This year marks the 25th year I’ve been working on my alternative democracy: Tiered Democratic Governance (TDG).
Here is a quick history of this project.
My Political Days: 1986–1992
To change the world, I thought I needed to be on the inside of a political party, where my superior intellect would be of better use to the world. So I became an active member in a Canadian political party. I advanced as far as I could in the back rooms, given the on-call, out-of-town nature of my small oilfield service business. In other words, I was not that reliable for attending political meetings. I could only rise so high.
But I still attended many political meetings over the years. I slowly realized the dysfunctionalities of party politics. There was a lot of jockeying for status, influence, and power — and I was also playing this game. Everyone had an ulterior motive, and there were fewer high positions in the party than people who wanted those positions. Very competitive!
We party workers had little say in the issues, other than to agree with the party leaders. When I realized that I really didn’t have much influence in the party, I quit politics.
In my latter political days, I was contemplating all the dysfunction I was seeing. I somehow invented another system to address this dysfunction. This system had no political parties or noisy election campaigns. I didn’t think I would ever be in a position to effect this kind of change. So, it stayed locked between my ears, just percolating.
Version #1: 1997–2000
In 1997, I was listening to some political scientists on CBC Radio. They were telling us their ideas of improving democracy.
I thought: “They have no idea of what was wrong, so their solutions will never work.”
Then I thought: “Someone needs to tell the world of a new way.”
So I started putting pen to paper. I sent out manuscripts to publishing houses, which all got turned down.
Then I self-published my first version in 2000. It did not go much beyond my friends and family, who, today, still think I’m slightly insane for continuing with this project.
Version #2: 2002–2004
I thought I should rewrite my book with a more academic approach. So I did some research and brought many citations from great and not-so-great works into my book. I sent manuscripts to some academic people. A few got back to me with a big thumbs down.
One of the more important comments was that I was stretching the works of other thinkers too far to justify my own work. I had to agree. Part of the problem was that I was not experienced enough to use research to reach a logical conclusion. The other part was that there were so few examples of governance without political parties, so there were very few insightful passages I could use directly. I really was throwing straws at a dartboard, hoping something would stick in.
This academic version went no further. I put the project on the shelf for another four years.
Version #3: 2008–2009
I could see the world still needing my ideas. I thought that if I put the entire book on a website for a free read, that just might be the presentation the world wanted.
Since I hadn’t worked on the TDG for four years, I was looking at my previous work with a set of fresh eyes. I could see lots of ways to improve the idea, which meant a fair amount of rewriting. I would say that this version was where all the pieces of the TDG came together.
I put several of my inventions on one website www.davevolek.org (now defunct). The TDG was the flagship invention. This section had about 140 webpages.
Given that the TDG was a free read, I thought it was appropriate for me to earn a little money with advertising. So I put in some Google ad units on those 140 webpages.
I spent about $2000 on Google ads to get people to the TDG section of my website. Many went to the landing page. But few went past it. A lot fewer made it to Page 5 (out of 140 pages). I experimented with different landing pages and different slogans. To improve the layout, I eventually discarded all the Google ad units, which were earning less money as time went on. But nothing I did to the landing page changed how visitors interacted with my website content.
I also spent time on internet forums, promoting the TDG. But people there just wanted to argue about current events, not look for new ways.
After about 18 months, I put the TDG project back on the shelf. But it was always available on the website.
Version #4: 2016–2017
I thought that the rise of Mr. Trump to high political office would cause people to take my ideas more seriously. I enhanced my website with videos of me talking about the TDG. I put the book into e-book format, which is available for sale on Amazon and Rakuten.
I did a little rewriting. Enough changes were made to call this the fourth version.
I tried advertising on Google. But Google said my topic was now “too political.” I was censored!
I did some advertising on Facebook. When no results were attained, I hired a professional Facebook marketer. The marketer did a fantastic job of memes and exposing the TDG to a “political” audience. But the marketer got the same results as I got.
I spent time on various political forums to promote the TDG. Lots of talk about change, but no action. But one G+ commentator suggested that I write a TDG novel about how this TDG can be built.
I put this project on the shelf again, but I kept thinking about that novel. It would be a different way to teach about the TDG.
Version #5: 2019–2022
I started writing that novel: “Diary of a Future Politician.” As I was writing, two more novels entered my mind. So “Confessions of a Future Politician” and “Circles of a Future Politician” became the series of three TDG novels. It was a rather mystical experience as to how these settings, characters, and plots came to me. These novels almost wrote themselves!
I tried advertising the first novel on Facebook. But I was now censored from that platform as well. “Too political,” they said.
I discovered Medium. I found a higher intellect than those other internet forums I had participated in. Maybe I could find TDG traction on Medium. Medium also offered a few new ways to promote the TDG. I have acquired about 50 tepid TDG fans, something I didn’t get in those other forums.
In three years, I published about 275 articles on Medium. I put 133 of my articles into my fifth e-book: “The TDG-Medium Papers.” I am using some advanced features from Amazon to market this e-book.
In three years, I wrote about 6800 responses, mostly on other peoples’ articles. Sometimes I did dovetail my responses into a little promo for the TDG. Once-in-a-while, I got my fingers slapped for click-baiting. But most people seemed OK with my “ulterior motive.”
The old website looked it was from 1998. So I updated the TDG website with 2020 website layout. The new website has the TDG book and three TDG novels available for a free read. I didn’t want technology or finances to be a barrier to anyone wanting to read these ideas. The books read well on an iPhone.
I started Medium with an average of about 20 reads per each article I published. Today I have the same level of readership. I have not become a well-regarded writer or thinker on Medium.
I have engaged with about 3,000 people on Medium. This is a great focus group! If just 1% of them started building their local TDG, I would consider this fifth version a success. But the focus group says it does not want to invest in this democratic movement.
I got about 200 Medium inquiries about the TDG, asking some good questions. I answered every one of those questions, which helped me solidify the TDG concept. I am better prepared to explain the TDG when the world wants to hear about it. That was the only tangible benefit from my Medium sojourn.
Twenty-five years and what do you get?
But after so much effort in the past 25 years and maybe $40,000 investment, there is very little to show for my work.
It is getting time to put this project back on the shelf.
The TDG website will remain running while I am in TDG hibernation. History says I will re-activate it some day.
Good luck to you all in trying to fix the system by voting, protesting, and discourse.
You know where to find true innovation in democracy. But you will have put some effort to make it work. There is no one else to do this work.
Two more Medium articles coming before I depart.
Published on Medium 2022
Political Satire: Banning My Own Book
Addendum 2024: I didn't quit Medium after this article
