A few years ago I put forth a proposal for a Global Voting System, which is a tool for democracy that runs on all internet enabled devices, giving anyone a way to put forth ballots (either local, national, or international) and then let everyone else vote on the issue.
Now, it seems, a Computing Science Professor, Jeremy Hansen of Vermont, has seen the light and has announced his run for VT State Senate on a platform of digital polling and direct democracy. Hansen:
Having read pretty heavily on the topic, weighed the pros and cons, I wondered why an elected representative couldn’t use online and in-person polling of constituents to decide the way he or she votes. Though we are living in the ‘information age’ and have rich communications media and opportunities for deep and accessible deliberation, we are getting by (poorly) with horse-and-buggy-era representation. In the spirit of science and because I think it’s legitimately a better way of doing things, I recently announced my candidacy for Vermont’s State Senate in Washington County.
Amazing! Could it be that I’m not crazy after all? Maybe I’m just ahead of the curve. At least that’s what I like to tell myself when it comes to my bold predictions of world peace by 2020.
Thanks to a rising rate of Internet adoption, our world is uniting faster than ever before. This is revealing how humans everywhere on earth, in every circle, in every society, are pretty much the same. The vast majority of us – everyone but the fringe minorities – could peacefully co-exist with anyone, anywhere else on earth.
The more we come to see this, the more evident it will become that modern warfare has grown obsolete. We don’t need wars anymore because we no longer see entire populations and foreign countries as a threat requiring an army to fight.
Combined with some other factors technology is making possible, like the eradication of poverty, this unprecedented interconnectedness puts humans alive today right on the brink of world peace. It’s only a bit longer until enough people see this to be true, and then make it happen.
When it comes to the Euro zone economic crisis, the mainstream media is quick to highlight the ongoing protests, especially those in Greece, Spain and Italy where riots and clashes with police make for great headlines. And the only solutions they mention bounced between austerity for the people and bailouts for domestic banks by even bigger international banks.
But there is another alternative, one which the media seems to consistently overlook: bailout the people instead of the banks.
Iceland’s solution to the economic crisis is being hailed as one of the world’s best recovery stories. Yet this victory is mostly ignored, many believe, because those who run the media simply don’t want us to know about it.
They’d rather we think our only options are to take on the debt burdens created by the big banks’ poor choices. They’d rather we just enslave ourselves for generations to global loan sharks like the IMF. They don’t want us to be empowered and free from the shackles of a tyrannical economic system.
But that’s just too bad. The world’s people are awakening. We are rising up. Together we will be redistributing wealth and power by preventing big money’s long-standing predatory practices. We are co-creating a far more just global civilization.
Marches are underway across the land, as hundreds of thousands of people are showing their support for the movement to finally end marijuana prohibition.
In honor of this great day, here’s a lovely infographic showing the negative costs of the ineffectual policies drug prohibition, and what could be gained by finally freeing the weed. (The stats pertain to America, but are equally applicable to any nation choosing to fight the war on drugs.) (more…)
Meanwhile, across the UK, members of the ‘Stop the War Coalition’ organized a day of action to speak out against war with the Persian nation. More great stuff!
Demonstrations like these are just awesome to see. Massive outpourings of anti-war sentiments are a key ingredient for eliminating earth’s major armed conflicts. The more they happen, the sooner we can build a lasting peace on earth.
Just picture huge rallies, numbering in the millions, across Israel and America, pressuring their governments to avoid war at all costs. And then imagine if Iranians were doing the same thing, at the same time. Governments on both sides would have no choice but to take notice.
This is precisely why humankind is on the verge of realizing world peace. The Internet is sparking a great awakening, exposing our common humanity and breaking down the fear and ignorance so integral for organizing wars.
A few more years, and our world will be so interconnected, so united, that pro-war propaganda and rhetoric will be useless in the face of the global community bonds we have formed.
Then, it will be just a matter of systematically dismantling the institutions of war, and reallocating those precious resources to where they should have been all along: constructively making the world a better place.
These mass demonstration are an effective way to counterbalance the influence that corporations and big money can have on politics. We may not have million dollar lobbyists, but when there’s enough of us, our voice is loud enough to be heard. (more…)
The world is improving faster than ever before, speeding us all towards a brighter future. Yet, for us to go from here to there, enough of us will have to abandon certain perspectives and internalize new ones. That being said, here’s 3 key scripts that need to be flipped: (more…)
America (along with sidekick Britain) are imperialist forces hellbent on global domination, President Obama is the lead man in a military coup which took place in Washington, and despite a supposedly free press, most of these atrocities remain hidden from the Western world. And, according to noted journalist John Pilger, all of this has been happening for over 50 years now.
1. Attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, most of them democratically-elected.
2. Attempted to suppress a populist or national movement in 20 countries.
3. Grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30 countries.
4. Dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries.
5. Attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders.
In total, the United States has carried out one or more of these actions in 69 countries. In almost all cases, Britain has been a collaborator. The “enemy” changes in name – from communism to Islamism — but mostly it is the rise of democracy independent of western power or a society occupying strategically useful territory, deemed expendable.
The sheer scale of suffering, let alone criminality, is little known in the west, despite the presence of the world’s most advanced communications, nominally freest journalism and most admired academy.
While past presidents presided over imperialist agendas in foreign nations, Barack Obama is the first to truly bring this war on democracy back home to the American people. Pilger:
A military coup was taking place in Washington, and Obama was their man. Having seduced the anti-war movement into virtual silence, he has given America’s corrupt military officer class unprecedented powers of state and engagement.
Obama’s most “historic” achievement is to bring the war on democracy home to America. On New Year’s Eve, he signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a law that grants the Pentagon the legal right to kidnap both foreigners and US citizens and indefinitely detain, interrogate and torture, or even kill them. They need only “associate” with those “belligerent” to the United States. There will be no protection of law, no trial, no legal representation. This is the first explicit legislation to abolish habeus corpus (the right to due process of law) and effectively repeal the Bill of Rights of 1789.
On 5 January, in an extraordinary speech at the Pentagon, Obama said the military would not only be ready to “secure territory and populations” overseas but to fight in the “homeland” and provide “support to the civil authorities”. In other words, US troops will be deployed on the streets of American cities when the inevitable civil unrest takes hold.
The entire article is certainly worth a read, if only to expand one’s own horizons beyond the typical narrative laid out to those of us the Western world. You know what they say – Knowledge is Power!
Involved in the military? Para-military? Maybe your a mercenary. Well, whatever role you play in warfare, be sure to leave your calender open this fall as September 21, 2012 will be the first ever Day of Global Truce!
That’s right, for a full 24 hours, there is to be no senseless violence, no pointless bloodshed, and no fruitless squandering of treasure and lives. Instead, the whole world will lay down their arms, taking time to reflect on alternatives to perpetual war.
It may seem like a lofty goal, but it’s not without precedence. In 2008, the September 21 Peace Day caused a 70% reduction in violent incidents in Afghanistan. In 2007, the 1-day ceasefire allowed humanitarian organizations to provide 1.4 million children with life-saving polio vaccinations.
When it comes to building a peaceful planet – something we’ve never had before – we cannot understate the importance of having dreams. Without brave souls envisioning a greater future along with the path to get there, we’d never even know what potentials await us.
So don’t be afraid to have hope. Dare to dream, and when you do, dream big!
Well, it’s official. The great awakening – the process by which the world’s people will come together as one to reclaim control of the planet – has successfully touched down in the great Mother Russia. Fifty thousand people were out in the streets protesting, and this only the starting point.
In honor of the Russian people embracing their roles as co-creators of an emerging global village, here’s a tribute to their impressive 140% voter turnout. Na Zdorovie, comrades!
