In a previous article, I was critical of those Medium writers who were suggesting that the Supreme Court was an illegitimate institution because it overturned Roe vs. Wade. They have all sorts of logical reasons for their position.
Since 1997, I have been working on an alternative democracy. This idea came to me after spending six years as an active volunteer in a Canadian political party and seeing a lot of dysfunction. This dysfunction means we cannot make the decisions we need to be making. As the 25 years have rolled by, I am seeing more and more of a need for the TDG — especially in the USA.
The TDG will be built locally in many localities. TDG electoral units will be natural neighborhoods of about 200 residents. A handful of residents will gather at someone’s home to write their local TDG constitution.
Will this constitution have a Senate? Will it have a Supreme Court? Will it allow abortion?
The early TDG builders will have to put all these questions aside. These builders will take the attitude that our current collective decision-making processes are flawed. We cannot come to the better decisions until we learn and practice some new ways.
So the early TDG builders will be focusing mostly on the rules for the internal local elections and developing a different democratic culture. The process of writing and working with their TDG constitution will be the opportunities for TDG members to learn a new way of decision making: one that is less confrontational, less partisan, and less ideologically driven.
When two or more local and adjacent TDGs have their processes working smoothly, it is time to merge the these TDGs. Such mergers will require a new constitution for the merged area, which provides more opportunity to develop the collaborative, consensual, and consultative decision-making culture the TDG will so need.
The mergers will bring local TDGs — each starting out as independent entities — into bigger TDG umbrellas. As the TDG grows in this way, there will be a natural need to enhance the mechanisms of internal governance. This period will generate many great democratic experiments. TDGs will learn from each other. Good ideas will be retained; not-so-good ideas will be cast aside. As the TDG grows in this way, it will start looking beyond itself — for when it will assume governance.
Will the TDG have a Senate? Maybe, maybe not.
Will the TDG have a Supreme Court? Probably, as society will still need judicial bodies to adjudicate affairs of society. But there will be different ways to select the justices and how they collaborate.
Will the TDG allow abortion? A mature TDG will provide a more balanced decision on matters like abortion. A side that does not agree with a TDG decision will not take its loss so seriously, knowing its position was well presented and considered in the deliberative process. That same side will recognize that the TDG decision makers are quite capable and had valid reasons for going in different direction. But we need to develop this maturity first.
For many other societal issues, the TDG offers a better perspective on societal deliberation. First, many citizens will realize that if the TDG makes a bad decision, that bad decision will be come obvious — and later fixed. Second, most TDG citizens will realize that most TDG decisions will not cause the “sky to fall down.” Third, most TDG citizens will realize that the TDG has some competent people to gather facts and perspectives and are working with a consultative approach to reach those decisions.
So do we want to work for this new way? Or should we continue trying to repair the old way?
For sure, calling the Supreme Court illegitimate is not going to bear the right kind of fruit for the future. When one pillar of governance is chopped down . . . .
Published on Medium 2022
