When the whole world is running toward a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.
C.S. Lewis
In 2005, I had given up on my Tiered Democratic Governance (TDG). The second version of my TDG book cited many books; some new, some old; some popular, some not-that-popular. I was building an academic case for this new democracy. I sent out about 40 manuscripts. The few academics who got back to me basically said I had been using citations inappropriately — and I didn’t know what I was talking about.
I had to agree with the citations aspect. I was building my argument by bending the works of others to my way of thinking. I doubt the writers of those works would appreciate being cited in this way.
I invented my alternative democracy in 1992. But I am not a Ph.D. I was never a politician or a journalist covering politics. My only qualification was being a disgruntled worker in a political party, and there are many more people like me. Being a person of little societal stature, I regarded my alternative democracy as something unlikely to ever happen. I was not destined to change the world.
But some mysterious force made me try twice to introduce the world to this TDG idea in 2000 and 2005. Each failure had me promising to leave this idea alone.
In 2008, I was listening to political scientists on CBC Radio. They were talking about their ideas to improve democracy. I could only think: “The experts have no idea what is wrong. If we keep following them, we are not going anywhere.” I decided to give the TDG another try.
The Influence of Isaac Asimov
I read the Foundation Trilogy in university. While I loved the stories of Hari Seldon, Bayta Darell, and Preem Palver, I could not understand why the planet Terminus lost its democracy. I was not political in those days, but my perspective was that it would be impossible for a democratic nation to ever revert back to an oligarchy.
Then I spent six years in a Canadian political party. I saw a lot of dysfunction. I was part of the dysfunction. Then I was able to understand Asimov’s prophecy. Life in a political party is one big dysfunction. Dysfunctions cannot continue forever before something breaks apart. Democracies are not forever.
Another problem with my previous academic approach is that I could not find much research done on systems of governance similar to the TDG. If there were no valid references, then using obscure references was discrediting my idea. So it seemed pointless to provide an academic angle. So when I re-wrote the whole TDG book, I had no intention of keeping the academics happy. It was this third edition where I described how all the pieces of the TDG work together. I made the whole book available for a free read from a new website.
With the Asimov prophecy in the back of my mind, I thought: “The USA still has 20 years before its democracy collapses. Twenty years should be enough time to build the TDG so that it could take over.” Remember, this thought came to me in 2009.
But at the same time, the USA had a new president, an African American president. This was a sign that the USA had risen above its past. A better country was set to emerge. But I was not on that bandwagon. Every time an American celebrity predicted how this new president was elevating his country, I could only shake my head: “No, he is not a political messiah. He will eventually run into forces he cannot overcome.”
But I had my new website ready to go. I set up a Google campaign, targeting only the United States. The ads were all about “a new democracy.” I had no problems getting American visitors to the landing page. But to get them to move beyond that was another story. Why someone would click on a graphic about “a new democracy” and not bother to investigate that new democracy is beyond me. But my research into internet marketing is that ad conversion is quite low, even for the best of internet marketers.
I experimented with different ads and with different layouts and text on the landing page. Nothing got a higher penetration rate. During this campaign run, maybe 10 people read the full book (140 webpages). No one was recommending this new democracy to anyone else.
That was 14 years ago. I donated about $3000 to the Google cause of profit. Google sent me some swag for my donation.
In essence, I turned $3000 into about 1,000,000 impressions on the American internet, 15,000 website visitors, 10 readers, and a coffee mug. I think professional internet marketers would say this budget was not enough to be taken seriously. But I had limited funds. And I thought another 100,000 American visitors would not produce a different result than the 15,000 who had already taken a little look.
I only needed 15 of the 15,000 to say “This Dave from Canada has some interesting ideas. I will tell my friends.”
If 15 people had accepted thisTDG mission in 2009, the USA would be in a much better condition today. The TDG should be about three-quarters built. When comparing the TDG leaders to the circus proffered by the two parties today, many Americans today would wonder: “When can this TDG thing take over?”
What if I find those 15 TDG workers in 2024?
Unfortunately, building the TDG will take time. The early TDG builders will need to acquire some “new democracy” skills to make the TDG work. I think 20 years will be required to internalize these skills. But if the people are really motivated for a new way, 10 years might be possible. I would like to tell you that there is a short cut, but I cannot tell you that. The TDG has to go through its own learning curve.
While part of me hopes for a “decisively decisive” Democratic win in November (which I think is possible, despite the pollsters claiming a tight race), the outcome is largely irrelevant to me. It is more likely than not that American democracy does not have another 20 years, even with that decisively decisive win in November. At best, such a win will only be a delay in the inevitable reversion of that democracy to an oligarchy, maybe even a Democrat oligarchy.
If I have to choose between the Asimov prophecy and 100 hopeful Medium writers who believe the 2024 Republicans will acquiesce to a narrow Democrat victory, I’m putting my money on Asimov.
In 2009, it was possible for the TDG to have been built under the auspices of western democracy. But that is less likely today. I will say that the TDG can also be built during oligarchic times. In fact, the TDG will fare better under a Republican oligarchy than big Democrat victory in November. Sensible Americans will finally believe that their democracy is not forever. Instead of hoping and wishing someone else will fix things, they will have the incentive to roll up their sleeves to build that new democracy.
Chapter 6 of the TDG book provides more detail of how to move from a democracy to the TDG. You need only find 10 hours a month. I think you can find that time.
Chapter 7 of the TDG book provides details of how to move from an oligarchy to the TDG. You still need only 10 hours a month. This chapter is modelled after the former Yugoslavia. I keep saying that I should rewrite this chapter, using a future USA as an example. I’m not sure when I’ll get to that re-writing.
Or we can continue to believe that American democracy will fix itself. While the Asimov prophecy is still running in the background.
It is your choice!
Published on Medium 2024
USA's Newest Political Messiah
The TDG Could Use Some Helpers
