Bad turn of events in Iceland.
David Bollier
The Icelandic Putsch
What are we to make of this contemptible turn of events?
The lesson for me: “Representative democracy” is too crude, centralized and corruptible a vehicle to faithfully represent people's collective interests. Elected officials will rally to protect their own self-serving interests and power even if it means conspicuously flouting the public will expressed through legitimate channels. I don't see this case as one of a few deceitful legislators. I see it as a structural problem of liberal democracy as a system of governance. Legislators see the will of voters as contrary to their own self-interests.
The Icelandic putsch validates the claim made by Occupy, the Arab Spring, the Indignados of Spain and other citizen-protesters that state power as now constituted is itself the problem. The conventional “checks and balances” on power imagined by 18th century constitution-writers are woefully inadequate today, and the system is incapable of reforming itself from within.
I think the Icelandic putsch illustrates why we need to develop different types of (distributed, democratic, commons-based) governance models. These smaller provisioning and resource-management systems – for natural resources, research, software code, etc. – could not only be more responsive and accountable than state systems. They could begin to supplant and challenge the state’s unaccountable power and its furtive, anti-democratic alliance with market players.
3 comments:
These smaller provisioning and resource-management systems – for natural resources, research, software code, etc. – could not only be more responsive and accountable than state systems. They could begin to supplant and challenge the state’s unaccountable power and its furtive, anti-democratic alliance with market players.
This seems unlikely to me. If people are really resolutely opposed to the basic constitutional structure of the states and governing systems currently in place, then they are going to have to tear those systems down. They aren't just going to fade away and leave it to a few counter-cultural dissidents to remake the world. The people own and operate the world's resources aren't going to hand them over without a fight.
Distressing.
I always thought that governing requires a deep understanding of many complex issues and specialization. I thought that there was absolutely no way on earth that a few hundred people in Washington could effectively design and maintain a system that optimizes living conditions for 300+ million people. I thought maybe a congress of 10,000 would be able to create an optimal set of rules and regulations for most issues and avoid corruption by de-concentrating power back to constitutional levels.
However, if tiny Iceland can't do it, maybe representative democracy is another failed model of government to add to the heap of history that will linger until technology allows for a more direct form of government.
'“Representative democracy” is too crude, centralized and corruptible a vehicle to faithfully represent people's collective interests.'
That's certainly true given existing methods alone.
Yet that was true in proto-human bands, before more refined language methods allowed tribal organization.
And, it was also true of tribes, until writing & records & derivative organizational methods allowed small nations to emerge.
What methods will allow more scalable organization for current & coming population sizes? No telling, but we'll still call it "Representative Democracy" regardless of what methods we add to it;
Just be careful not to discourage our kids from reinventing the future.
As Gen. Patton said, suggest what needs to be accomplished, then let them amaze us. Unconstrained application of that simple method - recombination - is the ONLY known reason reason we made it this far!
Sexual recombination;
Cultural recombination;
[Adaptive] Options recombination.
i.e., Selectively Regulated :)
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