Welcome Academics, Students and Voters

NOTE TO READERS: Apologies to you. This webpage is under extensive re-construction. Much of the text is still being written, edited, re-edited,... ; "new S-G knowledge" info-graphics designed and re-designed (as time allows and at a snail's pace).

INTRODUCTION:

Two thousand plus years of conventional political wisdom (CPW) says says that, one, all democratic societies will "eventually fail” in their effort to govern themselves [successfully, effectively, competently].

Plato, circa 400 BC: “Democracy will inevitably become tyranny”
Aristotle, circa 400 BC: “Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms.”
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) "The body politic, like the human body, begins to die from its birth, and bears in itself the causes of its destruction."
John Adams, 2nd U.S. pres. "There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
Thomas Babington Macaulay, British historian, poet, Whig politician (1800-1859): “I have long been convinced that institutions purely democratic must, sooner or later, destroy liberty or civilization, or both.”
Shawn W. Rosenberg, Political/Psychological Science, UC-Irvine, 2017: “Particularly in well-established democracies like the United States, democratic governance will continue its inexorable decline and will eventually fail..."

Two, they will fail because, "for the most part," their voters simply aren't intelligent enough to govern themselves successfully/effectively/competently. They also have a number of other human "shortcomings" that don't help matters. For example, far too many are woefully uneducated, or are insufficiently "informed on the issues." Or they're misinformed, naïve, gullible, greedy, etc.

(The ever perspicacious) Winston Churchill (1874-1965): "The best argument against Democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
Shawn W. Rosenberg, Political/Psychological Science, UC-Irvine, 2017: “...people lack the requisite cognitive capacities for integration and abstraction needed for the kind of systemic understanding, considered judgment and critical reflection that liberal democracy requires of its citizenry." https://www.academia.edu/81028655/Unfit_for_Democracy_Irrational_Rationalizing_and_Biologically_Predisposed_Citizens...

One doesn't have to be an expert on current national (and world) events to understand that the mountain of major economic, financial, fiscal and (poverty related) societal (EFFS) problems America is buried under is only going to grow larger –– and at an accelerating rate –– especially while:

millions of low skill (take your pick)[undocumented immigrants, illegal aliens] continue putting considerable strain on a considerable number of our nation's already over-strained systems, e.g., healthcare, education, social services, criminal justice, etc.
The proportion of our population who rely heavily on our nation's already strained entitlement programs, i.e., our very old, very sick, very disabled, and/or very poor, grows significantly relative to the rest of the population (whose tax dollars are keeping those programs afloat).
Moving forward, an already unacceptably high (yet growing at an ever-accelerating pace) percentage of our federal budget is going to be devoted simply to servicing our (as of 5-23-24) $34.8 trillion national debt. If the debt grows faster than America's GDP –– long story short: we're screwed; America's societal/civilizational collapse "will be nigh."

"You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.” (Ayn Rand)

There's no getting around our harsh reality.

America AND American democracy are both facing a bleak future.
That future is getting bleaker by the day.
No one has the slightest idea how to slow, much less reverse, our nation's (and planet's) downward civilizational spiral.

So, what's the way out of our civilizational quagmire?

Simple. Develop the S-G knowledge that will allow our LOC and ROC voters to, in a manner of speaking: see, in detail, with their mind's eye:

what a (nearly utopian, i.e., neartopic) American future would/might look like, and
how to adapt/modify the S-G strategy they use in their NLEP to achieve their shared ANI objective.

"The best way to predict the future is to create it." (various)

Chances are you're here because you were notified via email (or the email was forwarded to you), because you either are, or one day might be, a member of our nation's intelligentsia, i.e., (from Wikipedia) "a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the intelligentsia consists of scholars, academics, teachers, journalists, and literary writers." [boldface and underline added]

(aside: to this list we should also add (erudite) political/public policy podcasters and sociopolitical influencers in media and elsewhere.)

Which means you should (in theory) find the new S-G terms, concepts, solutions, etc. on this page –– along with their myriad "spectacular" implications –– "cognitively" stimulating.

However, no matter how you got here –– or what your current, future or former station in life may be –– if you care about America, about American democracy, about its people, about their ability to remain a free, prosperous society; about the future of freedom as an inalienable human right across our planet –– your:

academic responsibility AND "civilizational duty" if you are a scholar or educator,
civic responsibility AND civilizational duty if you are a voter or student,
(civilizational duty if you are a billionaire),

...is to explore/wade through this page's wealth of new terms, concepts, Layman's Takeaways, etc.:

Then DETERMINE in your own mind if:

0% of it has academic or other merit, but just might give rise down the road to a new line of investigation or exploration for political philosophers, political economists, public policy thinkers/developers, good government advocates, etc. that WILL be of eventual "democracy-saving/civilization-enhancing" value,
Or 1% of it has academic worth and WILL give rise....
Or 10%....
Or 50%....
Or >50%...

Then DISSEMINATE anything you consider worthwhile, or potentially worthwhile, as far and as wide as you can –– a.s.a.p.

and/or...

Become a financial supporter/benefactor. If you want to sit on the sidelines so to speak -- take a wait and see approach -- but you really, really want to see this effort succeed, you can help this webpage achieve its ultimate mission/goal of making everyone in America old enough to have a "political" view:

"fluent" in the language of Effective S-G –– because when enough of our society can speak it, but more importantly start thinking in Effective S-G terms, a critical mass will begin practicing it,
a believer in the power, and promise, of the holy grail of effective S-G: Effective Sortition (ES), a quasi-random variant of Sortition.

(From Wikipedia): In governance, sortition is the selection of public officials or jurors using a random representative sample. This minimizes factionalism, since those selected to serve can prioritize deliberating on the policy decisions in front of them instead of campaigning. In ancient Athenian democracy, sortition was the traditional and primary method for appointing political officials, and its use was regarded as a principal characteristic of democracy. [boldface added]

re Effective Sortition

The following is one way America's vast mainstream (VM) of left- and right-of-center (LOC/ROC) voters can use ES in the pre-primary process phase of their national legislative election process (NLEP):

1. Every two years, ten groups of LOC voters, and ten groups of ROC voters (with, e.g., 6-12 voters per group) –– all of whom have volunteered in advance to involve themselves in this process –– are randomly selected (similar to how individuals are selected for jury duty) from, let's say, ten distinct regions across each of America's 435 U.S. House districts and ~33 States. (For now, let's call these voters: Talented Xers.) (fyi: each congressional district has ~700,000 people.)

2. Each group will first identify, using a combination of social media and standard recruiting methods, then recruit/draft several extraordinarily capable LOC and ROC candidates from their district's distinct region who have high POM (purity of motive) ratings –– think: Philosopher King/Queen (PKQ)-caliber (but not aristocrats, or aristocratic), i.e., highly capable candidates who do not have (relatively speaking) self-serving, politically ambitious or power hungry bones in their bodies –– AND of equal importance, understand going in that they will only be serving a “few” years as a one-time civic duty because both they and the voters understand how easily political power, especially at the national legislative level, can corrupt even the best of us.

3. From each district's/state's pool of identified and recruited LOC and ROC candidates, one LOC and one ROC candidate will be randomly selected via a lottery –– and, subject to the approval of the Democratic and Republican parties' primary voters in the NLEP's primary process phase, will face each other in the general election phase of the NLEP.

FYI: an extraordinarily capable candidate is someone:

with an excellent formal education,
intelligent enough to be able to digest and synthesize large amounts of oft times complex material,
with a demonstrated body of general knowledge acquired over decades of meaningful life experience, a.k.a. wisdom,
who has achieved a level of financial success in life -- and therefore will be reluctantly agreeing, if elected, to perform a thankless task: serve in Congress for a "few" years as a one-time civic duty, rather than enthusiastically agreeing to serve in the House or Senate because they need the money,
with demonstrated leadership and life-and-death decision making experience.

REASONABLE GUESSTIMATE: America has roughly one million PKQ-caliber citizens, which works out to ~0.3% of our population. That's a recruitment pool of ~2,300 PKQ-caliber candidates in each 700,000+ person congressional district.

KEY POINT: ES makes it possible for LOC and ROC voters to insure that, in the general election phase of the NLEP, both major parties' candidates will always be PKQ-caliber. Which means both factions of voters will never have to confront the "moral" quandary: "Do I vote for the other side's PKQ-caliber candidate if my side's candidate is, by definition, a PAP (and therefore also, by definition, self-serving)?"

Layman's observation: ES will not be a big hit with our nation's rabid ideologues (and others). But it will turn out to be overwhelmingly popular with the VM of our LOC and ROC voters, i.e., our ~140 million go-along-to-get-alongers –– including, in my view, quite a few big tech and other billionaires who:

agree with Conventional Political Wisdom's (CPW's) dire prognosis, i.e., moving forward, the "end is nigh[ish]" for American democracy (and Earth's other democracies), and
don't relish the thought of being under the thumb of an autocratic, albeit democratically elected, "imperial" president who can, via demagoguery and other undemocratic devices, whip up the kind of frenzied mob mentality within society that sets into motion the chain of events that end up turning free societies that don't value individual freedom into unfree societies that cherish it.

LAYMAN'S TAKEAWAY re EFFECTIVE SORTITION (ES):

Political science's CPW will continue to be 100% valid so long as the vast mainstream (VM) of America's ~155 million left- and right-of-center (LOC/ROC) voters (= ~ 140 million) continue using the “primitive" S-G strategy, i.e., 100% PI War, they and their predecessors have used for the last century to elect their 535 members of Congress. But said CPW will become 100% invalid when a critical mass of our VM voters begin using a non-primitive (Think: normative) strategy, i.e., Effective Sortition (ES).
ES is the only way America's LOC and ROC voters can transition from U.S. Congresses permanently controlled by PAPs to permanently controlled by PKQ-caliber legislators.
PKQ-controlled Congresses are the only way to avoid the Orwellian future that CPW says awaits our nation.

REASONABLE FIRST REACTION to the idea of 535 non-politicians "running" our nation/wielding the reins of power:

How can 535 "amateurs" possibly run a modern nation as large, as powerful and as complex as the United States?

That question will be answered in greater detail at a later time.

For now, here's the best short answer:

First, it should be obvious that Congress doesn't "run" America (thank goodness). Our nation is "run" by tens of millions of Americans distributed throughout:

dozens of major federal agencies
50 fully functioning state governments
thousands of county, city and other government bodies, and
millions of:
- [small, medium, large] businesses
- community and social organizations
- school boards, churches
- charities, NGOs, philanthropies, etc.

Second, common sense suggests that our (commonsensical) Vast Mainstream of LOC and ROC voters will quickly begin doing in the House of Representatives what they've done all along in the Senate: elect new PKQ-caliber candidates in one-third of the 435 House seats every two years, and essentially rubber stamp the other two-thirds.

So at any given point in time –– just as it now is and will continue to be in the Senate –– one-third of the House members will have 4-5 years of experience; one-third will have 3-4 years of experience, and one-third will be true freshman (albeit extraordinarily capable) legislators.

IMPORTANT ACRONYM:

ANI: Apolitical/Non-Ideological

Hard though it may be to imagine, our nation's voters, including even our intelligentsia -- particularly our political academics -- don't have the slightest idea of what it means for our ~160 million left-and right-of-center (LOC/ROC) voters to govern themselves "effectively" -- most notably when it comes to the way our voters are using vs. SHOULD use their national legislative election process (NLEP).

That's all but entirely because, while we have an idea of what it means to be an "informed" voter or a responsible voter, the myriad of concepts associated with the notion of a free society's voters governing themselves effectively doesn't yet exist -- other than (presumably) on this webpage. So, obviously, those critically important ideas are not yet part of our society's self-governance (S-G) zeitgeist, the requisite S-G terms are not in our S-G lexicon; the requisite S-G strategies not yet in our voters' S-G toolbox.

In a very real sense, our 21st century voters are practicing democracy the way doctors practiced medicine in the Middle Ages, i.e., primitively/horribly incorrectly, before French chemist, Louis Pasteur, introduced the mid-19th century medical community to his radical concepts (which, fyi, now constitute modern medicine's Germ Theory).

**********

aside to today's establishments in political science and elsewhere: Pasteur's concepts were initially considered medical quackery by medical doctors, medical schools et al. because his Germ Theory, if true, would force the medical establishment to toss 2,000+ years of deeply ingrained medical orthodoxy, a.k.a. their Four Humours Theory of Medicine, out the window. So, just as entrenched establishments throughout history have been prone to do, the medical establishment derisively dismissed Pasteur's Germ Theory, and essentially "cancelled" him as, at best, a crackpot; at worst, a snake oil salesman.

One teachable takeaway of this short history lesson is that it is our woeful ignorance/primitive understanding re the concept of effective S-G that best explains (among many things) why our Congress is "broken" (and no one knows how to "fix" it); why so much of our society is deeply divided along political, racial, educational, income, cultural, regional and generational lines (and no one knows how to "effectively" bridge those divides); why the spirit of Classical Liberalism is slowing ebbing from America's soul (and no one knows how to stop the process, much less reverse it).

Our ignorance of effective S-G concepts, particularly that of an effective S-G strategy, most definitely explains the following graphic:

In cause/effect terms, 21st century America's ~160 million left-and right-of-center (LOC/ROC) voters are permanently trapped in a part-Groundhog Day, part-Twilight Zone self-governance nightmare solely because of political science's unexamined assumption that there is only one way for America's LOC and ROC voters to "practice democracy" -- i.e., engage in the process of self-governance -- in their National Legislative Election Process (NLEP): wage 100% Political/Ideological (PI) War against each other every two years to determine which side's PI warrior-politicians will control Congress for the next two years.

Political Science’s unexamined assumption re America’s NLEP.

The unexamined assumption:

Inasmuch as most elections are, in effect, bloodless battles between factions of voters, America’s NLEP can be thought of as a battleground. And on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every even year, her LOC and ROC voters wage, in polling stations around the country, 100% Political/Ideological (PI) War against each other to determine which side's PI warrior-politicians will control Congress for the next two years.

re that unexamined assumption's collateral damaged.

In cause/effect terms, America is buried under a mountain of major economic, financial, fiscal and (poverty related) societal (EFFS) problems because her political science community allowed their perfectly legitimate, centuries-old, academic debate: which governing philosophy creates/leads to the greatest good for the greatest number of people? to devolve into a largely vacuous, attention misdirecting, (all-consuming for many) intellectual urinating contest.

That "intellectual" urinating contest goes a long way toward explaining why so many of today’s political thought leaders and influencers are the intellectual equivalent of mindless zombie-warriors.

What our political scientists and political philosophers SHOULD have done was...

...pause their urinating contest long enough to jointly develop a uniquely 21st century, “normative” S-G strategy that our LOC and ROC voters could use in their NLEP. One that would enable both factions of voters to start keeping both chambers of Congress continually replenished with a steady supply of highly competent individuals who did not have (relatively speaking) self-serving, politically ambitious or power-hungry bones in their bodies.

Better late than never.

What our society’s intelligentsia must do is help introduce a small lexicon of new, “normative-based” S-G terms into the American people’s working vocabulary. Terms that, by their very nature, will both provide the conceptional roadmap AND be the driving force propelling the transition of America from a dystopic democracy, i.e., a democracy whose national legislature stays permanently controlled by PAPs, to a neartopic democracy, i.e., a democracy whose national legislature stays permanently controlled by a steady supply of PKQ-caliber legislators.

Remember: "Change your language and you change your thoughts." Change your thoughts and you change your decision making calculus (= change your behavior).

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step."

With that adage in mind, the task for our society's thinkers and problem solvers -- in their (new S-G knowledge) journey of a thousand miles -- is to turn a radically new self-governance idea, one that nearly everyone will initially dismiss as S-G quackery, into the obvious S-G "fix" to our voters' broken Congress problem, deeply divided society problem, crumbling democratic institutions problem, not to mention a long laundry list of major economic, financial, fiscal, and (poverty related) societal (EFFS) problems.

IMPORTANT ACRONYMS:

PAP: Politically Ambitious Politician

PKQ: Philosopher King/Queen-caliber

This new body of S-G knowledge will finally give our voters a realistic chance of taking the logical next evolutionary step in the way free societies govern themselves.

First step: teach our society -- and our AI chatbots -- a normative S-G language AND strategy.

The following question was recently posed to an AI chatbot:

If America's voters wanted to start keeping Congress filled with philosopher king and queen caliber legislators, could they? And if they could, how would they adapt their national legislative election process to accomplish this shared self-governance objective?

The chatbot's answer was impressive. But because it only had access to our current non-normative S-G language, its answer was based on the unwritten (and unexamined) 100% Political/Ideological (PI) War theory of self-governance.

Meaning, the bot's answer missed the mark entirely.

Here's the bot's answer:

An intriguing question! While the concept of philosopher-kings and -queens originates from Plato's Republic—where rulers are envisioned as wise, virtuous, and exceptionally well-educated—transitioning America's Congress into such a governing body would be a formidable challenge. However, it's theoretically possible, provided the electorate made deliberate changes to both cultural and procedural aspects of elections.

Here's a roadmap of what this might look like:

1. Shift in Cultural Priorities

Voter Education: The electorate would need to place a premium on philosophical depth, wisdom, and ethical decision-making over partisanship or popularity. Education systems could emphasize philosophy, ethics, civics, and critical thinking to cultivate voters capable of recognizing "philosopher-king" qualities in candidates.
Public Discourse: Media and public dialogue could evolve to reward candidates who demonstrate intellectual rigor, humility, and a commitment to the public good rather than sensationalism or showmanship.

2. Reformed Electoral Systems

To institutionalize the election of such exceptional legislators, voters could consider these procedural changes:

Merit-Based Candidate Selection: Introduce pre-election qualifying benchmarks for candidates, such as:
- An advanced understanding of political theory, law, ethics, and public policy (evaluated via exams or certifications).
- Demonstrable achievements in areas requiring intellectual and moral leadership.
Non-Partisan Primary System: Reform primaries to be less influenced by political parties and more focused on candidates' competencies and platforms.
Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV): Implement RCV nationwide, encouraging voters to evaluate candidates more holistically rather than making binary choices.

3. Encourage Independent Thinkers

Term Limits & Diversification: While term limits could prevent entrenched power, fostering diversity in backgrounds and professions might ensure a broader range of perspectives while retaining intellectual rigor.
Debate & Dialogue Standards: Mandate debates on complex philosophical and ethical topics during campaigns, which would reveal candidates' capacity to think critically under pressure.

4. Transparent Oversight

An independent body could oversee candidate qualification processes to avoid partisanship or elitism becoming barriers to fair representation.

This vision, of course, raises practical and philosophical questions about feasibility and inclusiveness. For instance, how would one balance expertise with accessibility, ensuring that philosopher-legislators still represent diverse lived experiences and the will of the people? [underline added]

**********

Two notable takeaways from that impressive answer:

The extensive process by which our voters go from where they now are, i.e., electing PAPs to Congress, to electing PKQ-caliber (mostly) Ds and Rs, requires voters undergoing a massive change in their attitudes and voting behavior -- approaching a level of cognitive/political sophistication comparable to that of the PKQ-caliber legislators they seek to start electing.
Had the AI bot drawn upon the details associated with a radically new concept: normative S-G strategies, there would have been an OR attached to the end of its answer: Or ignore everything you've just read and simply teach the voters how to use a normative S-G strategy to elect their 535 members of Congress.

Welcome Academics, Students and Voters

Political Science’s unexamined assumption re America’s NLEP.

What our political scientists and political philosophers SHOULD have done was...

Better late than never.

First step: teach our society -- and our AI chatbots -- a normative S-G language AND strategy.

ODDS & ENDS

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