Forum Post: Implementing Democracy within a Representative System

To do so, an individual or group could run for political office on the platform that they will allow their electorate to vote on every bill that comes before them, and whatever the majority decides, cast their vote accordingly. The web or more grass roots tool can be used to collect the votes. Also, individuals would not have to vote on every issue, but could allow their vote to be cast according to another voter of their choosing. Obviously, voters can differ from their chosen person and change their vote whenever they disagree with their individually chosen representative.

The idea has several good points:

1. The individual or group organizing the platform should get everyone’s vote. Who says “I don’t trust myself enough to vote” when they are casting a vote for a particular party or politician? If they do think this, then they can still cast their vote for the politician of their choice after they elect the democratic system as long as the person they want to represent them publicizes his or her vote on every bill (refer to the mechanism above).
2. Politicians won’t be able to split the “99%” over social or other “wedge” issues.
3. The individual or group won’t need campaign financing.
4. The individual or group won’t need to defend their previous voting record.
5. Pedigree, race, gender, etc. won’t matter when the individual or group runs for office because he, she or they are effectively a website collecting votes.

The major issues are drafting legislation and being allowed to run a group of individuals for one political office. The first issue can be circumvented in a variety of ways. The second issue can be overcome by having one person run although I don’t believe it is the best course given an agenda of democracy. Let me know if you are interested and we’ll run together!