙋𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧. (𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆, 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗲 & 𝘄𝗮𝗿.)

Campaigns to right wrongs—war, inequality, inflation, ocean pollution—can no longer gain the momentum to succeed.

The current political framework is designed to recycle profitable crises.

It can't, by definition, end problems that stem from its own design.

Our problem is not ideological but systemic. Not politics but architecture.

Which is why governance is presently bogged down in issues no-one can solve at the level on which they’re being addressed.

books2read.com/thirddraft

That’s why #ThirdDraftDemocracy exists.

It restores the egalitarian character of our evolutionary past—via a suite of democratic tools to decontaminate politics, decentralize information, cleanse the electoral process, & raise ‘civic IQ’.

The oligarchs may win next time. They’ve had time to learn from mistakes, & plan.

The people—left & right—are quite united on essential issues: no more lies, no more hyper-control, no more rule-by-billionaire.

But they do need a weapon by which to put their ideas into action.

Pandemics & wars can be repurposed both to control us & to multiply corporate profits.

The last big war (Iraq) & the last pandemic (COVID) were hugely profitable—but backfired somewhat in terms of social control. People rebelled.

The view from Canton Tower (Guangzhou, China) tonight.

IMO China's vibrancy—in comparison to the hole the United States has fallen into—shows us that captured democracy can be far worse than one-party rule.

Our strength in the West is #democracy.

It is time we rescued it from the history books.

The view from Canton Tower, Guangzhou, China, last night.

But if we have a new architecture ready this time round, our social upheavals might finally result in something lasting.

Our pattern to date has been amorphous protest.

But no change can occur, or last, without architecture.

#ThirdDraftDemocracy #Democracy

books2read.com/thirddraft

Realising that we need to democratise - given our Stone Age wiring - is the obvious (finally) becoming obvious.

When & where the lightning of change will strike seems to be in the lap of the gods (no-one predicted the Arab Spring).

#ThirdDraftDemocracy #Democracy

books2read.com/thirddraft

The Trump team, like Biden’s, is peppered with alumni from BlackRock—whose shareholders live not only in the United States but in Singapore, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE & beyond

Until it undergoes democratization, “the United States” as a political & economic entity may be a bit of a misnomer.

Now, in an era where finance is globalized, the investors who determine US policy are themselves global.

For example, the central figure in bankrolling Trump's candidacy was first & foremost a supporter of Israel (indeed a citizen of Israel).

Does the US system—i.e. a sovereign republic—continue to exist?

1. Studies show that Congress legislates mostly for the super-rich and not at all for ordinary Americans.

2. Polling shows that the American public understands this well.

Regaining autonomy Can human society enjoy the state for which evolution fitted it?

johnmacgregor.substack.com/p/regaining-...

My new Substack piece:

On how Western society can regain its autonomy, after two generations of corporate rule.

Both history & social science show us that societies come good when their governance is in the hands of their people.

#ThirdDraftDemocracy #Democracy

books2read.com/thirddraft

China has overtaken the West more than anything because of good governance. (Bad luck under Mao; much better luck under Xi.)

However, good governance should not be left to luck.

We in the West possess a suit of democratic tools that would enable us to turn around our collective decline.

I've always been intrigued by the human capacity to quickly get used to new things.

For example, after about an hour in the robot store in Shenzhen, China, I began to get used to robots walking past.

#ThirdDraftDemocracy

books2read.com/thirddraft

I don't think it's controversial to say that Washington policy is driven by various blocs of investors.

If so, you'd expect to see decisions that benefit those investors.

Decisions for which the welfare of the American people, indeed the survivability of the Republic, have no relevance.

I think it was a boiling frog thing.

Thanks!

China has been lucky with its leadership in recent years, on balance. But (as Mao demonstrated) luck can run out. So they'd benefit from democratisation too.

Yes, absolutely.

And adequate food.

I think in 2020 they passed the goal of everyone in China getting at least 1 meal per day.