Digital Direct Democracy, episode #12 __ Blockchain Choices __
Recently, I was introduced to someone who I will refer to as Mr. Blockchain. He heads a small team of developers in Toronto who are creating a Digital Voting System based on Blockchain technology.
Introducing BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES.
I am a fan of Bitcoin. As a digital form of money, it trades over a secure, inflation-proof, decentralized Blockchain network.
I read The Bitcoin Standard (published in 2016) and The Fiat Standard (2021), both written by Saifedean Ammous, PhD Economics. Dr. Ammous also hosts The Bitcoin Standard podcast which is one of my favourites.
I believe Blockchain technology to be ideal for capturing the voluntary choices of individuals in a manner superior to anything else used today. Obvious applications include elections, referenda and opinion surveys.
A democracy is supposed to be a quasi-partnership between citizens and the “public servants” to whom ‘the public’ (a collective term) “entrusts” (a euphemism for rule by “the majority”) to provide a variety of shared public services for “the common good” (notice the absence of individuals like you who may not be counted among the “electoral majority”) An effective feedback mechanism is clearly lacking from the average citizen’s perspective.
A single vote every four years to elect public representatives is a pathetic feedback mechanism in the Digital Age.
Even more pathetic is that no effective mechanism exists to provide citizen feedback for the leaders of our public institutions.
Nothing stops their excessive spending, taxing or regulating of our citizens and businesses.
Sure, you can write letters to your elected representatives, hold protests, present deputations to your municipal council or even goad a journalist into writing articles, but none of these have proven effective to hold government entities accountable to citizens’ needs.
Powerful special interest groups like labour unions always get a seat at the negotiating table.
Meanwhile, individual citizens and perhaps a small community of like-minded friends and neighbours, are treated as little more than temporary distractions to elected politicians, and even a nuisance to be summarily dismissed or avoided.
The Digital Direct Democracy paradigm is intended to embrace multiple ways to combat the threat to democracy that Canadians are feeling in increasing numbers.
The Citizens’ Preferences Database (CPD) will only be effective AFTER the Honeypot has been emptied of authoritarian contents. These include the laws and regulations that constrain Canadians and their businesses within a straitjacket of controls.
To empty this excess baggage contained within the Honeypot, a BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES network must come BEFORE the CPD.
BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES for Liberty
Many “freedom fighters” claim that “people power” is stronger than “government power”. Given the size of the domestic Honeypot of Political Power to which its custodians have direct access, I have believed these claims to be naïve.
Furthermore, the power and money held by the global elite circles of the WEF, United Nations, W.H.O, NGOs and other related public entities is well beyond the understanding and appreciation of average Canadians.
The combined forces of Canada’s domestic government institutions, PLUS that of the cabal of the One World Order institutions, present an enormous offensive juggernaut against individual liberty.
This OFFENCE is so vast that ‘DEFENCE’ is OUR PRIMARY OPTION until we, as a nation of individuals, can find a way to curtail their ‘offensive’ measures.
“People Power” needs ‘digital power tools’.
A typical guy, I am familiar with many brands of power tools.
A digital power tool brand like ‘BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES” will be unisex and widely known if used for all manner of surveys, elections and referenda.
Of course, there are a number of factors to consider to bring this idea to market but I am confident that these challenges can be overcome.
The smart phone brand of iPhone and Android are known and used by virtually everyone. Who’s to say that BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES may not enjoy the same reach within a decade?
I’m curious.
In a recent coffee meeting with a local City Councillor, I asked him why is typically votes in favour of proposals based on the Climate Change Crisis Theory (CCCT). He replied in a matter-of-fact manner that “my constituents want it”. He based his claim on a (not referenced) survey reporting 85% of respondents expect “climate action” from their government. When a friend of mine who has 30,000 X followers received 716 replies to comparable “survey” questions showed only 1% in favour of tax-funded “climate action”, the Councillor dismissed it as “biassed”.
If a well-designed, ‘unbiased’ set of questions had been presented broadly to the public over a trusted “BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES” platform, and if the results were similar to the X survey, would the Councillor have changed his voting behaviour?
Better yet, would he, the other seven Councillors and the Mayor all act on behalf of the “will of the people” as determined by BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES? If not, why not, and what can we do about it?
Could BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES be gamed?
Public sector labour unions, the largest of all special interest groups, have a well-known and powerful influence on election outcomes.
Their “get out to vote” campaigns result in as much as a 90% voter turnout by their members who are usually “encouraged” to vote for politically ‘left’ parties that best serve their strategic interests. On the other hand, between 45 to 50 percent of the remaining vote-eligible population bother to vote.
Feelings of apathy and distrust of ‘electoral democracy’ has produced steadily lower voter turnout levels since the 1970s. This trend has been the opposite of the steady increase in size, cost and scope of authorities which the public sector stakeholders have enjoyed.
Will this “gaming the system” strategy by public sector labour unions continue to work EVEN AFTER BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES is universally available?
Perhaps frustration levels are now high enough for an electoral majority of Canadians to finally break this anti-democratic, organized labour dynamic!
With the growth of the ‘freedom fighter’ communities across Canada, I suspect that ‘voter apathy’ will decline when these ‘digital power tools’ are available.
BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES: a non-governmental service provider.
A complete power paradigm shift can be seen on the digital horizon.
All past elections have been planned, promoted, funded, regulated, managed, broadcast and reported by federal, provincial and municipal government monopolies.
BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES is a concept conceived ‘by the people’ and ‘for the people’. For this reason, it must be protected from interference by outside parties who may harbour motives to threaten its legitimacy and even its very existence.
Bitcoin has been a threat to the USD standard for ~15 years. Establishment stakeholders have tried to stop it, yet Bitcoin continues to gain widespread acceptance in spite of all the opposition it faces.
The underlying Blockchain technology is responsible for most of Bitcoin’s resilience. I expect this to prove true for BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES too.
As an inevitable presence of ‘Digital Direct Democracy’ becomes the norm in the years ahead, a much better balance between the powers held by the individual and the state is sure to emerge and also become the norm.
My Excitement is Building.
Mr. Blockchain hopes to show me a demonstration of his new system, to which I have referred to as “BLOCKCHAIN CHOICES’, in about six weeks. I’ll give you my report when it happens.
