One small problem: the existence of God cannot be proven.

Lloyd,

No, there’s nothing in this article about global warming. Neither is there anything about the new war in Georgia, the old war in Iraq or fairies at the bottom of my garden. This article was about one subject: that the citizen, properly informed, should be able, if she chooses to make the political decisions that affect her life.

I have my doubts about the global warming thing. Obviously the planet is warming up - but its climate has never been constant since it was formed. Is the global warming frenzy just another managed distraction intended to divert our attention from permanent war?

But since you ask, I think the answer to the planet’s ecological problems is population reduction.

Step One/Two

Become a Free Democrat. This does not mean joining anything or buying
anything. It simply means accepting that any citizen, properly informed,
should have the right, if they choose, to make the political decisions
that affect their life.

Step Two/Three

Join with other Free Democrats and draft a People’s Constitution that
actually delivers Free Democracy to those people.

Step Three/Four

Take it upon yourself to be the legitimate Government of those people, and govern according to your People’s Constitution.

(Deleted)

Below is also not a ‘new manner of thinking’, in fact it’s about 2500 years old:

The Bible book of Daniel, chapter 2, verse 44 explains in clarity that God will very soon destroy all traces of the current corrupt power structures (beginning with religious, followed by political and corporate) by ‘crushing’ them, then replacing them with his own global ruling structure or government. Sounds like just what the doctor ordered……….

I don’t especially eulogise the Swiss - merely point put that in my view they seem to have the best working democracy on offer so far; and sure, banking is the mainstay of their economy and has a pretty murky past. I accept that. Nevertheless, there is still a lot to be learnt from the way their democracy works.

As for tiptoeing around capitalism, Andrew, it was only because it wasn’t especially relevant to this particular article. My dictionary defines capitalism as: ‘The possession of capital or wealth; a system in which private capital or wealth is used in the production or distribution of goods.’

I don’t have an issue with that. In my view wealth is not the problem - it’s the link between wealth and power that’s the problem. Our rulers have taken a pretty innocuous word and deified it, corrupting it as extensively as they’ve corrupted the word ‘democracy’.

Wealth per se is harmless, like a gun. The problem is when you put it in the wrong hands and legitimise any way its used.

Your point that the rulers would do their utmost to vandalise Free Democracy (or anything else they didn’t control) is well made and true. I guess the point is this: it will be impossible to create a flawless, vandal-proof model of any system and simply implement it; but you could evolve one, you could start with a pretty robust model - the best you can do; something that the people can control pretty well, and then improve it from there.

you eulogise the Swiss but I’d be interested to know the number of wars to which their banking system is wholly unconnected. I suspect they’ve bankrolled a war or ten, and would also suspect that their vaults acted as repositaries of gold during the WWII, in the manner that contemporary Turkey had.

Your proposal, though laudable, appears is skillful in tiptoeing around the massive elephant in the room, viz., Capitalism. Your proposal seems to be silent on private property, wealth and profit - the economic realm surely has driven developments in the cultural/political realm of human society and to disregard the workings of Capitalism is analogous to building a house in Antartica but failing to make any provisions to insulate against the elements - that’s to say, failing to insulate against the forces that make that very poor semblance of democracy we ‘enjoy’ in the West amenable to the ends of Capitalism.

The French Revolution overthrew the autocratic rule of the contemporary political elite which to the monied-but-power-deficient elite became increasingly arbitrary. And so the pie was then shared by an extended elite. The point, surely, is to forego the pie altogether rather than compete for a slice and to construct a more equitable system arrived at by employing the scientific tools based in a sound materialistic understanding of the world, scientific tools that Marxism offers, rather than forever be obfuscated by ideology and utopia.

What you propose, although capable, in it’s elemental state, of further refinement, is wide open to being highjacked by the very crafty beourgoisie - the devil has the best tunes and soon the hordes of voters increasingly convinced - look how economic neo-liberalism and the free market are extolled in all (that count) international fora. I am doubtful in the extreme about ever relying on any sophisticated technological voting system (it cannot even be trusted under the sole custody of the state lest it be highjacked by the any likely proxy of the beourgoisie in the public sector) , given the scope for ever present corruption. I struggle to see how your plan would cure the ills that I am convinced only a proper application of a system firmly rooted in Marxism is capable of doing so.

Andrew

Further the concept of rational sustainability for all human activity is urgently required . While I agree at first glance the Swiss model is way out in front of what we have here in Australia a couple of key points should be considered re the Swiss : they were very late giving Women the franchise; I have a bibliography that proves that without the connivance of the Swiss banks the Nazi war effort would have lasted 6 months; and finally the lack of transparency in those banks enables some of the most vile human activity worlwide .
When we see the ICC with complete juridisdiction and acceptance by all Nations a brighter day may evolve . At best we are embryonic ,larval ,infantile and victims of our mythologic propensities .

If the IMPEACHMENT agenda does not get up and clean out Congress and send the message around this planet that Corporate Law is answerable to Civic governance the collapse of the USA will likely destroy peoples raw faith in money breaking the frail financial distribution system that underpins human society . That we are back at a point of nuclear brinkmanship relects the accuracy of what you are saying and really we are all hanging on the thin thread of the WWW for any hope of Transparency ,Justice and Rule of Law.
Thanks for your thoughts.
antin04@hotmail.com

To corporations, for example, democracy means the freedom to raise prices and cut wages and benefits with total impunity. To the working people, democracy implies the right to a living wage, free education, universal healthcare, and the right to a clean environment.

One of the features of the class society is the tug-of-war between the rulers and the ruled, the outcome of which determines the health of the society. In Western European countries, for example, where the working peoples’ instruments of power, such as the trade unions are stronger and better organized, the people have managed to win rights, such as free healthcare, long-term paid maternity leave, etc. In the lawless United States, where unions have been brutally destroyed and emasculated by the bosses, the people have no rights, and in some cases are much worse off than poor third-world countries, albeit the immense corporate and government propaganda that conceals the facts and shows the opposite.

The tug-of-war between the owning classes and the working people has never been alleviated through peaceful means. Even in Western Europe, social democratic parties have made a habit of stabbing the workers in the back in the name of “labor”. Look at Britain’s so-called “Labour” Party. The poor British citizens must be totally confused in trying to decide which is worse, the “Labour” or the Tories.

Alas, in these lawless United States, we don’t even have any signs of those back-stabbing “social democrats” who might pretend some semblance of popular representation in parliament. All we have are the Democratic and the Republican factions of the same owning classes and enough of a brain-washed population that continue giving them legitimacy. Every so often, the good and the bad cops switch places and promise the disillusioned masses glory and greatness.

Do you think the good and the bad cops will give up power peacefully? Will the bosses who have ruled for two hundred years and massacred millions in the process yield power to the citizens without major resistance? Or will their brown-shirts start a blood-bath before they, themselves, drown in it?