Ch. 42 A More Perfect Union

 “This is the Way.”

– The Mandalorian

Throughout this book, we have discussed a variety of solutions, but they all have one thing in common — democracy.

From a cooperatively owned, democratically run Economy - to a cooperatively owned, democratically operated, decentralized renewable Energy grid. Democracy acts as the common thread throughout, because we need to take cooperative action based on common values and a shared purpose. When we are all working towards the same goal, not only will it be easier to achieve said goal, but with less resistance every step of the way, we’ll be able to accomplish these goals faster.

Though it may come as a shock to some, Democracy is the world’s oldest form of “government,” as well as the most natural. The concept of a democratic governance was the basis of the collaborative tribal life of most aboriginal peoples. You can even see the influence of the Iroquois Confederacy in our own Democratic Constitution.

At a more natural and primal level, we see animals go with the “majority vote” prior to making any significant decisions or changes. We see it in the movements of baboons and even large flocks of birds when they don’t change directions until the majority agrees on which direction to go.

A Case for Democracy

For anyone that is unsure of the efficiency of democracy, I want to provide examples that democracy does in fact work.

Before we proceed, we’re going to quickly review a theory called the “tragedy of commons.” This theory suggests that a common resource will be depleted by individuals selfishly acting in their own best interest rather than leaving enough of said resource for everyone to get their due share. (For example, think about the toilet paper/paper towel shortage in 2020.)

This theory has long been used to justify our “greed is good” neoliberal economic system. And to make the case that democracy doesn’t work, because people are too selfish to stand for the common good.

Consider that this theory is wrong. But also kinda right. I’ll explain.

First, let’s take a look at the results of a Harvard Yale experiment from 2014. Something important that I want you to keep in mind is that in this experiment, ordinary individuals were tasked with the responsibility of managing collective resources for both themselves and future generations. If we think of how the tragedy of commons would view this experiment, then we would be facing a depletion of resources and future generations would have nothing left.

In reality, what was found during individual testing, is that 68% (a clear majority) of these people independently chose to act responsibly, only using what they needed in order to leave some for future generations.

After that was established, they introduced the individuals into a group setting, tasking them with democratically choosing how the resources would be used. In this instance, the majority still held sway and the group acted responsibly as a whole.

Though this study brings up the concerning fact that of the random group of individuals, approximately 30% of people wouldn’t act responsibly, it also shows that the majority would do the right thing and act responsibly.

When given the choice of whether to work for the benefit of society and future generations, or to act only in their own self-interest, the majority of people will do the right thing. If we allow people to choose, unhampered by undo pressure and disinformation, democracy works.

Another great example was in France, 2019.

There were yellow vest protests that pushed the government to come up with solutions to global warming.

The government’s interesting response was to essentially pawn off the responsibility on the constituents. They chose 150 French citizens at random, from all walks of life, ranging from 18 years old to 80 years old.

They instructed this group that they would have eight weeks to figure out a solution to the global warming problem. More specifically, the task was to reduce overall carbon emissions by 40% by 2030.

The citizens were provided with a panel of experts for them to interview and a way for them to all communicate with each other. Over the course of eight weekends, this group of 150 citizens would work together, get expert input and feedback, and come up with solutions.

Note that the French government informed this group that by the end of these eight weeks, whatever proposals they came up with, would be put up for a democratic referendum vote. If one of the proposals got voted in, then it would be implemented. This acted as a great incentive for people to genuinely make an effort and take the situation seriously. Their voices would actually matter and be used to change French policy!

The first thing the group concluded rather quickly, was that economic growth would have to be stunted. Remember that this neoliberal capitalist model that we’ve been talking about is based on unlimited growth with limited resources. We know that this is not a sustainable concept, therefore, the group quickly realized that stunting economic growth was necessary in order to make responsible decisions to cut emissions.

They decided that they were going to ban advertisements of things that are exceedingly harmful to the environment, ban short flights and single use plastics, and make recycling mandatory. Landlords were required to renovate their properties to be sustainable by 2034. They would increase taxes on polluters to about 4% and that would be applicable to anybody that made over $10 million and those higher pollution taxes would help pay for these changes. They would also work on eliminating trucking in favor of using trains. It was a comprehensive plan.

When the French government started to see what they were putting together, they immediately interjected to tell the group that they needed to keep their proposals reasonable because money doesn’t grow on trees. But the group responded by sticking to their guns and insisting that this what needed to happen, and this is what they wanted their fellow citizens to vote on.

They came up with a 400-page proposal of actions that could be taken.

Though Macron, (a neoliberal capitalist) promised to put any proposal they came up with to a vote, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that this never happened. The proposal was torpedoed. They did implement some watered-down versions of the stuff that they came up with, but the sweeping changes that were suggested were never put up for a vote.

Here’s the point.

When you take ordinary citizens, from all age groups and walks of life. Give them pertinent, accurate, expert information, and then ask them to vote… they can be counted on to make the right choice.

There are a lot of things that need to happen with regards to our government and current system. For starters, we need to overturn Citizens United and get all of the dark money out of politics. In most other countries, election campaigns are publicly funded, not privately funded, everybody has the same amount of money to work with, and it works.

Ranked-choice voting seems to work brilliantly as it allows people to cross party lines and say, “Person A is my favorite, but if that person doesn’t win, I would prefer Person C rather than Person B.” This system has proven to work well.

Democracy and cooperation combined with accurate information, is the way that we achieve that “more perfect union.” Not just in government, but at work, in our communities and in our households

We’ve just never really tried it.

Even dating back to our founding fathers, “all men are created equal” was only intended to apply to white, Christian, land-owning men. It’s time for us to acknowledge that if we truly wish to Establish Justice and experience that idyllic union, it can only happen once we are all included. Regardless of any circumstances that may set us apart.