Here's my top 10!
Medium has a feature where writers can put their best articles at the top of their Medium profile. I’m not sure why I haven’t done that. But as my retirement from Medium nears, I thought I should present my 10 best works from my 721 articles.
This task was not as easy as I thought it would be. I estimate that I have about 50 articles I would consider “brilliant,” but paring those down to 10 would be arbitrary. I could put up my 10 best articles according to Medium readers, but my best earners would not be on my top 10 list.
After a lot of thought, I have settled on the 10 articles that I put into my comments of other articles. While I believe I enhanced the discussion of the original article, my main purpose was to introduce Medium readers to Tiered Democratic Governance (TDG).
The TDG Essay
This is my third most popular Medium article. But it did not gain its popularity from a magical title and a magical topic. Rather I put this link in many comments, and people were convinced to take a look. This clickbaiting seemed to work well until November 2020. That was when Joe Biden became president and American democracy was saved. There was no need to look at a new democracy after that.
The Orwell Ratio
George Orwell gave us the formula for how humanity is naturally structured. The location does not matter. The time does not matter. The political system does not matter. All the ranting about a strong middle class does not matter. We humans somehow find ways to drift back into the 2%, 13%, and 85%.
We seem to be fighting for who belongs in the 2%. If not the 2%, then the 13%. Too bad for the 85%.
Pascal’s Wager & the TDG
Using the logical approach of philosopher of Blais Pascal, we should put in 10 volunteer hours a month to build the TDG. This 10 hours is truly a no brainer, especially when many people have already put much more time than that into the current democracy — and look at the results of their efforts for the past 10 years.
Asimov, Foundation, & Democracy
In his Foundation series of the early 1950s, Issac Asimov prophesied that democracy has a shelf life of two to three centuries before it falls in on itself. I did not understand this prophecy when I first read Foundation in the early 1980s. I could not understand how the planet Terminus lost its democracy.
Then I spent six years in a political party. I concurred that “Democracy is not forever.”
1848 Was an Interesting Year
When citizens do not have or do not feel they have opportunity to advance themselves, they take to drastic measures. This was the year when European monarchies were forced to cede some of their powers to the common people.
Book Review: Open Democracy
This book describes the psyche of political science today. The political scientists, when asked, will happily create a new system for us. But that new system will look like the system that got us into this mess.
Movie Review: Rollerball
I highly recommend this 1975 dystopia movie, which foreshadows when the corporations take over from national governments. In the last 51 years, we have moved closer to a rollerball world.
With “artificial intelligence” being a new buzzword in political writing, I now recall an arc in this movie that prophesied this technology. “The Computer” would not give Jonathon E. the history behind the corporations taking over. That was classified information the public could not have.
When will AI’s of 2026 do the same?
Book Review: Manna
What should we do with people who no longer have an economic value? According to Manna’s author, humanity has two paths as workers are displaced with automation.
We are choosing the wrong path.
Obscure Reasons for the UBI
Since I first heard about Universal Basic Income in high school, I have been an advocate for this economic system. The usual reasons for Universal Basic Income have been repeated in many UBI articles. This article lists other good reasons for a UBI that are seldom stated.
The Spolu
We are quick to complain about the shenanigans of the corporate world. Rather than create and enforce new corporate laws, maybe we need to rethink how we do commerce.
Hint: You — a socially conscious person — will prefer shopping at a spolu than at a corporation.
Dave's Clickbait
In essence, these 10 articles became my most-used clickbait.
Occasionally, I got a complaint from an original writer. I respected these writers’ requests. I no longer put in links or comments. I also stopped reading their articles. But at least 99% of writers I where I placed my clickbait did not express disfavor for what I was doing.
I had two top Medium writers chastise me for putting up clickbait on work that was not theirs. Both threatened to report me to Medium if I did not stop.
I said, “Go ahead! Maybe a real person at Medium will recognize the unique nature of my topic — and somehow adjust the algorithm to give my articles more time on the feed. I could be a top writer because of you.”
I never heard from these top writers again. No special attention — good or bad — from Medium came my way.
If the goal was to find “early TDG builders,” my clickbaiting failed.
But maybe, just maybe, I might have turned a few neurons in a TDG way for later.
Published on Medium 2026
Lieutenant Columbo vs. Democracy
