Re: Response to your Sunday February 26, 2023 e mail to me

[Norbert D'Costa]

Hi Peter and John,

To the question "But what about people (countries) that don't have good secure internet access?" from a technology perspective we already have an answer.  Starlink.  Although currently Starlink does not have the same high speed and bandwidth as 5G it should be sufficient to handle direct democracy if sufficient capacity (satellites) is added.

Apart from technology I think the concept of Basic Guaranteed Income should be expanded to include the concept of Basic Guaranteed Commodities and Services.  These would include air, water, education, health and Starlink type internet access so all people can participate in direct democracy.  Responsibility for providing these basic commodities and services should be with the global layer of government.  Of course other layers of government, provincial or national, can provide more than the basic levels of health, education, etc.  Private firms can continue to provide high speed internet to those who can afford it.

Best Regards,

Norbert D'Costa

Phone: 1-647-767-1846

Email: norbert...@gmail.com

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity & Equal Opportunity for Everybody, Everywhere.

Democracy Without Borders.

On Wed, 1 Mar 2023 at 12:45, <peter....@bell.net> wrote:

 

Hi John and Norbert,

 

I’m responding to the following statement and question in John’s Sunday February 29, 2023 e mail to me which was copied to Norbert.

 

The Direct Democracy pitch of Mr Gravel sounds like it would fit with The World Parliament ideas of Glen Martin, whom I hope we will hear from April 16th (Alex has taken over making Martin's presentation part of a grander event he was planning).

 

But how would this direct democracy work at the national or global level? Do we each vote on each complex topic, referendum style, and is that then the final word, or just advisory? Many small topics would need an easy way to securely vote over the internet. But what about people (countries) that don't have good secure internet access?

 

Response

 

First, I have attached a file on my 2019 presentation to the Canadian Peace Research Association that refers to Mr. Gravel but also another author, Roger Dittman who advocated for world governance. A fourth chapter by tow authors Saul Arbess and Balwant (Bill) Bhaneja proposed a Federal Department of Peace that included education for peacebuilding and creating a culture of peace at home and abroad which by implication of my chapter would include education in direct participatory democracy.    

 

The second file is my summary of a book on direct deliberative democracy. By sheer coincidence I came across this book at the 2019 Conference where I presented the first document.  This second file is a summary of that book.  Please note the yellow highlighted sections in regard to John’s question.  

 

How we could introduce direct democracy in Canada would be through National Information Forums (NIF) that are held on key public issues. The resulting verdicts of these legislative jury forums would be policy proposals which would be made public through the press and other media not corrupted by social media.  It would be left for civil society organizations like the World Federalist Movement Canada, the Canadian Peace Initiative, The Earth Charter organization, the Environmental defense organization and other related civil society organizations for issues related to peace and democracy to advance these in op eds in the press and lobbies to the federal government, Eventually we might try referendums that have been rarely used in Canada – such as referendums of proportional representation electoral reforms in Canada, Ontario and British Columbia several years ago.

 

Even before the internet political philosopher Robert Paul Wolf in his 1970 book proposed that the United States had the electronic means to install direct democracy in the United States.   

 

The elaborate system of values education for the citizenry in Rousseau’s direct deliberative democracy is now played by the United Nations and its system of human rights and sustainable development goals. The Athenians also has an elaborate system of values education.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[john.cowan74]

Norbert - might your suggestion of a Basic Guaranteed Commodities and Services be akin to part of the SDGs? 

[john.cowan74]

Peter,

Your summary of the Book Direct Deliberative Democracy: How Citizens Can Rule was very interesting. (I attach it since it was not in the original thread that Norbert started.) 

Direct deliberative democracy (vs elected representative 'democracy') picks up the idea of citizen responsibility to the community. The only real duty citizens currently have is to vote and serve on a jury. How often are people called to serve on a jury - maybe once in their life. But it makes sense to also call them to juries on points of public policy - randomly. The two phases of jury on a topic make sense as a check on rogue ideas getting through. Are you saying after the "framing" of the issue that the public would be open to discuss, with advocates speaking as they see fit for a defined time (2 months?) then the naming jury takes over to decide which option is best. Is that how it would work? 

However I wonder how responsive this system would be to rapid developments needing new law, not just administration of existing law. And I wonder whether it could deal with small issues as well as large.

On Wednesday, 1 March 2023 at 14:00:13 UTC-5 norbert.dcosta wrote:

[Norbert D'Costa]

John, the goals are akin to SDGs.  It's the implementation that is different.  I'm suggesting that a Federated World Government with the implementation of some or all of the SDGs be at the Global level of government.  Using internet as an example the Global layer would provide a highly secure method for voting and Participatory Democracy globally while private companies governed down the chain of subsidiarity provide high speed cellular and internet access for consumers to stream videos, make phone or video calls, etc.

Best Regards,

Norbert D'Costa

Phone: 1-647-767-1846

Email: norbert...@gmail.com

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity & Equal Opportunity for Everybody, Everywhere.

Democracy Without Borders.

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