I propose a new sociopolitical model that I call Voluntary Democracy. You may reasonably ask how I became arrogant enough to even contemplate doing such a thing.
In referencing Ancient Greece & its system of ‘government’ it is often overlooked that populations were much smaller.
This meant that citizens (excluding slaves!) could be much closer to decision making.
The fundamental problem we have to grapple with now is that most modern nation states (if such still exist) are too big both geographically & demographically to allow meaningful interaction . (That’s to say nothing of supranational institutions like the UN & WHO.)
I believe solutions cannot be found in the highly centralised modern nation state. It is a rotten vessel. Surely recent recorded history shows that.
If the nation state is to survive in some form then real power must be devolved within them to more manageable local administrations. This is where the ideas put forward by Iain can have a chance of taking root.
But none of this can happen without a similar radical reform of the economic system that has enslaved us & drives most of our waking thoughts, values & behaviours.
The two must go together.
For this to happen a sea change needs to occur in human consciousness ie we must break the mind control of the modern state.
Totally agree that 'democracy' can only function as a localist system.
This is because of the social cognition number (Dunbar's number = 150). Anything above this number squared (22,500) and you have a lot more third degrees of separation, in other words not everyone knows each other and therefore bad guys can hide in the numbers and pretend to be good. Eventually they all get together and form a cabal and the rest is history.
We did, ironically, have this localist system in Britannia before 1066 - from which point onwards we have been an occupied people, under a feudalist system. Unfortunately, the British people have been prevented from understanding their own history, and so they think the Establishment is a part of their own social group. The Establishment (state) is a different, quasi-foreign social group with a different identity whose attitude towards the people is akin to the racism of an occupying force.
This is why we shouldn't waste time talking about different political systems. In a system by and for members of the same social group, you don't get subjugation, because it is a part of human nature to feel benevolent towards one's own social group/culture. You don't shit on your own doorstep, as the saying goes.
Obviously, the feudalists would never put any of this in the education system. The native population would revolt.
I agree that the large scale and over-centralisation of modern states are fundamental problems to achieving a just and prosperous society - which is the opposite to which we have been taught. The old refrain around here is "Wales is too small to be independent." To which I retort "No, it's too big. Nobody wants to be run by that out-of-touch clique in Cardiff. "
An interesting viewpoint; certainly contrary to the century-old zeitgeist.
It’s difficult to identify the benefits of universal suffrage over the last 100 years. The quality of public discourse did not improve nor the standard of political representation. The opposite in fact.
We see now a definite low point in Britain has been reached where a ‘government’ has been elected by 20% of the universal suffrage - the lowest vote for a government party in 100 years. This gave Labour a huge majority in parliament.
So much for universal suffrage.
However the principle that those who may be affected by a proposal should have an equal say in any such decision is a good one. That said, universal suffrage has not in any way supported this principle.
Historically, most sizable civilizations have been hierarchical. The cream/crap always seem to rise to the top. 😁
An unfortunate characteristic of human nature is that dubious creatures are the one's often seeking political power. Their egos crave it like someone on a diet desiring sweets. Most ordinary folks, just want to go about their daily business, not interested in manipulating populations.
Nonetheless, voluntary democracy will not be a future option. The trend is towards technocratic totalitarianism. Looking down the yellow brick road, I can see a time when elections are eliminated and an "AI Wizard of Oz" situation unfolds. It's the fantasy of every techno/fascist billionaire. An unaccountable authoritarian who tells a catatonic AI dependent population how to feel and think.
In effect an "AI God," whose edicts will never be questioned as they'll be considered sacrosanct. In fact, if one dared to oppose this formidable machine they'd quickly find themselves persona non grata--meaning they'd be digitally terminated without access to any life sustaining resources.
The messy oligarchial criminal cartel controlling the planet now will actually seem liberating in comparison to a neofeudal totalitarian technocracy.
That is everyone supposedly is free to setup business and trade if they have the required resources. But they have to compete against everyone else including those that are not trading fairly. So rules and regulations and laws and introduced to supposedly make trading fair.
This is what parliament does it makes rules and regulations and laws .
But those in parliament have many conflicts of interest with lobby groups and the like.
So the rules do not make trading fair. The cost of trading is also hampered by the taxes that have to be paid to trade. The taxes we are told are needed to fund the running of essential services ,
But the taxes are used to pay the interest on the money the government borrows from the bank of England to pay for essential services. The reason the government has to borrow money from the Bank of England goes back to 1694 when the King joined the board with a group of rich men in a corrupt but binding exclusive contract to produce all paper money and loan it out at interest. Also giving them the power to control the amount of money in circulation and cause a boom and bust economy as an effective means of transferring the earned wealth of individuals to themselves. Rich individual also control most of the information that people have that they use to make any decisions on what they think should be done. What they think is the most important problem is the problem that they are told 24/7 is the most important problem. Also the solution is solution that they are told 24/7 is the solution.
People were told 24/7 there was a deadly virus and most believed it. Although maybe not as many were fooled as we were told with protests of over half a million or more.
We are now told there is billions in debt that has to be found so more austerity is required.
We are told billions of military spending is required to support Ukraine and other conflicts if we are to remain free. We are told that there is a climate crisis that is so urgent we must change our energy system and much else to address it . We are told there is a migrant crisis that can not be controlled. All are lies used to fool us
We are not told what I have written above or that there are people and organisations outside our country that control those that we put in power to serve us.
Thanks for that ID, voluntary democracy looks great. However nothing will change until the debt based Ponzi scheme that is the global financial system changes. The privately owned central banks and their mysterious owners control governments through usury. Until we throw the money lenders out of the temple we are doomed to remain slaves.
The first main reason for that is that the herd of modern moron slaves (MMS) REJECT RESPONSIBILITY with all the strength we have. That's why the majority still votes.
When you suggest that: "The executive would be replaced with a body formed of citizens who would be randomly selected by sortition from the whole population and would serve on a temporary or perhaps issue by issue basis.", you must be forgetting that majority of MMS aren't capable of Thinking!
It is simply to easy to see how such endeavor is destiny to fail.
But above all else... How would the "VOLUNTARY DEMOCRACY" address the power and control of the Secular Ruling Families in relation to the MONETARY SYSTEM?
Very interesting to learn about the Greek model you're basing this on, and while I completely thumbs the idea what I think you now must do is . . . Flesh out the full plan, make numerous copies, and then seal every copy (they'll need to be hard copies, not thumb drives) inside its own mini-vault that can withstand thermo-nuclear devastation and send these around the globe to be buried in strategic places for potential survivors to unearth after most people, including most of the oligarchs, have been incinerated or radiated beyond the ability to survive. Hopefully, a group that finds your plan can read English, or perhaps translate the plan into a few other languages (including Chinese, Spanish, perhaps Russia), and include those copies in connection with geographic regions for burial. If your copies survive destruction and are found then I think your plan can take root! Just a few other logistics to iron out, like how to assure these mini-vaults can survive destruction without being buried too deep underground and how people are supposed to "unlock" them if the vaults remain secured. Surely, many others will have ideas for that and can add nuances! : )
I've long thought the preservation of the truth in the way you describe is of the utmost and vital importance for the future of humanity. There's going to be at least 500 years of the New World Order in which a false version of history will be propagated, and no contradictory evidence will be available.
If humanity is to recover from that totalitarian phase, they will need to know the truth.
It seems to be a major flaw in the human species that we crave beng told what to do by someone else we deem to be better and wiser than we are. We don't want to have to think for ourselves.
This is a great article but I'm not sure we are yet ready for 'voluntary democracy'.
I can't fault the idea of Voluntary Democracy, but, as Iain admits, it would take a fundamental shift in our perception of reality and our place in it. Which begs the question - how is that going to come about?
I may have the answer, but first I'd like query Iain's description of modern representative democracy.
Iain writes:
"So-called “representative democracy” is not democracy. In representative democracies the people are permitted to select representatives who make all decisions for them for the next few years. During their rule the representatives enforce their collective will upon the people.
Representative democracy is based upon the people handing all their decision making power over to a tiny clique of privileged rulers. It is the antithesis of democracy."
Which again begs the question - where does this 'collective will' supporting "a tiny clique of privileged rulers" come from?
Iain gets closer to the truth when he states they are:
"The dominant faction, usually formed from the most popular mob — chosen by those who bothered to vote — then forms the executive."
But that still doesn't adequately explain why "the vast bulk of parliamentarians represent only oligarchs’ views and prioritise oligarchs’ concerns."
The answer is actually staring us in our face - it's the existence and dominance of these thugs called political parties - better described as highly centralised political gangs funded by external interests, complete with a hierarchical system of control that ensure only the most psychopathic and compromised back stabbing individuals rise to the top.
The disillusionment with 'politics' in general has now reached an all time high. And rightly so. We just need to make people aware that the rot in representative democracy is the very existence of these gangs with their vacuous words and false promises obviously compromised and unrepresentative of the people.
With a anti-political party campaign we can sweep the odious presence of these entities from the seats of our local governments replacing them with locals committed by oath to only represent the interests of the locals.
It's starts at the bottom but just as the rot comes from the head down, the healing will come from the bottom up.
You can consider this (replacing party political hacks with genuine representatives) a practical and doable strategy that lays the groundwork to a more radical transformation as Iain lays out in his Voluntary Democracy part 1.
False. It’s the delusion and lie that you or anyone else has authority over anyone else; or that you or anyone else can transfer rights you don’t already possess to govt or a candidate, by voting.
Moreover, the enforcement of all manmade “law” is done through violence and criminal fraud. Not consent.
And since all governments are actually privately owned corporations and centrally controlled, merely masquerading as governments, with temporary (S)elected officials acting as spokespeople for criminal fraud and racketeering, with as much power and authority as a potted plant, the voting itself is the psychological operation keeping the illusion, overt tyranny and criminal fraud in place.
I do not know how correct or in error you are as I was dozing off trying to keep up with so much jargon that is unfamiliar to my comprehension.
However I do not comprehend these fashions in west for politics beyond personal body, to me it is simple that biggest gangs is tentacle of dominance & that is from vested interest of Cult/Clan/Familys . All this chat is just envy & frustration that you are not in biggest gangs, & you all expect them to let you have reigns of rotting chariot for the dead instead.
I did enjoy scatological psychology phraseology used when talking on such (I do not wish offense here!) 'anal' issues =
''It's starts at the bottom but just as the rot comes from the head down, the healing will come from the bottom up.''
So thank you for that moment of 'symbolic correspondence'.
My first criticism of your fantasy “Voluntary Democracy” is how you skimmed right past the fact that Cleisthenes was a member of the Aristocracy, and HE gave the Athenians the power to form a Democracy. What current government is going to allow you to secede from its dominion and take from it the land, water resources, mineral resources, etc. that the current government owns?
Even if you were to somehow purchase your little Shangri La slice of heaven from the current owner, how would you defend your “Voluntary Democracy” from encroachment by a stronger belligerent force?
Democracy was only slightly feasible in a small city-state the size of Athens, and even then it could not defend itself.
There will always be humans who are not kind, benevolent, sympathetic, and altruistic. “Possessions” are only possible by first possessing a superior force to defend one’s possessions.
The Founders of the USA devised the longest lasting form of government by incorporating both democracy and the ability to “divide and conquer” any threats to the nation through the implementation of a Constitutional Federal Republic that not only guarantees and protects the Liberty & Rights of the citizens, but imposes “checks and balances” between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches at all levels of government, Federal, State, and Local (Counties and Cities).
Granted, the USA does not function perfectly in any way, but that is mostly because the USA has been perpetually under attack ever since, and before, the USA broke free from the British Imperialist Oligarchy. The USA has endured for almost 250 years despite being undermined from within by the early Tory Traitors and ever since by the Anglo-American Establishment of imperialists, banksters and corporatists.
My Substack is replete with numerous posts that describe the long history of everything the British Imperialist Oligarchy have tried to do to abolish the USA as an independent sovereign nation-state and re-subordinate the people of North America back under British dominion.
Check it out.
I also highly recommend the writings of Richard Poe at his Substack.
Being a lifelong subject of the British Imperialist Fascist Oligarchy, I can understand Iain’s frustration with the imposter government system he suffers under, and why he fantasizes about an unrealistic idealized alternative.
“I think it was Bismarck who said that the man who wishes to keep his respect for sausages and laws should not see how either is made. With reference to the laws, a knowledge of how they are made may increase our respect for them and their makers; and if it does not, we are at least able to express our dissatisfaction in an intelligent manner.”
Dear Iain, where can I find more information about the significance of Magna Carta? I'm reading the transcript in the National Archive and can basically only see a lot of clauses relevant to 1215 and little about the significance of trial by jury. This may not be a terribly relevant question here, but you've set me off on a rabbit hole of reading on your website and I no longer know what I've read in which piece! Thank you so much!
A good source is Phil Ridley at the London branch of the Western Price Foundation https://westonaprice.london/about/ He supplied the information about Magna Carta which appears on U.K. Column News web pages and he has successfully carried out legal actions invoking Magna Carta rights. I spoke with him recently about this because I thought it possibly might be helpful in the case of Richard D Hall.
One further comment about this article which might be taken to imply that Magna Carta introduced the use of Trial by Jury. This is not correct. Phil Ridley has explained to me that jury trials were already in use in Britain nationwide by 1166, so before Magna Carta.
It has two parts to it (I'm meaning to do a third but haven't gotten round to it yet).
All this, however, does of course depend on the benevolence and decency of the elected representatives, which requires an honest mainstream media to educate and inform the people so they don't get deceived by bad people/politicians and unwittingly vote for corrupt liars.
It also depends on having a decent set of political policies, which create security and prosperity. If a government ever did that, they would get voted in repeatedly, regardless of the electoral system (one reason why I say these western politicians are stupid - although it is all just theatre, in the end, and reveals the fact they have no intention of making people happy and prosperous - it's all about social control). But in this PR-2 system, they have a real choice and are genuinely represented. There's also a none of the above option (for every .25% NOTA wins, they get one MP randomly selected from the population for the additional list), as well as an element of random selection for the upper house.
Anyway, check out the link if you're interested. Aside from anything else, it's fun.
Thank you for such and interesting proposal for discussion. As many have pointed out in the comments, there is a problem with changing the perceptions of a greater number of us, raising conscious awareness; which I hasten to add in my experience is not dependant upon education, wealth or worldly success, I never measure any individual's essence with these markers. My observations have shown that an aware consciousness thrives in those who for whatever reason are drawn to look inside for the answers in a World designed for the extroverted. Of course there is also the random surprise in nature too, people can surprise you, and, on these occasions we may liken those exceptions to a recessive gene, it will always pop up and make an appearance!
I thought this extract from Carl Jung (to Heinz Westmann) be pertinent, written in 1947 [1]
' Best thanks for your letter and your news about the Present Question Conference. The theme is indeed very interesting, What is the critical problem in human relationships today?
Human relationships today are threatened to collective systems, quite apart from the fact they are still, or always were, in a dubious and unsatisfactory condition. The collective systems, styled party or State, have a destructive effect on human relationships. And they can easily be destroyed, too, because individuals are still in a condition of unconsciousness which cannot cope with the tremendous growth and fusion of the masses. As you know, the main endeavour of all totalitarian States is to undermine personal relationships through fear and mistrust, the result being an atomised mass in which the human psyche is completely stifled. Even the relation between parents and children, the closest and most natural of all, is torn asunder by the State.
All big organisations that pursue elusively materialistic aims are the pacemakers of mass-mindedness. The sole possibility of stopping this is the development of consciousness in the single individual, who thereby is rendered immune to the lure of collective organisations. This alone keeps his soul alive, for its life depends on the human relationship. The accent must fall on conscious personalisation and not on State organisation. The latter inevitably leads to the blight of totalitarianism.'
We have all witnessed the inhuman quality of bureaucracies and large organisations that now have reached a peak, inflicting so much upon those they are supposed to serve. I hope the discussion you have started gains much traction. The new hero has to fight with dragons nesting in the human psyche, within and without and it is this personal suffering that births a hero. Yes, the individual and his journey really does matter despite being relegated to a statistic in this system. An interesting phenomena occurs when one person raises their consciousness, it tends to have have a subtle but similar effect on those around them which ripples in the Collective Unconscious (rather like Rupert Sheldrake's Morphic Field).
'The descent into the depths always seem to precede the ascent.' [2]
[1] CJ Jung Letters Volume 1
[2] CJ Jung – Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
The most obvious and glaring problem with this model is that you simply can't guarantee the essential quality or merit of the people in your parliament/executive/juries and so on. Given the spread of levels of let's call it comprehensive intelligence (which includes intellectual intelligence, emotional and psychological and social maturity etc., which by definition also includes benevolence, which is more intelligent than malevolence), and divide those levels into alpha to epsilon, you will always end up with a majority of gammas. I'd say there's less than 5% of the world who are alphas. Then maybe 15% betas, 40% gammas, and the rest are deltas and epsilons. So that's 80% gamma, delta and epsilon. Hopefully if those percentages are even just roughly correct, you can see the real problem with the world.
You see this, I say, is precisely the reason why the entire world is in such a dystopian horrorshow state right now. The cabal are gammas, driven by resentment. The people are mainly gammas, who simply don't have the intelligence to know how to make the right social decisions, or comprehend proper philosophy or psychology or, well, anything, quite frankly. This is why the path of social and technological progress has been so achingly slow for humanity. Because humanity has allowed gammas to be in charge.
The only way, therefore, you can ensure a good and decent and progressive world is by having one that is governed solely by alphas. Remember in the definition of alpha I don't just include intellectual intelligence, I include emotional and psychological (and, indeed spiritual) intelligence and maturity. An alpha, by definition, would always do what's in the best interests of the people under their charge, and even more importantly they would create an education system and a society in which the vast mass of humanity (betas to epsilons) can in fact pursue self-improvement - thus the evolution of the species does actually progress.
If this sounds like Brave New World then I'm all for it. Or perhaps it might be better to call it Plato's Republic. The fact that so many people think of that as a 'dystopia' rather than a 'utopia' somewhat proves my point.
Like the problem with the so-called 'great reset' is that it's been designed by and for gammas, not alphas. And even worse, gammas who have a Dunning-Kruger syndrome going on.
So screw 'democracy' and anything related to it. The only solution is a social decision-making council of alphas.
Nice piece of writing Iain. I always knew that though it was called a democracy , it wasn't. You have clarified for me exactly what it is. I trust there is some traction in your suggested way to move into a true democracy.
This piece reminded of that wonderful meme back in '20/21 where a TV interviewer asked a couple of Amish, "Why isn't covid affecting your community ?"
Response, "We don't have a television".
Seems that ADHD doesn't affect Amish kids either...mmm...
My limited knowledge of history also reminds me of the transition from city states, to nation states...and now nation states are being deconstructed...
The British deep state, i.e. the Civil and Intelligence Services, are the real problem. 300 years+ to entrench their position, and reinforce the barracades, through a plethora of legislation to restrict our ability to counter them.
Anyone remember the, "Reform Act of 1832", rotton boroughs, highlighted in an episode of Blackadder II ?
I once thought, née believed, that government was there to "protect" us.
I now understand that they are there to; 1. Fleece us of our, (unjustified), taxes, and 2. To protect their position of power.
In referencing Ancient Greece & its system of ‘government’ it is often overlooked that populations were much smaller.
This meant that citizens (excluding slaves!) could be much closer to decision making.
The fundamental problem we have to grapple with now is that most modern nation states (if such still exist) are too big both geographically & demographically to allow meaningful interaction . (That’s to say nothing of supranational institutions like the UN & WHO.)
I believe solutions cannot be found in the highly centralised modern nation state. It is a rotten vessel. Surely recent recorded history shows that.
If the nation state is to survive in some form then real power must be devolved within them to more manageable local administrations. This is where the ideas put forward by Iain can have a chance of taking root.
But none of this can happen without a similar radical reform of the economic system that has enslaved us & drives most of our waking thoughts, values & behaviours.
The two must go together.
For this to happen a sea change needs to occur in human consciousness ie we must break the mind control of the modern state.
Totally agree that 'democracy' can only function as a localist system.
This is because of the social cognition number (Dunbar's number = 150). Anything above this number squared (22,500) and you have a lot more third degrees of separation, in other words not everyone knows each other and therefore bad guys can hide in the numbers and pretend to be good. Eventually they all get together and form a cabal and the rest is history.
We did, ironically, have this localist system in Britannia before 1066 - from which point onwards we have been an occupied people, under a feudalist system. Unfortunately, the British people have been prevented from understanding their own history, and so they think the Establishment is a part of their own social group. The Establishment (state) is a different, quasi-foreign social group with a different identity whose attitude towards the people is akin to the racism of an occupying force.
This is why we shouldn't waste time talking about different political systems. In a system by and for members of the same social group, you don't get subjugation, because it is a part of human nature to feel benevolent towards one's own social group/culture. You don't shit on your own doorstep, as the saying goes.
Obviously, the feudalists would never put any of this in the education system. The native population would revolt.
I agree that the large scale and over-centralisation of modern states are fundamental problems to achieving a just and prosperous society - which is the opposite to which we have been taught. The old refrain around here is "Wales is too small to be independent." To which I retort "No, it's too big. Nobody wants to be run by that out-of-touch clique in Cardiff. "
as well as slaves, women were also excluded too
Good. Universal suffrage was, and remains, a big mistake.
An interesting viewpoint; certainly contrary to the century-old zeitgeist.
It’s difficult to identify the benefits of universal suffrage over the last 100 years. The quality of public discourse did not improve nor the standard of political representation. The opposite in fact.
We see now a definite low point in Britain has been reached where a ‘government’ has been elected by 20% of the universal suffrage - the lowest vote for a government party in 100 years. This gave Labour a huge majority in parliament.
So much for universal suffrage.
However the principle that those who may be affected by a proposal should have an equal say in any such decision is a good one. That said, universal suffrage has not in any way supported this principle.
What’s the alternative?
is this irony?
Question everything they tell us.
Historically, most sizable civilizations have been hierarchical. The cream/crap always seem to rise to the top. 😁
An unfortunate characteristic of human nature is that dubious creatures are the one's often seeking political power. Their egos crave it like someone on a diet desiring sweets. Most ordinary folks, just want to go about their daily business, not interested in manipulating populations.
Nonetheless, voluntary democracy will not be a future option. The trend is towards technocratic totalitarianism. Looking down the yellow brick road, I can see a time when elections are eliminated and an "AI Wizard of Oz" situation unfolds. It's the fantasy of every techno/fascist billionaire. An unaccountable authoritarian who tells a catatonic AI dependent population how to feel and think.
In effect an "AI God," whose edicts will never be questioned as they'll be considered sacrosanct. In fact, if one dared to oppose this formidable machine they'd quickly find themselves persona non grata--meaning they'd be digitally terminated without access to any life sustaining resources.
The messy oligarchial criminal cartel controlling the planet now will actually seem liberating in comparison to a neofeudal totalitarian technocracy.
We have what is called a free market economy.
That is everyone supposedly is free to setup business and trade if they have the required resources. But they have to compete against everyone else including those that are not trading fairly. So rules and regulations and laws and introduced to supposedly make trading fair.
This is what parliament does it makes rules and regulations and laws .
But those in parliament have many conflicts of interest with lobby groups and the like.
So the rules do not make trading fair. The cost of trading is also hampered by the taxes that have to be paid to trade. The taxes we are told are needed to fund the running of essential services ,
But the taxes are used to pay the interest on the money the government borrows from the bank of England to pay for essential services. The reason the government has to borrow money from the Bank of England goes back to 1694 when the King joined the board with a group of rich men in a corrupt but binding exclusive contract to produce all paper money and loan it out at interest. Also giving them the power to control the amount of money in circulation and cause a boom and bust economy as an effective means of transferring the earned wealth of individuals to themselves. Rich individual also control most of the information that people have that they use to make any decisions on what they think should be done. What they think is the most important problem is the problem that they are told 24/7 is the most important problem. Also the solution is solution that they are told 24/7 is the solution.
People were told 24/7 there was a deadly virus and most believed it. Although maybe not as many were fooled as we were told with protests of over half a million or more.
We are now told there is billions in debt that has to be found so more austerity is required.
We are told billions of military spending is required to support Ukraine and other conflicts if we are to remain free. We are told that there is a climate crisis that is so urgent we must change our energy system and much else to address it . We are told there is a migrant crisis that can not be controlled. All are lies used to fool us
We are not told what I have written above or that there are people and organisations outside our country that control those that we put in power to serve us.
Thanks for that ID, voluntary democracy looks great. However nothing will change until the debt based Ponzi scheme that is the global financial system changes. The privately owned central banks and their mysterious owners control governments through usury. Until we throw the money lenders out of the temple we are doomed to remain slaves.
That will never work.
The first main reason for that is that the herd of modern moron slaves (MMS) REJECT RESPONSIBILITY with all the strength we have. That's why the majority still votes.
https://voza0db.substack.com/p/morons-just-dont-get-it-d08
When you suggest that: "The executive would be replaced with a body formed of citizens who would be randomly selected by sortition from the whole population and would serve on a temporary or perhaps issue by issue basis.", you must be forgetting that majority of MMS aren't capable of Thinking!
It is simply to easy to see how such endeavor is destiny to fail.
But above all else... How would the "VOLUNTARY DEMOCRACY" address the power and control of the Secular Ruling Families in relation to the MONETARY SYSTEM?
Very interesting to learn about the Greek model you're basing this on, and while I completely thumbs the idea what I think you now must do is . . . Flesh out the full plan, make numerous copies, and then seal every copy (they'll need to be hard copies, not thumb drives) inside its own mini-vault that can withstand thermo-nuclear devastation and send these around the globe to be buried in strategic places for potential survivors to unearth after most people, including most of the oligarchs, have been incinerated or radiated beyond the ability to survive. Hopefully, a group that finds your plan can read English, or perhaps translate the plan into a few other languages (including Chinese, Spanish, perhaps Russia), and include those copies in connection with geographic regions for burial. If your copies survive destruction and are found then I think your plan can take root! Just a few other logistics to iron out, like how to assure these mini-vaults can survive destruction without being buried too deep underground and how people are supposed to "unlock" them if the vaults remain secured. Surely, many others will have ideas for that and can add nuances! : )
I've long thought the preservation of the truth in the way you describe is of the utmost and vital importance for the future of humanity. There's going to be at least 500 years of the New World Order in which a false version of history will be propagated, and no contradictory evidence will be available.
If humanity is to recover from that totalitarian phase, they will need to know the truth.
It seems to be a major flaw in the human species that we crave beng told what to do by someone else we deem to be better and wiser than we are. We don't want to have to think for ourselves.
This is a great article but I'm not sure we are yet ready for 'voluntary democracy'.
Ain't a flaw with me, I've always hated being told what to do, especially by younger folk whom know less, generally...
I can't fault the idea of Voluntary Democracy, but, as Iain admits, it would take a fundamental shift in our perception of reality and our place in it. Which begs the question - how is that going to come about?
I may have the answer, but first I'd like query Iain's description of modern representative democracy.
Iain writes:
"So-called “representative democracy” is not democracy. In representative democracies the people are permitted to select representatives who make all decisions for them for the next few years. During their rule the representatives enforce their collective will upon the people.
Representative democracy is based upon the people handing all their decision making power over to a tiny clique of privileged rulers. It is the antithesis of democracy."
Which again begs the question - where does this 'collective will' supporting "a tiny clique of privileged rulers" come from?
Iain gets closer to the truth when he states they are:
"The dominant faction, usually formed from the most popular mob — chosen by those who bothered to vote — then forms the executive."
But that still doesn't adequately explain why "the vast bulk of parliamentarians represent only oligarchs’ views and prioritise oligarchs’ concerns."
The answer is actually staring us in our face - it's the existence and dominance of these thugs called political parties - better described as highly centralised political gangs funded by external interests, complete with a hierarchical system of control that ensure only the most psychopathic and compromised back stabbing individuals rise to the top.
The disillusionment with 'politics' in general has now reached an all time high. And rightly so. We just need to make people aware that the rot in representative democracy is the very existence of these gangs with their vacuous words and false promises obviously compromised and unrepresentative of the people.
With a anti-political party campaign we can sweep the odious presence of these entities from the seats of our local governments replacing them with locals committed by oath to only represent the interests of the locals.
It's starts at the bottom but just as the rot comes from the head down, the healing will come from the bottom up.
You can consider this (replacing party political hacks with genuine representatives) a practical and doable strategy that lays the groundwork to a more radical transformation as Iain lays out in his Voluntary Democracy part 1.
False. It’s the delusion and lie that you or anyone else has authority over anyone else; or that you or anyone else can transfer rights you don’t already possess to govt or a candidate, by voting.
Moreover, the enforcement of all manmade “law” is done through violence and criminal fraud. Not consent.
And since all governments are actually privately owned corporations and centrally controlled, merely masquerading as governments, with temporary (S)elected officials acting as spokespeople for criminal fraud and racketeering, with as much power and authority as a potted plant, the voting itself is the psychological operation keeping the illusion, overt tyranny and criminal fraud in place.
I do not know how correct or in error you are as I was dozing off trying to keep up with so much jargon that is unfamiliar to my comprehension.
However I do not comprehend these fashions in west for politics beyond personal body, to me it is simple that biggest gangs is tentacle of dominance & that is from vested interest of Cult/Clan/Familys . All this chat is just envy & frustration that you are not in biggest gangs, & you all expect them to let you have reigns of rotting chariot for the dead instead.
I did enjoy scatological psychology phraseology used when talking on such (I do not wish offense here!) 'anal' issues =
''It's starts at the bottom but just as the rot comes from the head down, the healing will come from the bottom up.''
So thank you for that moment of 'symbolic correspondence'.
My first criticism of your fantasy “Voluntary Democracy” is how you skimmed right past the fact that Cleisthenes was a member of the Aristocracy, and HE gave the Athenians the power to form a Democracy. What current government is going to allow you to secede from its dominion and take from it the land, water resources, mineral resources, etc. that the current government owns?
Even if you were to somehow purchase your little Shangri La slice of heaven from the current owner, how would you defend your “Voluntary Democracy” from encroachment by a stronger belligerent force?
Democracy was only slightly feasible in a small city-state the size of Athens, and even then it could not defend itself.
There will always be humans who are not kind, benevolent, sympathetic, and altruistic. “Possessions” are only possible by first possessing a superior force to defend one’s possessions.
The Founders of the USA devised the longest lasting form of government by incorporating both democracy and the ability to “divide and conquer” any threats to the nation through the implementation of a Constitutional Federal Republic that not only guarantees and protects the Liberty & Rights of the citizens, but imposes “checks and balances” between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches at all levels of government, Federal, State, and Local (Counties and Cities).
Granted, the USA does not function perfectly in any way, but that is mostly because the USA has been perpetually under attack ever since, and before, the USA broke free from the British Imperialist Oligarchy. The USA has endured for almost 250 years despite being undermined from within by the early Tory Traitors and ever since by the Anglo-American Establishment of imperialists, banksters and corporatists.
My Substack is replete with numerous posts that describe the long history of everything the British Imperialist Oligarchy have tried to do to abolish the USA as an independent sovereign nation-state and re-subordinate the people of North America back under British dominion.
Check it out.
I also highly recommend the writings of Richard Poe at his Substack.
https://william3n4z2.substack.com/archive?sort=new
https://richardpoe.substack.com/
" the USA broke free from the British Imperialist Oligarchy."
I'm not convinced that that has happened, or ever will.
That’s what I explain in my many Substack posts.
Thank you for pointing that out, but self promotion is not a good look...
Were you expecting me to reply with 250 years of examples of British machinations to destroy the USA?
Yawn...I thought Iain was the, "disillusioned blogger" ? Lol...
I also find Iain's ideas extremely naive.
Being a lifelong subject of the British Imperialist Fascist Oligarchy, I can understand Iain’s frustration with the imposter government system he suffers under, and why he fantasizes about an unrealistic idealized alternative.
“I think it was Bismarck who said that the man who wishes to keep his respect for sausages and laws should not see how either is made. With reference to the laws, a knowledge of how they are made may increase our respect for them and their makers; and if it does not, we are at least able to express our dissatisfaction in an intelligent manner.”
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/07/08/laws-sausages/
Dear Iain, where can I find more information about the significance of Magna Carta? I'm reading the transcript in the National Archive and can basically only see a lot of clauses relevant to 1215 and little about the significance of trial by jury. This may not be a terribly relevant question here, but you've set me off on a rabbit hole of reading on your website and I no longer know what I've read in which piece! Thank you so much!
A good source is Phil Ridley at the London branch of the Western Price Foundation https://westonaprice.london/about/ He supplied the information about Magna Carta which appears on U.K. Column News web pages and he has successfully carried out legal actions invoking Magna Carta rights. I spoke with him recently about this because I thought it possibly might be helpful in the case of Richard D Hall.
I've also been sent this by a friend.
https://www.commonlawconstitution.org/resources/the-occulted-powers-of-the-british-constitution
One further comment about this article which might be taken to imply that Magna Carta introduced the use of Trial by Jury. This is not correct. Phil Ridley has explained to me that jury trials were already in use in Britain nationwide by 1166, so before Magna Carta.
This is an excellent article, Helen. Thank you for sharing this.
Where does he specifically talk about Magna Carta? I'll also check out UK Column.
I don’t think it’s there on the WPF website so look on U.K. Column. Here’s the link https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/britain-had-the-first-amendment-first
Merci!
Thanks so much, Howard!
I (or Katrina, rather) did actually already describe a better voting system, which is intrinsic to the Liberal Socialist manifesto, which you can read here: https://inadifferentplace.substack.com/p/the-lizzy-pr-2-voting-system?r=2s9hod
It has two parts to it (I'm meaning to do a third but haven't gotten round to it yet).
All this, however, does of course depend on the benevolence and decency of the elected representatives, which requires an honest mainstream media to educate and inform the people so they don't get deceived by bad people/politicians and unwittingly vote for corrupt liars.
It also depends on having a decent set of political policies, which create security and prosperity. If a government ever did that, they would get voted in repeatedly, regardless of the electoral system (one reason why I say these western politicians are stupid - although it is all just theatre, in the end, and reveals the fact they have no intention of making people happy and prosperous - it's all about social control). But in this PR-2 system, they have a real choice and are genuinely represented. There's also a none of the above option (for every .25% NOTA wins, they get one MP randomly selected from the population for the additional list), as well as an element of random selection for the upper house.
Anyway, check out the link if you're interested. Aside from anything else, it's fun.
Thank you for such and interesting proposal for discussion. As many have pointed out in the comments, there is a problem with changing the perceptions of a greater number of us, raising conscious awareness; which I hasten to add in my experience is not dependant upon education, wealth or worldly success, I never measure any individual's essence with these markers. My observations have shown that an aware consciousness thrives in those who for whatever reason are drawn to look inside for the answers in a World designed for the extroverted. Of course there is also the random surprise in nature too, people can surprise you, and, on these occasions we may liken those exceptions to a recessive gene, it will always pop up and make an appearance!
I thought this extract from Carl Jung (to Heinz Westmann) be pertinent, written in 1947 [1]
' Best thanks for your letter and your news about the Present Question Conference. The theme is indeed very interesting, What is the critical problem in human relationships today?
Human relationships today are threatened to collective systems, quite apart from the fact they are still, or always were, in a dubious and unsatisfactory condition. The collective systems, styled party or State, have a destructive effect on human relationships. And they can easily be destroyed, too, because individuals are still in a condition of unconsciousness which cannot cope with the tremendous growth and fusion of the masses. As you know, the main endeavour of all totalitarian States is to undermine personal relationships through fear and mistrust, the result being an atomised mass in which the human psyche is completely stifled. Even the relation between parents and children, the closest and most natural of all, is torn asunder by the State.
All big organisations that pursue elusively materialistic aims are the pacemakers of mass-mindedness. The sole possibility of stopping this is the development of consciousness in the single individual, who thereby is rendered immune to the lure of collective organisations. This alone keeps his soul alive, for its life depends on the human relationship. The accent must fall on conscious personalisation and not on State organisation. The latter inevitably leads to the blight of totalitarianism.'
We have all witnessed the inhuman quality of bureaucracies and large organisations that now have reached a peak, inflicting so much upon those they are supposed to serve. I hope the discussion you have started gains much traction. The new hero has to fight with dragons nesting in the human psyche, within and without and it is this personal suffering that births a hero. Yes, the individual and his journey really does matter despite being relegated to a statistic in this system. An interesting phenomena occurs when one person raises their consciousness, it tends to have have a subtle but similar effect on those around them which ripples in the Collective Unconscious (rather like Rupert Sheldrake's Morphic Field).
'The descent into the depths always seem to precede the ascent.' [2]
[1] CJ Jung Letters Volume 1
[2] CJ Jung – Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
Yes, the definition of democracy is not voting but the power of jurors to change an unjust law.
Making this acknowledgeable and accepted is the answer.
It's already done and oven-ready.
And yet..."trial by jury" is under attack...Nippy tried to do away with it in Scotland during convid lockdowns...
The most obvious and glaring problem with this model is that you simply can't guarantee the essential quality or merit of the people in your parliament/executive/juries and so on. Given the spread of levels of let's call it comprehensive intelligence (which includes intellectual intelligence, emotional and psychological and social maturity etc., which by definition also includes benevolence, which is more intelligent than malevolence), and divide those levels into alpha to epsilon, you will always end up with a majority of gammas. I'd say there's less than 5% of the world who are alphas. Then maybe 15% betas, 40% gammas, and the rest are deltas and epsilons. So that's 80% gamma, delta and epsilon. Hopefully if those percentages are even just roughly correct, you can see the real problem with the world.
You see this, I say, is precisely the reason why the entire world is in such a dystopian horrorshow state right now. The cabal are gammas, driven by resentment. The people are mainly gammas, who simply don't have the intelligence to know how to make the right social decisions, or comprehend proper philosophy or psychology or, well, anything, quite frankly. This is why the path of social and technological progress has been so achingly slow for humanity. Because humanity has allowed gammas to be in charge.
The only way, therefore, you can ensure a good and decent and progressive world is by having one that is governed solely by alphas. Remember in the definition of alpha I don't just include intellectual intelligence, I include emotional and psychological (and, indeed spiritual) intelligence and maturity. An alpha, by definition, would always do what's in the best interests of the people under their charge, and even more importantly they would create an education system and a society in which the vast mass of humanity (betas to epsilons) can in fact pursue self-improvement - thus the evolution of the species does actually progress.
If this sounds like Brave New World then I'm all for it. Or perhaps it might be better to call it Plato's Republic. The fact that so many people think of that as a 'dystopia' rather than a 'utopia' somewhat proves my point.
Like the problem with the so-called 'great reset' is that it's been designed by and for gammas, not alphas. And even worse, gammas who have a Dunning-Kruger syndrome going on.
So screw 'democracy' and anything related to it. The only solution is a social decision-making council of alphas.
There, humanity. Fixed it for you. No charge.
Nice piece of writing Iain. I always knew that though it was called a democracy , it wasn't. You have clarified for me exactly what it is. I trust there is some traction in your suggested way to move into a true democracy.
This piece reminded of that wonderful meme back in '20/21 where a TV interviewer asked a couple of Amish, "Why isn't covid affecting your community ?"
Response, "We don't have a television".
Seems that ADHD doesn't affect Amish kids either...mmm...
My limited knowledge of history also reminds me of the transition from city states, to nation states...and now nation states are being deconstructed...
The British deep state, i.e. the Civil and Intelligence Services, are the real problem. 300 years+ to entrench their position, and reinforce the barracades, through a plethora of legislation to restrict our ability to counter them.
Anyone remember the, "Reform Act of 1832", rotton boroughs, highlighted in an episode of Blackadder II ?
I once thought, née believed, that government was there to "protect" us.
I now understand that they are there to; 1. Fleece us of our, (unjustified), taxes, and 2. To protect their position of power.