UR Part of It

Human collective structures have been a hallmark of our cultural development. As human society has developed over time, from being comprised of small groups of individuals focused on hunting and gathering, to larger groups focused on agriculture, and through the industrial revolution to the present day, systems that organize collective activity have also evolved. Two of the most influential of these systems are political systems and economic systems. The following guidelines for reorganizing the political system to be aligned with the whole self in the context of the modern world and with a new economic system.

For most people, the world immediately surrounding them seems to be responsive to their individual intention, choice, and action. Our current form of Democracy reinforces the opposite perception, that national government is not responsive to the individual.

The effect of individual voting is limited by the creation of electoral districts that virtually insure a candidate of only one party, Democrat or Republican, has a realistic chance of winning election from term to term. Where the possibility of competitive two party races exists, the differences between the positions of the Democrats and Republicans have become smaller, further limiting voter choice.

Once a representative has been voted into office the impact of the individual decreases further. Lobbying groups in Washington persist as elected representatives come and go. These groups use their money, paid-free speech, to write legislation and regulations, gain government contracts, get tax breaks and subsidies, and advance their self-interest in all ways that can be achieved through manipulation of government.

Big money lobbying effectively replaces the one-person-one-vote system, with a one-dollar-one-favor system. As a result, the activities of government are influenced in direct proportion to the distribution of wealth through the population. Democracy based on the individual is replaced by Democracy based on the dollar. A better word for our current system of government would be Cashocracy.

Can our Cashocracy be replaced by a true Democracy based on the principal of one-person-one-vote? Changes in, use of legislative earmarks, limits on lobbyist gifts, campaign finance laws, and third party movements, will alter the system, but not raise the one-person-one-vote principal to power. A little thinking outside the box is required to envision a modern Democratic system that is truly responsive to the individual citizen.