CHAPTER 3..... The Internet, Power, and Political Reform Power to the Person Understanding Power The Power Segue Reform The Mystery of Democracy Periodic Renewal Independent Election Councils Compulsory Participation Limited Terms Campaign Financing Media Reform Counting Ballots Democratic Education Automatic Review A Summary and Overview Direct Democracy Advancing the Internet Parsing Political Communication Virtual Democracy

POWER TO THE PERSON Every individual wants and needs some power over the world in which we live. The eternal promise of the democratic idea is that each of us will have a fair share in the politics of society. Sadly, two and a half millennia since the formal birth of democracy, money and political careerism still stand firmly between the individual and his or her piece of the political pie. Enter the Internet! The global network connection offers the possibility of a significant increase in personal power. This is especially seductive in the modern, overpopulated world where most of us have been denied our small modicum of control, and where--beyond a circle of family and friends--each individual's value and unique identity often seems to be in asymptotic reductio ad absurdum toward that of the faceless consumer. Because the Internet could have an almost unstoppable capacity to redistribute power more evenly throughout human society, it is potentially the most important influence on democracy in human history. The Net is analogous on a global scale to the ``hoplite phalanx'' which in the 7th century BCE facilitated a shift in political power from Athenian aristocrats with their horses and chariots to the peasant foot soldier. One could almost say that democracy has needed the Internet for two and a half thousand years in order to complete its agenda. Of course, the promise of the Internet is also yet to be fulfilled. Power brought by the Net thus far remains primarily the power to shout more loudly and be shouted at more often in a larger, but still cacophonous, marketplace. One can broadcast or acquire large amounts of information handily, but outside of the possibility of playing the Net to make money which can then be used for influence, has anyone perceived a real change in the distribution of political power? To a small degree, perhaps. Research has been done to show what common sense would expect: that political organizing is more efficient and effective when the Internet is employed together with other, more traditional, media of communication. Keep in mind, however, that when this limited research was done the Internet had been in use by less than fifteen per cent of the voting age population of North America. The best is yet to come. Understanding Power To fully fathom the sea-change likely to be brought into democratic politics by the Internet, we have to stare more directly into the face of power. Power is one of those mystifying entities with which humankind has always had an ambivalent relationship. Sought daily in some way by every living system, power elicits the kinds of pithy formulation that attach to most potently felt but poorly understood subjects: ``Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.'' ``Power is the greatest aphrodisiac!'' ``Money is Power.'' ``Politics is a game of power.'' And so forth. The history of attempts to understand and characterize power may well be the oldest of histories. Power, in the realpolitik view, is necessary as-- and at the same time produces--a countervailing power. As surely as right-wing power stimulates left-wing power and vice versa, an increase in individual power will lead to the rise of collective power. We could even say, from this perspective, that the poles of power on every continuum need more of each other in order to fully develop themselves. In the power dialectic, media play a vital role. Any medium of communication or transportation can enhance the power of those who own and control it. Of course, when an opposing force rises up to claim a greater share, each power and its media finds its balance against the other. This view of power saturates everything from the idea of sharing control in a marriage through the alternation of office in the two-party system, the Marxist model of class conflict as the motor of history, and the international balance of power concept clung to so dearly by the pundits of realpolitik. I like to think of this as the analogical conception of power, because from this perspective each power that forms tends to be a mirror image or asymmetric analogue of another power. There are signs, however, that this view of power politics is beginning to be seen as largely a self-serving piece of period rationale that usually justifies the unequal distribution of power within camps. It was always a bit obvious and is now a bit antiquated. The modern and wiser view, which rose momentarily to prominence in Athens long ago, is that power is best conceived as a hot potato--passed around the room until it cools sufficiently for everyone to have a bite. Power, in other words, works most desirably when it is more evenly distributed over space, time, and system. This is the democratic principle of isonomia. Parenthetically, we could argue--only partly tongue in cheek--that this approach is artistically portrayed by Van Gogh's ``Potato Eaters.'' A corollary to the hot potato law of power is that the selfish, or ``power hungry,'' will always seek power for personal advantage or intrinsic reward, yet power will always tend to slip entropically through their fingers until it comes back to a dynamic but balanced distribution within the boundaries of the defined system. This could be called the thermodynamic principle of political power, but I prefer to think of it as the rational conception of power since it consciously seeks to ration for each element of the self-defined system a small, approximately equal, cut of power. The whole-systems conception is a yet more sophisticated approach which perceives and emphasizes the dynamic in which rationalized power tends toward extension from within a given subsystem to the largest possible whole system, in this case, a worldwide democracy that would also incorporate concern for the biosphere. Here boundaries between subsystems diminish in significance. Power is distributed throughout an entire species which sees itself as an integrated whole with all its parts working in relation to all other parts. This view is currently the bailiwick of world-system analysts, modelers, and ecologists, but in one form or another it will likely become the predominant wisdom within twenty years or so. In the schema that has now been partially outlined, we have arrayed several concepts of political power along a continuum from more primitive structures to the more comprehensive and sophisticated. Each of these views contains some truth and has its fierce adherents. The distribution of political power reaches its peak of conceptual perfection, however, when it is not simply distributed as equally and as widely as possible but is also organized and focused on the achievement of common purposes across long periods of time. Thus power-sharing in an authentic democracy of the highest order consists of the widest possible distribution over both space and time, that is, over the whole species for countless generations--and is aimed at achieving for each generation the highest, consciously chosen ideals of humanity. The Power Segue And now we come to the great impasse. The clever purveyor of power, finding that the proud and chiefly boast of authority no longer works so well, yet wishing to hold on as long as possible, sagely executes the power segue. He or she denies possession of the potato and diverts attention to someone else. And how can we distribute the potato more fairly when we don't know who really has it? How clever these corporations and political careerists who claim only to represent the best interests of the people! But the Internet and other communications advances, along with the coming reforms in our democratic systems, promise to take us past this stalemate. In the presence of a global electronic communications system, when one person discovers a dirty little power secret, everyone discovers it. The shock and outrage will rise to a deafening roar! Perhaps this is the underlying reason that we have recently seen so many voluntary retirements among the multi-elected in the United States! Reform A creative democracy is one in which the operant rules permit a free and lively decision-making process that meaningfully includes all interests and perspectives, i.e., one that is not dominated by special interests and their sophisticated control of mass media. A comparative study of innovation in democratic systems, I suspect, would find that creativity in solving difficult social and ecological problems correlates well with fairness in electoral procedures; with reductions of influence peddling, lobbying, and corruption; with democratic control of the mass media, with smaller gaps between the rich and poor, and with an emphasis on education, creative problem-solving, and human development in the cultural sphere. Since nations are quite uneven in their progress along these lines, we have a rather long way to go before we achieve the ideal, democratic distribution of power. Our ecosystems are deteriorating rapidly, however, so we have little choice but to get started as quickly as possible.[Meadows, 1992] In the second chapter we looked briefly at a proposed outline of reforms. Let us now examine the subject of reform in more detail. The Mystery of Democracy President Clinton has referred to that moment of ``mystery'' when voters seclude themselves alone in a booth and make private decisions that, by the magic of numbers and democratic laws, are translated into a great, collective decision. So much goes on to prepare or manipulate the individual's mind prior to that moment, however, that we must concern ourselves with whether, and to what extent, we can ensure that individuals enter the voting booth with a clear, balanced, and independent understanding of issues and candidates. Otherwise, power cannot be properly shared. Periodic Renewal The idea of a periodic vote was established BIE--before the Internet offered the possibility of ``continuous voting.'' Periodic voting will probably be sustained, however, since it offers time to evaluate the effects of previous decisions as well as the predictability necessary for elected representatives to plan and carry out an agenda. Since each decision requires a different and specific length of time for feedback evaluation, however, we may well see periodic voting practices change after teledemocracy is fully implemented. For now, at least, let us consider the periodic election day to be a highly significant opportunity for the democratic system to change or renew itself. In truth, it is so important that the minute details of electoral procedures turn out to be among the most important factors that determine the nature of every democracy. If we suppose the written constitution to be a basic set of instructions for democratic government, then we should expect it to specify the rules by which power is to be shared. In particular, it ought to carefully define the method by which government shall be periodically revised and renewed. Many group interests are busy year in and year out trying to increase their own power relative to that of other interests by changing the rules for electoral process as well as by changing individual perceptions and opinions. If a constitution is lax on the subject of periodic elections, each new election could take its citizens a step further from the genuine practice of democracy. In the United States, as in many other nations, the constitution is sufficiently lacking in specific instructions that election practices have varied widely throughout the country. Since the inventiveness of those interests who wish to dominate political decision-making is always impressive, the authenticity of democratic practice has also varied significantly over time. In this chapter we will be looking briefly at some strategies by which we could use each election to move a step closer to a truly democratic society. Independent Election Councils To begin, elections can only be administered with complete fairness when they are administered by a force that is independent of both the parties in power and their opponents. Independently elected Councils that include representation for all parties that qualify for the ballot, with the right to monitor all electoral activities and document all campaign-related communications and expenditures, and with the authority to order police into action when electoral laws are violated are the most important step toward genuinely fair elections. Compulsory Participation No one can be forced to vote. Voting occurs in secret, and when a secret ballot is cast anything can happen. The so-called ``compulsory voting'' that exists in many countries, therefore, is a misnomer. A minimum of participation, however, can be and should be required in a democracy. At present, most countries require everyone to pay taxes to fund democratic government but do not require us to have a voice in that government's decisions. The priorities here are revealing. Who would want us to pay for government but could care less whether we participate otherwise? Wealthy special interests, of course. They will always come out ahead when they can use money to artificially create a group of dedicated followers, while the poor or disenchanted only show up sporadically. Compulsory participation already exists in Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Greece, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Italy, Singapore, and parts of Austria, Switzerland, and France. It alone will not guarantee fair electoral processes, but it is one of the set of integrally related measures that can significantly improve the health and creativity of the democratic process. Limited Terms No elected representative should spend large amounts of the time in office trying to raise money for another term. It not only vitiates the representative's understanding of complex issues that require study before going to a vote in legislature, it also invites special interests to exercise undue influence on legislators. We do not need career professionals in office. Experts are always available for consultation and advice, and even careerists have to use them. What we need are honest representatives who are in office not to guarantee their own futures but because they want to take a turn at helping to solve difficult social and ecological problems. My recommendation, therefore, is a one term limit for elected office at every level of government. Campaign Financing If money is speech, as determined by the U.S. Supreme Court, then more and more of us will be mute under the existing trend of an increasing concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands. Other countries and courts, for example the German Constitutional Court, have determined that money spent on election campaigns is not speech but a type of influence.[Currie, 1994] Simple logic leads every fair-minded and thoughtful person to the same conclusion. Democratic processes cost money, and if we are to have authentic democracy, we must all pay an equal share of the cost. If one doesn't have the cash, then labor or trade will do. Elections must be publicly financed, therefore, and we must have limits on campaign expenditures that apply equally to the candidates for each office. Media Reform Supervision of the media of communication in a democracy is so critical to the health of democracy that it belongs not in the hands of politically appointed administrators, who usually have close connections with the private owners of communication networks, but rather in the hands of an independently elected Media Council that answers directly to the electorate. The mass media, now and for some time to come, will have substantial influence over the perceptions and understandings of the majority of people. On the Internet, the privately-owned cataloguers, indices, search engines, and other filters may develop similar degrees of control over access to a variety of viewpoints. Typically, the largest campaign expenditures go toward the purchase of time and bandwidth on the privately-owned mass media. Elections bring enormous profits to the media corporations that sell audiences to those who can afford to buy them. If a group of friends get together for a conversation, speaking time is not allotted on the basis of how much money each person brought to the meeting. When governments distribute bandwidth for speaking time, however, it goes disproportionately to those who have private wealth, who have primarily a profit motive for purchasing bandwidth, and who want to promote those values and opinions that bring most advantage to the owners of big business. Nonprofit, public benefit corporations and democratic communities themselves have a disproportionately small voice, i.e., narrow bandwidth, even though they are precisely those organs of society that are most concerned for the welfare of society. A massive drive ought therefore be underway to reform the mass media by apportioning only one-third of bandwidth and newsprint to the privately owned sector while one-third goes to independent nonprofit organizations and one-third to genuinely democratic government to use for public benefit. Counting Ballots ``One person, one vote'' is a fundamental value of democracy and a corollary of the principle of isonomia. That ``one vote,'' however, can be interpreted to mean one person's list of preferences. The ``preference score'' method of voting has generally been recommended as fairer and less corruptible than the ``simple majority'' method of determining winners. Proportional representation and party lists with a five per cent threshold requirement are also commonly employed methods of ensuring a more democratic representation of the whole population. These methods should replace majority rule wherever it still lingers. Other methods of voting that better incorporate minority views, and therefore reduce the waste and injustices of interracial and interethnic conflict, include ``supermajorities,'' ``concurrent majorities,'' ``cumulative voting,'' ``minority veto,'' and federated districts that utilize ``consociational'' methods of democracy. Integrative interest representation is another method of improving the electoral process. This approach, described in the first two books of the series On Democracy In Time, involves establishing a system of political parties and/or identity groups whose representatives must also win a minimal level of approval from other groups or parties in order to gain acceptance as candidates in general elections. By this means incentives are established for all politically active groups to cooperate for the good of the whole. Democratic Education A ``democracy'' without an informed citizenry is not a democracy. Every democracy, therefore, must invest in an educational system that has as its highest priority the preparation of its citizens for participation in democratic problem-solving. Thus the requirements for a good democracy coincide with the requirements for survival in an increasingly complex and dangerous world. Automatic Review In addition to periodic elections, democratic government at every level and in every branch ought to have built-in ``Performance Reviews'' that include substantial input from those portions of the public most affected by their operations. A Summary and Overview Fair elections, along with fair and accurate reporting by the mass media, are both absolutely vital to the democratic process. Meticulously fair elections, in the presence of accurate and reasonably complete information which is available to all voters, should be regarded as sacred. If elections cannot be conducted honestly, fairly, and without distortion by special interests, then democracy cannot be said to exist. When possible, electoral processes should take place directly in front of the naked eyes and ears of the electorate. Since this is usually not possible, especially in large political systems, the media must be able to pre-sent the issues and ``virtual'' candidates to the electorate with a minimum of bias, distortion, or loss of essential information. In any case, the powers which administer elections and the media must be clearly separated from special interests and from those powers which govern other affairs of the community. When genuinely democratic systems achieve jurisdiction over all media, then one-third of each type of communications media (TV, radio, film, print, theater, telephone lines, cable, etc.) should be owned and operated by the public, one-third by independent (nonprofit) cooperatives, and one-third by private individuals and groups. As mentioned earlier, every democracy should have an independent and nonpartisan Elections Council and an independent and nonpartisan Media Council for regulating the electoral process and the media (leaflets, posters, bulletin boards, computer networks, newspapers, ra-dio, and TV). Membership in these two councils (perhaps 7 \xb1 2 individuals each) should consist of representatives elected directly by citizens in elections held separately from all other elections. The elected members of either the Elections Council or the Media Council should not be members of the leadership of any political party or identity group. Their one term of office should be five years--with overlapping terms to provide continuity. No elected seat in any branch or level of community organization should be held by an individual for two terms in succession. An individual could be elected for a second term only if at least one term out of office intervenes between elected terms. All election expenditures, including the operating budget for the Elections Council, and community owned media expenses, including the operating budget for the Media Council, should be paid by commu-nity funds. Budget limits for these two Councils could initially be recommended by the appropriate legislature in consultation with the prior Councils, then approved or disapproved by popular referendum at the time of elections to the Elections and Media Councils. Surplus funds for electoral processes could be distributed in equal amounts to those candidates approved by the Elections Council for the next general election. Surplus budget funds for the media should be devoted to improving information gathering, processing, storage, and distribution for the whole democratic community. Each candidate for elective office could be required to petition the Elections Council for election funds after obtaining qualifying votes in a primary elec-tion, to be held--for example--two months before the final election. The petition should contain signatures approving the candidacy from at least five per cent of each approved identity group and political party within the whole electorate. In other words, each candidate would have to be acceptable to at least 5% of each and every identity group or political party that has itself achieved 5% of the whole electorate's support. No electoral funds should be distributed, and no campaign expenditures would be allowed, for primary campaigns. The Media Council can provide media time and space in equal amounts for each primary candidate and to each approved candidate in each election. The Media Council, as well as each reporter and news organization, must be held responsible for the accuracy of media descriptions of each candidate and of each candidate's positions on the issues. No political campaigning of any kind should occur during the seven days prior to, or on, the day of any election. Each approved candidate for election may then be awarded speaking or debating time in community-wide meetings held to consider candidates and issues before the whole community. Public media time or print media space should also be awarded on an equi-table basis and with uniform standards for all competing candidates. Debates should be structured by the Media Council or the Elections Council--not by the candidates themselves-- to provide the clear-est possible understanding of the candidates' positions and abilities. No political endorsements for particular candidates, and no paid or donated advertising whether posi-tive or negative, should be permitted in any media. Each candidate must speak for him or herself, although arguments for and against a particular position taken by any candidate may be made by others and reported in the media. Voter registration and participation, together with a ballot that is easy to read and comprehend, should be compulsory. This will be particularly hard to swallow in individualistic America, but a system of incentives would undoubtedly make it more palatable. Each person ought to be able to show evidence of updated registration periodically. Registration and voting could be accomplished by personal appearance, snail mail, or electronic communication. Each elected official should be required to submit personal and family financial records prior to and after each year in elected office to satisfy the Electoral Council that the office has not been used for personal enrichment over and above the official salary. Media that is privately-owned and funded should also be subject to regulation in the reporting of election news. The Media Council, acting on behalf of the interests of the whole community, must be empowered to enforce such regulation. The primary purpose of communications media, in general, ought to be the providing of accurate information to an electorate regard-ing any or all aspects of the living and non-living natural world so that an electorate may make the wisest possible decisions. Several other electoral rules and methods of improving democratic decision-making are suggested in The Universal Model. Direct Democracy Initiative, referendum, and recall are fundamental rights and methods of direct democracy that should play a larger part in most democratic societies. Campaign funds for all three of these methods must be kept out of the hands of wealthy special interests, and therefore, must be publicly financed. Any elected representative at any level should be subject to immediate re-call at any time by 67% of the full electorate. A referendum should be called on any issue whenever a majority of the full electorate--or of the appropriate legislature--requests a ref-erendum. Proposed referenda should be tested in the courts before campaigns and votes are spent on them. The result of a referendum should then be legally binding until or unless it is superseded by new laws or is found by later courts to be unconstitutional. Each initiative should be similarly tested and should become law except as noted for referenda above. Initiatives and referenda should represent the will of a people consistent with their constitution--as well as an immediate form of feedback to elected representa-tives. This feedback should then be immediately acknowledged and taken into account as they consider further decisions. Advancing the Internet The advocates of democracy should advance the Internet so long as the Internet advances democracy. One step already taken by a few groups is the setting up of election information centers. Mother Jones, for example, collects information on fund-raising by elected officials in the United States and makes it available on the Internet. VoteSmart, The Center for Responsive Politics, and other organizations likewise provide useful information to those who would like to improve democracy. It will be critically important in these first formative years of the Internet, to guard carefully against attempts by governments and large commercial interests to make the Net unusable as an instrument of political education and reform. Parsing Political Communication It will not be possible for any person or group to read and fully assimilate the millions of opinions and ideas that a large, politically active population would produce. To materialize the potential power of the Internet as a vehicle for the evolution of democracy, therefore, it will be necessary to develop computer parsing and translation programs that can integrate human inputs into a coherent and continuous world text. This text must not only be readable to all, it must also be able to show the number and types of input. It must reflect, for example, the number of persons that support each idea and each distinct expression of meaning. The development and full advantage of such programs may ultimately require the wide acceptance and use of a more perfect language than any of the natural languages now in use. Esperanto presently offers the best combination of features--low ambiguity, powerful and flexible vocabulary yet not associated with any imperialistic spread of culture, and is usually learned in about one-third the time it takes to become fluent in natural languages. Esperanto should be promoted as a universal second language for the Internet. Virtual Democracy On the first page of this book I asserted that it is now possible to create a virtual democracy of almost any size, a nation without boundaries that would have its own unique constitution. In a previous book I have proposed ``the universal model,'' a uniquely democratic constitution designed to be adapted to any culture or organization--virtual or real. The trial adoption of this constitution by any small community or group, regardless of how far apart its members might live from one another, would represent a step forward to a more sincerely democratic society. It specifically states, however, that where it involves realworld transactions it shall not supersede or abrogate the laws of any nation. Where it differs from the laws of a nation or international law, that portion of the model constitution should be regarded as a suggestion for reform in the real world or as a virtual rule only for a virtual community. A virtual global village could thus be established that would, in the form of local groups that charter themselves on the basis of local laws, purchase and own real property distributed throughout the world. Thus every member of the virtual village could have a home away from home--a place of rest where values could be shared, ideas exchanged, and a warm welcome assured. Each site on this village democracy network would surely be a meaningful pleasure for the weary but purposeful traveler. In the last chapter we will briefly examine how the democratic spirit might advance itself in a typical virtual village. Next chapter...