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02337: Re: [WDDM] The Distant Future

From: "Jiri Polak" <jiri.polak(at)swipnet.se>
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:15:10 +0200
Subject: Re: [WDDM] The Distant Future

Hello,
Americans can do that by giving sufficient support to the National Initiative for Democracy founded and led by ex-Senator Mike Gravel. If you don´t know it, you should have a look at it  (www.ni4d.us).
Greetings                  Jiri Polak
----- Original Message -----
To: wddm@world-wide-democracy.net
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2009 7:14 AM
Subject: Re: [WDDM] The Distant Future

We can change the government quickly.

If we are organized enough, we don't have to accept what goverments teach us in school. Just vote... it will all get better... the government is necessarily slow and deliberative... except when they have to pass a trillion dollar bailout bill.

All we need is some congressman to propose a bill that says, "Democracy, being the rule of the people, grants the people the right to overturn any rule or change any law, as they see fit, and on their terms."
Actually, that is redundant. We have the authority. We are simply unorganized.

Unrealistic. I'm a dreamer, right?
Maybe, maybe not :) We'll see.

Parrhesia

On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 11:41 AM, <Fred Gohlke> wrote:
Good Afternoon, Jiri

Thank you for your note.  I appreciate your response.

I agree the adoption of a new electoral method is in the distant future.  My letter to you was less about a political system than about the weaknesses of partisan politics.  The method I outlined was intended to show a viable method of harnessing ideological differences.  I'm sure there are others.

Since it took my country over 200 years to debase its proud origin, my guess is that it will take 200 more years to correct the excesses we endure.  I persist, not because I expect adoption of my ideas, but because I think it important to understand how The Noble Experiment (as the U. S. Constitution was once called) was so disappointing.  Many people seek democracy, but not many understand the reasons the first modern example failed.

Often, political changes are inspired by demogogues and launched on waves of emotion.  That is a poor basis for change.  Success in this realm depends on understanding the complexity of human relations ... before ... attempting to install a system of governing them.

My greatest difficulty is finding thoughtful challengers.  There is little contemporary reward for thinking about the future, and I find it difficult.  Since, like all humans, I am shackled by the limits of my own knowledge and experience, I find my horizons expanded by those who disagree with me, when they express their dissent rationally.

I've had the good fortune to find a few people willing to engage in the very hard work of thinking, but am constantly searching for more. Perhaps, in time, thought can lead to a more rational society, a society that incorporates the ideas expressed by Jurgen Habermas, Alasdair Macintyre, Jane Mansbridge, and many others.  As Dr. MacIntyre said ...

 "... everyone must be allowed to have access to the political
  decision-making process to experience the internal goods that
  enrich society and benefit the community"

Fred Gohlke


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