Do you want to live in a world where you can talk to strangers
as if they were neighbors ?
Where crime, drugs and mental health problems are minority issues;
not major generators of cost, fear and paranoia ?
A society where law is upheld by the people and not enforced by
a police force?
Where thought, opinion and discussion are valued as highly as
the ability of some athlete to compete?
A place where you can raise a family and have a choice in
every decision that will affect yours and their lives.
DAVE is not a political party
DAVE is not necessarily a means to fame, security or incredible wealth
DAVE is hard work, commitment and the best and worst time you'll ever have
DAVE is an idea.
DAVE, Digital Analog Vote Enabler or it's just another Dave
DAVE is a member of any parliament, male or female, young or old, religious or not.
DAVE is free * Conditions and fees may apply when nominating to your legislature.
DAVE is a web-site
DAVE may finally be a good reason for paying fees to a bank.
DAVE is the franchise that guarantees that you, your family, friends and neighbors have a voice.
A DAVE is made of commitment, born of belief.
The underlying premise and the constitutional oath, sworn and adhered to by any DAVE franchisee is very simple:
One issue, one vote, majority
wins with nothing absolute but your right to choose. Any time,
every time.
The entire principal of DAVE is founded on the belief that human technological society has been progressing down an inevitable path toward the digital democratization of our lives.
5D: Digital, Dynamic, Deliberative, Direct, Democracy.
The impulses and inspirations that have
driven our communications and computing technologies strived always
toward greater democracy through improved communication between
people.
To look at the world today it would seem that industry has lost
sight of this vision .
But not for too much longer.
Democracy, Digital Democracy,
is the killer application that the Internet and associated industries
have been looking for.
e-commerce and the generation of wealth are, and have always been,
necessary.
They are not the end game, they can not
and will not, provide the immersive experience for a majority
of people.
Digital Democracy does. It is the means by which every-one can
give expression to their passions, their thoughts, their concerns.
A DAVE, becomes part of the process that enables your electorate
to directly influence the course of parliamentary progress. To
live richer, more fulfilled, trusting lives.
DAVE: the parliamentarian, you.
The essence of DAVE
1. Is a freely available POLITICAL Franchise. As a Franchisee you are expected to run as a candidate for your local constituency at whatever level of government interests you.
2. A franchisee undertakes to utilise the tools of the franchise to effectively and truly represent the majority opinion of the constituency.
3. A DAVE is beholden to no-one's interests other than that of the majority choice within an electorate. Any expressions of personal belief are exactly that, personal.
4. A DAVE undertakes to become the conduit for information flowing to and from the constituency, to encourage and stimulate open and critical debate of any and all issues.
5. A DAVE undertakes to be openly accountable and financially independant as there is no formal political party structure to provide support . This is a small business like any other.
Go here to this graphic overview / representation of the entire D5 process: graphic.htm
As a DAVE you'd need to fulfill all the
requirements to become a legitimate member of your parliament.
These conditions can be found at your local electoral office and
generally deal with matters of your nationality, criminality and
sanity.
As an Australian I can direct you to the following url :
Australian Electoral Commission Home Page: http://www.aec.gov.au/
In the interest of maintaining the status quo, deterring the greater outbreak of democracy or frivolous nominations, a fee or bond will need to be lodged. This would be entirely the responsibility of the nominating DAVE and constituents.
As DAVE is not about establishing a political party, there will be no central point for the gathering and distribution of campaign funds to support all the needs of a campaigning DAVE, you do with what you have and hope that your faith in humanity is rewarded.
A quick note for Australians, all expenditure by political parties are GST exempt, the ATO is about to issue a directive advising that this advantage can now be enjoyed by all political candidates within the body politic. If you win office or meet the minimum quota you will be paid a per head fee to cover expenses.
If a DAVE wins a majority of votes within
their electorate then the DAVE would be expected to abide by the
laws and affirm any oath required of a sitting member. You would
be sworn to represent the will of the majority within your electorate
as polled through the DAVE web site, without fear or favor.
All expenses incurred in maintaining the office of a DAVE would
be expected to be drawn from the stipends, entitlements and wage
paid to an ordinary Member of Parliament.
In all things a DAVE is a human of free will and volition and would not be expected to maintain the office if ever confronted with a position that was found to be personally and morally repugnant. At all other times a DAVE would be expected to impartially deliver the will of the electorate and to honestly and openly present the concerns or opinions commonly agreed between the electorate.
A DAVE would be expected to maintain a web-site that accurately represented the business of the parliament and provide access to argument for and against any proposition. A DAVE would be expected to have an opinion, but ultimately of no more value than any other constituent. You would be expected to participate and lead discussion in whatever medium was required, no more quiet nights down the pub. As the media is so prevalent and persuasive you would have to front the microphones and camera's when required, something no active, opinionated, parliamentarian could hope to avoid.
A DAVE will be loved, hated, admired and despised, simultaneously and sequentially. It is the nature of our representative democracy. A democracy in transition.
As people become more aware that the choice and, the consequences, are theirs to decide, the level of personal focus will diminish and the thoughts of a DAVE will be no more than another opinion in the process of decision.
The web-site would be the primary conduit
for information to flow to and from a DAVE office.
A DAVE would be charged with maintaining the integrity and security
of the web-site and all information traveling to and from the
site would be treated as private correspondence.
The conduct of the site would be governed by the laws of the country
regarding the protection of privacy, laws of slander and libel
and any laws pertaining to telecommunications. As the site is
the final tally point for all polls pertinent to the business
of parliament it would need to be open and accountable to the
Electoral Commission to ensure the integrity of these polls.
Listing the current bills before parliament, the status of the
bill and the date of poll closure. It would also need to have
an area for the submission of questions to be put before the house
of parliament. Each piece of business would be linked out to a
specific topic area.
Considering the advances in video streaming technology it is not
inconceivable that live coverage of business would be available
to all who can with the chance to interact in real time.
1. Hansard or whatever parliamentary recording service exists.
2. Other DAVE sites.
Presents a summary of argument for and against the bill or business
before parliament.
1. Hyperlink library of supporting argument and references to
material within printed or other media.
2. Poll area displaying current and historical poll results regarding
the matter. Instead of receiving votes directly this area would
display poll data collected from participating Institutions (Please
refer to Institutions.)
3. Chat and comment area.
4. Links to local discussion or information suppliers
A Collation point for the determination of business to be addressed
by DAVE in parliament.
1. Chat and bulletin board area for the
posting of constituent concerns and discussion.
2. Private Mail for the presentation of private concerns
3. Straw poll; to determine the level of community concern or
local need.
4. Links to local discussion or information suppliers
5. Local council page.
A searchable archive of all business running through the site.
All those trillions of dollars spent developing
the secure communication systems that now ring our planet are
looking for a reason and justification. Very soon shareholders
the world over will be looking for the point in all that investment.
When the dot commers finally admit to their woeful balance sheets
and inspired projections a day of reckoning like no other will
have arrived.
Accept the fact that consumption and spending is not the reason
but a justification, a necessary tool, to lead us down the path
of construction and investment.
Unfortunately some paper fortunes will be lost as many already
have. The upside is that you can swap all that "wealth"
for a better world and there will still be great business opportunities
!
If everyone is using the Internet, their television, telephones,
newspapers, pubs and lounges as the forum for democracy then real
business is going to boom as trust and honesty blossom.
In a perfect world I'd prefer that the entire system be based on an independent secure network designed and built to specifically address the needs of a digital democracy. Realistically, we have already built that system, it exists to service the needs of our personal political surrogate, money.
As a part of the process to transition, DAVE has been making representations to the world of the bankers in the hope that, like you and I, they are human and care as much about the future of their children as we do.
If you think about it the two most ubiquitous institutions in
our society are the banks and the telephone companies. Unfortunately
the internet is still perceived as being an insecure medium for
transactions and as such the casting of votes over the internet
would be perceived to be open to corruption and undue outside
influence.
That leaves us with the banks. Evidently most of us trust the
banks enough to leave that most valuable of commodities, money,
in their care. We might not like them but at least they give a
good impression of being secure.
Voting on an issue is a transaction, yes or no.
Banks deal in transactions.
Nearly everyone has a bank account or access to one.
(You + Media) + Vote Statement Account
= Digital Democracy
DAVE proposes a partnership between DAVE and a bank, any banks or financial institution that provides secure statement accounts.
DAVE proposes that the institution set up
a linked account to any willing electors bank account. At any
time, through any of the banks entry points, ATM, Counter, Bpay
or Internet this empowered elector can identify themselves and
make a deposit into their vote account, receive a receipt and
some time later a periodical statement detailing the activity
within that account.
The bank would then process the information passing through only
the result of the vote, not the details of each individual choice.
This would pass through to the account of a DAVE and be posted
into the poll for whatever issue it was intended.
The whole process would be subject to the existing laws covering
the privacy and security of bank accounts with the additional
supervision of the Electoral Commission and as always everything
under the watchful eye of the media.
If all that's not good enough to thrill you then consider the
simple maxim:
With rights come responsibilities.
In this case if you want the right to vote you have the responsibility
to check that no-ones messing with your vote, tally the receipts
against the statement and be ever vigilant.
Why would a bank want to do this ?
My feeling is that Banks have never in their
austere histories needed the love and affection of their customers
more than they do now. It can be said that Banks are so powerful
that they really don't care what the customer thinks.
The cash for comments affair and those very expensive advertising
campaigns would tend to suggest otherwise.
With an attached Vote account your everyday transaction account
suddenly becomes a very useful and powerful possession, your bank
is at last likable as it delivers a service that is of true and
lasting benefit to it's customers.
Happy humans make happy customers, engaged minds make it even
better.
What's in the account?
Name & personal details: Self explanatory
PIN and security details: To ensure the person using the account is the authorised account holder.
Electorate / DAVE account: simple BSB type code for the destination account.
Transaction number: Identifies the vote for record and confirmation.
Topic Code: Identifies the topic and eventual attribution for the vote, two packets sent, +1 for choice, 0 for alternate
Topic switch: Flags that the topic has been voted on, can be reset by voter to enable a change of choice before the end of the voting deadline. Reset triggers increment of new preference and decrement of alternate choice ie a packet of +1 to the new choice and -1 to the alternate.
Monthly Statement: At the end of each month you would receive an account statement much as you would with an existing monetary account, and like the money one this is to help you spot the funny ones. As with all privileges comes responsibility, it's up to you to check and query the validity of your account and ensure that your democratic rights remain untouched.
You might not have realised but this entire
process has been growing around you. I have watched it spread
over the last fifteen years and have thought long and hard how
we can make it happen. I do this because I'm frightened by the
prospects for humanity if we don't begin to mutually respect the
individual right to hold and express opinion and act upon it.
This is not to defend or push through the absolute right of the
individual at the expense of family or society nor to decry the
moral underpinnings that have shaped our society and laws.
I recognize, as I hope most people do, that we have laws to protect
our rights, to protect us as individuals from the predations of
those who would seek to do us ill.
I believe that the majority of the humans on this planet are capable
of rational thought, of entering into discussion, of considering
debate and finally being able to make decision and live with the
consequence or acknowledge a mistake and start again.
To believe otherwise is to acknowledge those deficiencies within
yourself ,or worse still, to place yourself above all others.
My parents speak to me of the impossibility
of this system without the moral underpinnings of God and religion.
I would counter that with a more civil and human society, where
humans implicitly trust and love, we might all have a little more
time and interest in the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment.
Religion, democracy they are both acts of faith, belief in a greater
good and that love is in fact the ultimate destination.
As for the argument that God put politicians in power to lead us......
Leaders and the trust invested blindly have
been important. Alas that trust is no longer invested wisely and
times have changed. We should still look to those who lead by
example for insight and wisdom but allow their reflections to
guide ,rather than, lead us. We as individuals can participate
in every facet of our life from the personal to the international,
if only we begin to trust and act in a trustworthy manner.
Me, I'm 45.... with three children and an imperfect life. All I want is to make it better.
I see something that is absolutely possible, I don't know all the answers or even what the questions maybe but I have faith that whatever may arise there is someone out there in the universe of souls who has an answer.
Cheers