Four truck drivers I have known
Ken hauled wood chips from one wood plant in northern British Columbia to another wood plant in northern British Columbia. The drive was about eight to ten hours. After dropping his load, he spent the night in a hotel, then drove back home empty. He worked four days on, two days off. He was able to pay the mortgage on his small house. His wife was a stay-at-home mother with three kids. This family seemed content with this life outcome.
Devon bought his own truck for long-haul trucking. He was a trucker, paying all the expenses to keep his truck going. Working with a brokerage company, he contracted his truck and time to many different businesses, hooking up their trailers, and moving things to and from places like Edmonton, Dallas, and Miami. He and his broker tried to figure the more profitable routes for wherever he was at. He set up a work schedule to be on the road for three weeks. Two weeks into his road trip, he started selecting routes that would take him closer to home. He would then spend one week with his family.
Bill was a trucker primarily contracted to the beef-processing plant in Brooks, Alberta. His trips took him from Brooks to somewhere between Hamilton and Quebec City to deliver frozen boxed beef. A broker would find him a “backhaul” load to earn a little money for the trip back. He made this trip about 25 times a year, taking a few days off between trips.
Kyle works around Brooks for a crude oil trucking company. Every day, he picks up oil from tanks at oil well sites and delivers it to a pipeline terminal. A dispatcher gives him a list of wells to extract oil. He sees the same wells many times. He sees the same terminal several times a day. He might drive 300 kilometers a day, but he seldom drives 60 kilometers from Brooks. He works six to 12 hours a day.
The nature of truck drivers and truckers
Truck drivers take great pride in their skillful work. There is much less margin of highway error for managing a big truck when compared to a car. Making those turns with a long rig requires such precise driving skills. Truck drivers learn to manage their highway like a chess game, positioning themselves in traffic to keep them out of situations where they won’t need evasive maneuvers. Many capable car drivers could never manage a big truck.
And truck drivers are on the loner side. When they are behind the wheel, they are the boss of how their load moves from Point A to Point B. The tasks of picking or delivering their loads where they have to deal with people and paperwork is not so much fun.
Truck drivers develop a spiritual connection with their truck. They understand its particular quirks. They work with its powers. It’s a great feeling to be “one” with the machine.
The politics of truck drivers
My observations of 15 years ago are that truck drivers were all over the political map. Some favored the political left, some the right, and some were apathetic.
Wherever this demographic was 15 years ago, I think it’s safe to assume that it has shifted to the political right.
“Why?”, you might ask.
If you look at other parts of the world, truck driving is an occupation that does not provide a middle-class lifestyle. Truck drivers in the Philippines, South Africa, and even Mexico have a just-above-destitution income. North American truckers can see their profession is going in that direction. And they have, rightly or wrongly, latched on to a political movement that is big on promises but unlikely to deliver.
While many of us on Medium can see the future broken promises, we should ask: “If we can see it, why not they?”
Many Medium writers blame the education system. In their mind, many of the 78 million Americans voted for Donald Trump because they did not understand much about civics, history, and social studies.
While elementary schools forced some of these lessons into the future truck drivers, a sustaining interest was not developed. So these students tuned out of these subjects when they were teenagers. Again, we could blame the education system. But other students, with the same teachers and syllabuses, did develop interest in these subjects, which then led to a higher education.
As individuals, we tend to develop different interests. It is hard for any student to stay with any subject he or she is not interested in.
But what if the education system is truly at fault? What if it could educate all students about civics, history, and social studies?
If the truck driving profession truly understood the workings of government or the decline of the Roman Empire, would truck drivers be content being truck drivers?
“Then,” we should ask: “How would our modern nations then move goods from Point A to Point B?”
Let me say this in different words. Truck drivers need a Grade 9 level of reading, math, and science to become good truck drivers. They have little interest in civics, history, and social studies. In their formative years, their family and community had more influence in getting them interested into these subjects than the school system ever did.
So now we are in a Catch-22 situation. If we manage to educate truck drivers (and other blue-collar workers) in civics, history, and social studies so they could vote more wisely, they would be less willing to take these occupations. So we get smarter voters — at the expense that blue-collar work either does not get done or gets done more expensively (which may be a good subject for another essay).
Methinks it is unrealistic to effect this kind of educational change within two decades, even if all the good intentions line up tomorrow to put this worthy project on a forward track.
We can build a better democracy in that time.
Reasons for voting
First, we need to understand the four truck drivers I mentioned are living simple, honest, self-reliant lives. Three are family men, devoted to providing for and nurturing their families, as best they can. One is trying to amass a small personal fortune with his truck, which is his pursuit of happiness. All four are moving the economy forward.
Second, we need to understand why a citizen votes a certain way in our current democracy. Here are the reasons:
1) Charisma of the party leader
2) Ideology
3) Self interest
4) Clever campaigning that nudges the voter psychology
5) Tradition
6) Peer influence
7) Understanding of the issues.
I left #7 at the bottom. It is the least important of these seven reasons. No one has the capacity to scientifically analyze all the issues to cast a wise vote.
Let me say this in different words. Society has many important issues that need resolving, like the war in Ukraine, decaying infrastructure, police procedures, education of children, etc., etc., etc. Let’s say 100 issues, which is far more than what the average election campaign can handle. Do the more analytical voters study most of these 100 issues to know the best solution, then cut through the campaign rhetoric to figure out which political party can better deliver that solution? Then tally up the 100 issues to see which party has the better score? Even those of us who think we are being more analytical than the average truck driver are using more feelings than facts to cast our vote.
The Tiered Democratic Governance (TDG) will teach all voters a different way of voting.
TDG voting & truck drivers
The base electoral unit of the TDG is the neighborhood. Each neighborhood will have about 200 people. Most truck drivers should know five to 20 people in their neighborhood.
The TDG will be messaging voters to vote for “good character” and “capacity for governance.” The TDG lets each truck driver (and everyone else) figure out what these terms mean to him or her. The truck driver looks at the neighbors he or she does know, find the neighbor that best exemplifies those traits, and then cast his or her vote in that direction.
“Good character” and “capacity for governance” are much different than voting for charisma, self-interest, or issues. Most of us, regardless of life experience, intellect, and education, already have a reasonable understanding of character and capacity. We can find the neighbor who is most worthy of our vote. Truck drivers should be able to cast a wise vote in a TDG way.
With the truck driver’s vote cast toward someone of good character and capacity, the first tier of the TDG will have many people of good character and capacity.
When the first-tier representatives gather and deliberate, they will be learning about the character of each other. The first tier will vote for one of them to move into the second tier. Think about this: when people of good character and capacity vote, there’s a good chance that their choice will find the one of better people in the first tier to advance into the second tier.
The third-tier election will amplify this action. The top TDG tier will consist of very capable people for governance.
It all starts with the vote of truck drivers, other blue-collar workers, and everyone else. Everyone gets to vote for good character and capacity for governance! Everyone gets to vote!
And TDG elections are annual. Each election, the truck driver gets a little better at figuring out what “good character” and “capacity for governance” means — and identifying those neighbors with these traits. In about four elections, our truck driver will be casting a wise vote.
Truck drivers need not get more civics, history, and social studies to vote wisely. They just need the TDG to channel what they already know.
Published on Medium 2025
A Glimpse of Our Future Democracy
