The simplest expression of Democracy under d5 is:
Democracy is a compact and a bond that contracts us one human to another. It's currency is trust and it's transactions the very core of civil society.
In all I write I assume one thing and that is that most humans are like me:
I also accept that out there, some humans are born without, deny or have lost some or all of these qualities.
BUT they are NOT a majority of those who surround you and even for that minority there is hope in a world that cares more for compassion than commerce.
Digital democracy is about enabling this incredibly complex and diverse world of ours to operate at the macro scale yet be responsive to the micro needs of every individual. Our society, our lives are layered so that most of the processes going on around us require very little of our time or thought. We have through necessity, delegated much of the responsibility for the daily running of life to a rich and complex variety of cultural and commercial institutions.
Today we live with an institution that has not evolved apace with technology. Parliament
Parliament was a necessary part of the evolution of our civil society, meeting the needs of times far less sophisticated.
Gone are the days when we need to send men over to far distant galleries to deliberate on the affairs of state. Parliament no longer serves the greater good of society but has become bound to the interests of the too few and too influential. All that is so wrong is so public, endlessly bought before us through the great conduits of our media.
Our democracy must evolve from this dependance on the great white men of power and return back to the core of democratic political legitimacy, you and I. We are the individual stakeholders who make up the families, districts, states and nations of the democratic world.
This is not to suggest for one moment that we lop off politician's heads and start anew. It's reasonable to suspect that most politicians are,like you and I, good, sensible and reasonable humans. Let them get on with useful and meaningful lives, like the rest of us. Remove the onerous burdens of state from their all too human shoulders. Allow them to share ideas, digest the news and like us all, participate in the decisions that influence all life.
We are all share holders in the institutions of state and like share holders in any business should be guided by those who have the skill, wisdom or insight to know what is best for the times and circumstances. Like all share holders we are beholden to be vigilant and act upon criminal activity, injustice or to root out incompetence.
We must also allow for vigorous debate and contentious decisions without malice and accomodate mistakes with compassion and the greater wisdom of hindsight . I truly believe that truth, no matter how obscured, will become evident to all who seek it.
The ways and means to make this happen are all around us today, all that is missing is the human understanding that it is possible.