#representative-democracy — Public Fediverse posts

The Architecture of Defection: Why Political Migration Erodes Representation

Politicians changing parties mid-term means voters' choices are ignored. See how this affects representation and what happens next.

#PoliticalMigration, #VoterRights, #ElectionIntegrity, #RepresentativeDemocracy, #MidTermChange

https://newsletter.tf/politicians-switching-parties-why-voters-lose-voice/

This is happening more often now. When politicians switch parties, it's like they are not listening to the people who voted for them.

#PoliticalMigration, #VoterRights, #ElectionIntegrity, #RepresentativeDemocracy, #MidTermChange
https://newsletter.tf/politicians-switching-parties-why-voters-lose-voice/

#RepresentativeDemocracy only works via trust - we literally entrust the elected party to enact our wishes.

When the trust is eroded to a point of extreme mistrust as in the US, then government are unfit for office and the political system should enable a public request for eviction.

Suspect few ever do.

Democracy is better than Authoritarianism and way better than Monarchism. However, Representative Democracy is a Fraud. Participatory Democracy is way better than Representative Democracy.

"The fact is that any selection mechanism for representatives based on human choice (and in fact any selection mechanism other than random selection) will have inegalitarian consequences. Why is that? Because human choice is inherently discriminatory and homogenizing. Whether the skew is rational or not, choice is biased toward salient traits, or traits that are seen as superior in some ways, typically because they are rare and unevenly distributed. Those include wealth and social status, of course, but also charisma, confidence, eloquence, and height.

As a result, elections are bound to generate an inegalitarian distribution of power that is not empirically contingent but structural. So even assuming ideal conditions, which are never found in real life, not even in Scandinavian countries, elections will send to power an unrepresentative group of people over-sampling certain traits, including those that are associated with being a confident elite, and under-sampling the shy.

Am I suggesting that giving people a choice of representatives is a bad thing? No. It is plainly an improvement over rulers imposed by tradition or force. At best, however, it yields a liberal oligarchy: the rule of the few, legitimized and constrained by popular consent. That arrangement is preferable to its alternatives, but it falls short of genuine democracy—and therefore of the quality of governance we should reasonably expect from it. The alternative is not to abandon representation, but to reconfigure it."

https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/13/helene-landemore-representative-politics-democracy-politicians-citizen-rule/

#Democracy #RepresentativeDemocracy #Oligarchy #Liberalism #CitizensRule #Politics #ParticipatoryDemocracy

Democracy is better than Authoritarianism and way better than Monarchism. However, Representative Democracy is a Fraud. Participatory Democracy is way better than Representative Democracy.

"The fact is that any selection mechanism for representatives based on human choice (and in fact any selection mechanism other than random selection) will have inegalitarian consequences. Why is that? Because human choice is inherently discriminatory and homogenizing. Whether the skew is rational or not, choice is biased toward salient traits, or traits that are seen as superior in some ways, typically because they are rare and unevenly distributed. Those include wealth and social status, of course, but also charisma, confidence, eloquence, and height.

As a result, elections are bound to generate an inegalitarian distribution of power that is not empirically contingent but structural. So even assuming ideal conditions, which are never found in real life, not even in Scandinavian countries, elections will send to power an unrepresentative group of people over-sampling certain traits, including those that are associated with being a confident elite, and under-sampling the shy.

Am I suggesting that giving people a choice of representatives is a bad thing? No. It is plainly an improvement over rulers imposed by tradition or force. At best, however, it yields a liberal oligarchy: the rule of the few, legitimized and constrained by popular consent. That arrangement is preferable to its alternatives, but it falls short of genuine democracy—and therefore of the quality of governance we should reasonably expect from it. The alternative is not to abandon representation, but to reconfigure it."

https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/13/helene-landemore-representative-politics-democracy-politicians-citizen-rule/

#Democracy #RepresentativeDemocracy #Oligarchy #Liberalism #CitizensRule #Politics #ParticipatoryDemocracy

@GlobalSumudF
Surely the question of why Israel allowed to do this? Israel has always adopted expansionist, oppressive, colonial ideology. It works closely with, likely dictated to by, other powers having the same aims.
Ceasefires stop killing, temporarily, they do not stop the horror of war. It may be almost a cliché but history shows violence be gets violence.
#representativedemocracy merely keeps the majority in thrall.
I believe federation Earth has to be our only future.
#universalJustice
#universalequality
#UnityInDiversity
Can never be achieved whilst #statesovereignty allows elected representatives to kill it's citizens, those who keep them in power, and the "enemy" both within and out.

@GlobalSumudF
Surely the question of why Israel allowed to do this? Israel has always adopted expansionist, oppressive, colonial ideology. It works closely with, likely dictated to by, other powers having the same aims.
Ceasefires stop killing, temporarily, they do not stop the horror of war. It may be almost a cliché but history shows violence be gets violence.
#representativedemocracy merely keeps the majority in thrall.
I believe federation Earth has to be our only future.
#universalJustice
#universalequality
#UnityInDiversity
Can never be achieved whilst #statesovereignty allows elected representatives to kill it's citizens, those who keep them in power, and the "enemy" both within and out.

It should go without saying that #Fascism is fundamentally opposed to America's Original #RepresentativeDemocracy enshrined in the #USConstitution. Whatever political party you vote for, defending everyone's #ConstitutionalRights is a fundamental #bipartisan #Truth in this #Republic, there is nothing more #patriotic than defending the #Rights & #Freedoms of those you do not agree with. America is #Antifa.
#freespeech #2a #rightToBearArms #RightToRemainSilent #RightToProtest #votingrights

2/2🧵: With #women dismissed & left to take notes while men cosplay #Trotsky at #YourParty, I came out with the reinforced belief that #representativedemocracy is dead and we are still very very far from the levels of #facilitation required to create #directdemocracy. For 2026, my strategy would be to leverage the #Greens who are organised & got shedloads of #Labour defection in their favour. But #ZachPolanski too is human & will let us down. It'd be great to work together to start a transition

2/2🧵: With #women dismissed & left to take notes while men cosplay #Trotsky at #YourParty, I came out with the reinforced belief that #representativedemocracy is dead and we are still very very far from the levels of #facilitation required to create #directdemocracy. For 2026, my strategy would be to leverage the #Greens who are organised & got shedloads of #Labour defection in their favour. But #ZachPolanski too is human & will let us down. It'd be great to work together to start a transition

#RepresentativeDemocracy is looking trash.
#CorporateCapture has #ClimateChange steaming on, #TaxLoopholes for the rich, #WagesTheft not criminalised, #ZeroTaxCorporations, ecological destruction.

And capture by #ProIsraelLobby has the #GazaGenocide ignored, excused, trivialised.

And there are the failures of; #AgedCare, #ChildAbuse in gov institutions, victimising the unemployed, #FOI, #IndigenousHealth, online bullying of children, FoxNews conspiracy propaganda ..
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Publications_and_resources/Papers_and_research/Papers_on_Parliament_and_other_resources/Papers_on_Parliament/66/The_Contemporary_Crisis_of_Representative_Democracy

#RepresentativeDemocracy is looking trash.
#CorporateCapture has #ClimateChange steaming on, #TaxLoopholes for the rich, #WagesTheft not criminalised, #ZeroTaxCorporations, ecological destruction.

And capture by #ProIsraelLobby has the #GazaGenocide ignored, excused, trivialised.

And there are the failures of; #AgedCare, #ChildAbuse in gov institutions, victimising the unemployed, #FOI, #IndigenousHealth, online bullying of children, FoxNews conspiracy propaganda ..
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Publications_and_resources/Papers_and_research/Papers_on_Parliament_and_other_resources/Papers_on_Parliament/66/The_Contemporary_Crisis_of_Representative_Democracy

#Capitalism #RepresentativeDemocracy #Leaders #Managers #Presidents

When it comes to rising to positions of power, our society favours psychopaths.

That is a problem.

"Genuinely democratic parties aren’t brands, businesses, or elite factions seeking to earn votes but institutions through which members cooperate to shape their society. Some difficult compromises will still be necessary — democratic participation only guarantees a fair hearing and an equal part in collective decision-making — but the character of these compromises will be fundamentally altered. While liberal parties offer compromises that they hope members will accept, democratic parties reach compromises through members’ deliberation — members of democratic parties don’t support policies, but decide them.

Democratization begins by no longer speaking of “the party” earning our votes but of “our party” enacting our joint decisions. The view of the democratic citizen-member is “This is my party, along with my friends and allies, which we use to govern our society; its staff are our employees, its elected members are our spokespeople, its policies are our decisions, and its victories are our victories.” To the extent that this is not yet true, the work of democratization is not yet finished."

https://jacobin.com/2024/11/political-parties-schumpeter-democracy-liberalism

#Democracy #Liberalism #RepresentativeDemocracy #Politics #PoliticalParties #DeliberativeDemocracy #ParticipatoryDemocracy

"Genuinely democratic parties aren’t brands, businesses, or elite factions seeking to earn votes but institutions through which members cooperate to shape their society. Some difficult compromises will still be necessary — democratic participation only guarantees a fair hearing and an equal part in collective decision-making — but the character of these compromises will be fundamentally altered. While liberal parties offer compromises that they hope members will accept, democratic parties reach compromises through members’ deliberation — members of democratic parties don’t support policies, but decide them.

Democratization begins by no longer speaking of “the party” earning our votes but of “our party” enacting our joint decisions. The view of the democratic citizen-member is “This is my party, along with my friends and allies, which we use to govern our society; its staff are our employees, its elected members are our spokespeople, its policies are our decisions, and its victories are our victories.” To the extent that this is not yet true, the work of democratization is not yet finished."

https://jacobin.com/2024/11/political-parties-schumpeter-democracy-liberalism

#Democracy #Liberalism #RepresentativeDemocracy #Politics #PoliticalParties #DeliberativeDemocracy #ParticipatoryDemocracy

特朗普在2024年的胜利标志着21世纪政治话语的一个关键转折点。2016年特朗普当选时，新自由主义共识似乎所向披靡；他的胜利似乎代表着一种侥幸 —— 一个离群索居的政客通过利用所谓“反全球化运动”的言论而上台的侥幸。而如今，新自由主义共识的鼎盛时期显然已经过去，下一个必须是别的东西。然而，几十年来，民主党一直与共和党合作，压制提出替代方案的运动。他们压制自己阵营中代表前进方向的力量，如伯尼·桑德斯运动；这使得特朗普有可能把自己伪装成“反叛的代表”。

这使得极右翼在下一阶段不可避免地掌握权力，因为民主党帮助压制了无政府主义、反专制主义和左翼的替代方案。

……

如果民主党的领导层屈服，接受法西斯主义的地位，那么未来确实会非常暗淡。
而另一方面，如果全国有一半的人显然会抵制特朗普的计划，那么民主党领导层中的一部分人将被迫去追逐他们作为这部分人“代表”的地位，就像2017年发生的那样。

接下来会发生什么，将在街头决定。

🧬一期工程更新《历史重演：第一次是闹剧，第二次是悲剧 - 特朗普的法西斯卷土重来》
https://iyouport.notion.site/13634ca2d46d80f3b55cf4033e4b095b

#美国大选 #无政府主义 #起义 #镇压 #代议制民主 #法西斯 #Antifa #国家 #投票 #策略
#USAElections #Anarchism #Uprising #Repression #RepresentativeDemocracy #Fascism #Antifa #National #Voting #Strategy

特朗普在2024年的胜利标志着21世纪政治话语的一个关键转折点。2016年特朗普当选时，新自由主义共识似乎所向披靡；他的胜利似乎代表着一种侥幸 —— 一个离群索居的政客通过利用所谓“反全球化运动”的言论而上台的侥幸。而如今，新自由主义共识的鼎盛时期显然已经过去，下一个必须是别的东西。然而，几十年来，民主党一直与共和党合作，压制提出替代方案的运动。他们压制自己阵营中代表前进方向的力量，如伯尼·桑德斯运动；这使得特朗普有可能把自己伪装成“反叛的代表”。

这使得极右翼在下一阶段不可避免地掌握权力，因为民主党帮助压制了无政府主义、反专制主义和左翼的替代方案。

……

如果民主党的领导层屈服，接受法西斯主义的地位，那么未来确实会非常暗淡。
而另一方面，如果全国有一半的人显然会抵制特朗普的计划，那么民主党领导层中的一部分人将被迫去追逐他们作为这部分人“代表”的地位，就像2017年发生的那样。

接下来会发生什么，将在街头决定。

🧬一期工程更新《历史重演：第一次是闹剧，第二次是悲剧 - 特朗普的法西斯卷土重来》
https://iyouport.notion.site/13634ca2d46d80f3b55cf4033e4b095b

#美国大选 #无政府主义 #起义 #镇压 #代议制民主 #法西斯 #Antifa #国家 #投票 #策略
#USAElections #Anarchism #Uprising #Repression #RepresentativeDemocracy #Fascism #Antifa #National #Voting #Strategy

"I want Kamala to win so I can get a break from the madness, an end to the intimidation and blackmail, the manipulation and the mind-games. What they promised 4 years ago: getting back to normal — going back to the “new normal.” That is the reason — the only reason — anyone will vote for her. Dare I hope for it? But they have lied about everything else, so why should we believe they’re not lying about this, too? Will they finally leave us alone? The promise of an end to the drama might be enough to elect Kamala. I want it to be true.

But it is a lie."

https://platypus1917.org/2024/11/02/why-i-want-kamala-to-win/

#USA #Politics #Trump #KamalaHarris #PresidentialElections2024 #Capitalism #RepresentativeDemocracy

"I want Kamala to win so I can get a break from the madness, an end to the intimidation and blackmail, the manipulation and the mind-games. What they promised 4 years ago: getting back to normal — going back to the “new normal.” That is the reason — the only reason — anyone will vote for her. Dare I hope for it? But they have lied about everything else, so why should we believe they’re not lying about this, too? Will they finally leave us alone? The promise of an end to the drama might be enough to elect Kamala. I want it to be true.

But it is a lie."

https://platypus1917.org/2024/11/02/why-i-want-kamala-to-win/

#USA #Politics #Trump #KamalaHarris #PresidentialElections2024 #Capitalism #RepresentativeDemocracy

There’s no historical or contemporary evidence that communism is practical, where “communism” means, at a minimum, the elimination of private property.1 This is a commonplace in political debate. It goes without saying. It doesn’t need support. Everybody knows it. It’s just obvious that communism can’t possibly work. But, as with so many such beliefs, it’s completely wrong. There’s plenty of evidence that communism would work, there’s plenty of evidence that it’s a natural state of human organization, almost a default. The evidence that it would work just fine lies in the fact that it keeps breaking out all over despite the extraordinary and ongoing expenditures of power and wealth the ruling class has exercised throughout the history of the United States to prevent it.2

The American part of this story begins with the constitution itself. In Federalist #10 James Madison argued that representative democracy rather than direct democracy was necessary to prevent people without property, who of course are the majority, from voting away private property rights. As he said, preventing this is “the principle task of modern legislation”. Republicanism is such an effective means of preventing this that it’s required by the Constitution in Article IV Section 4: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.” One of the main functions of American representative democracy is preventing communism.

And when the Constitution talks about guarantees like this it’s talking about the exercise of state violence. Violent enforcement of laws is woven into the very fabric of the Constitution. The Fourth and the Fifth Amendments place explicit limits on the use of violence, which assumes that violence will be used. The same is true of the First Amendment, which limits the kinds of laws Congress can be passed, the contexts in which violent enforcement can be used. Without violent enforcement as the default position there would be no need to limit its use.

The Constitution’s requirements, like all laws, are enforced by violence. When it guarantees “a Republican Form of Government” it’s your ruling class promising to violently prevent you from living in a direct democracy which, as Madison warned, would lead to the elimination of private property rights. And this isn’t just a historical curiosity. Preventing communism is still “the principle task of modern legislation.” Enforcement of laws that authorize violence to protect the property rights of landlords and employers and to prevent communist organization from emerging is still the primary function of police, and without constant police repression people tend to organize communally.

Homeless encampments are an excellent example. Oppressed, impoverished people band together to support one another. They can look out for each other and organize with their communities to survive, and even to thrive if allowed. This may sound utopian, but it’s not. Here in Los Angeles a few years ago homeless people and housed activist supporters managed to use some of the space created by the pandemic to build a thriving communist community in Echo Park. As the residents put it in a public statement, which is worth quoting in full:

A year has gone by in which housed and unhoused neighbors have worked together to create a beautiful and much lauded homeless run outdoor community at Echo Park Lake. We have built and share kitchens, hot showers, community garden, trash cleanup, a sense of security, safety, and stability, and healing for drug addiction and mental illness with our own pioneering forms of therapy in the absence of any help from the city government. This community has drawn widespread neighborhood and Los Angeles organizational support, including Street Watch LA, Ground Game LA, DSA LA, and LA CAN. We have also received media coverage from NPR, the LA Times, and Knock LA. As was reported in the LA Times, two weeks ago local councilman Mitch O’Farrell in conjunction with LAPD declared their plan to forcibly displace up to fifty plus tent dwellers of Echo Park Lake as soon as possible without providing an adequate alternative.

The following is the statement of the Echo Park Tent Community:

For the past year or at least ever since Covid hit we’ve been left alone. Worse, we’ve been intentionally deprived of our basic needs like when the city cut off street lights and water fountains, but only on the “homeless” side of the park. Or when they decided to no longer throw away “homeless” trash, their words not ours.

The point is, we’ve had nothing but each other this past year and it’s honestly been a relief. The biggest pandemic in years actually turned out to be a blessing for us. Without the constant LAPD and city harassment uprooting our lives we’ve been able to grow. To come together as a community, not just unhoused but housed as well and work together for the mutual aid and benefit of each other.

Greater than that, we’ve gotten together as a community, unhoused with housed and did things together outside the context of charity or pity. We did things together for the sake of doing things together, as one community not separated by labels. Together we’ve been able to see and enjoy each others’ common humanity in a way the city, with its lens of economy never could.

So to sum it up: to Mitch O’Farrell, our demand is simply this; please continue to leave us alone, or stand with us. Ignore us as if we didn’t exist, much like you’ve been doing, and enjoy your corruption and greed, or come out and stand with us. Stand in solidarity with all of your constituents, not just those with money and housing. And watch as We make sure District 13 becomes a beacon of light for the world. Reshaping and reimagining what it means to be a community of people living together.

This isn’t a fantasy. I was here, and I saw it working. The problem didn’t lie with the communism but with the inevitable police repression, which involved hundreds of cops. This would be every encampment if not for police violence. The amount of money the government spends on clearing encampments shows that they know quite well that communism works. Why else go to such lengths to prevent it? And again, it’s not just encampments but the entire web of laws which criminalize sharing and cooperation. Zoning codes prevent unrelated people from sharing homes, giving away food in public is often illegal. Letting homeless people sleep in churches is a crime. The list goes on and on.

And laws don’t enforce themselves. As I said, all of these laws require massive expenditures on police, on courts, on legislation, on public relations to cover up the disgust that most people feel for their violent enforcement, and so on. If communism doesn’t work why has the ruling class spent hundreds of years and untold zillions of dollars preventing it? The fact is that not only does communism work just fine, but most people are sympathetic with it. The people it threatens know this quite well, as shown by their diligence in repressing it. Forms of human organization that don’t work don’t need to be prevented, they don’t ever arise, or are abandoned quickly. Communism works, just ask your bosses.

1. This essay is inspired by this mastodon post, but the sentiment is ubiquitous.
2. Not just the United States, of course, but at least since the invention of capitalism about 500 years ago.

https://chez-risk.in/2024/08/11/communism-works-just-ask-your-bosses/

#1stAmendment #4thAmendment #5thAmendment #Communism #DirectDemocracy #EchoPark #Federalist10 #Homelessness #JamesMadison #RepresentativeDemocracy #RepublicanFormOfGovernment #StateViolence #USConstitution #USConstitutionArticleIV

ABC's Georgia Roberts contacted every male federal MP about the violent deaths of women this year.

Only 20 out of the 92 MPs responded.
Only 9 out of 92 MPs answered the questions asked.

This is good political journalism: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-22/house-of-reps-male-mps-domestic-violence/103224064
#DomesticViolence #RepresentativeDemocracy #AusPol #Journalism

More moves to make it harder to vote. Bastards

#vote #NeverVoteTory #democracy #RepresentativeDemocracy #PRNow

So Australia made the same mistake as the UK over Brexit, a referendum for a decision without concrete implementation. Representative democracies can't run on referendums because the representative forum cannot be fettered.

The French Republican system expressly fetters itself to the results of a plebescite, over three broad areas, "legislative (Article 11), constituents (Article 89) and self-determination (Articles 53 and 86)".

#Referendum #Australia #RepresentativeDemocracy

#SystemFail
#NoWarButClassWar

As horrifying as are the consequences of #CultureWar for oppressed groups, remember that its function is to #DivideAndConquer- so as to avoid all-out #ClassWar.

Regan's unholy alliance with Pat Robertson ushered in this era of #WhiteChristianNationalism upon which the oligarchs (by way of #RepresentativeDemocracy), misdirect and zap our limited energy and resources, and distract us from their theft of everything valuable; including planetary life.

#WakeUp people, before it's too late!

#RepresentativeDemocracyIsNeither

'Representative democracy' is an oxymoron that functions to maintain oligarch rule!

We the people, will not experience life, liberty and happiness until we wrest control of our lives from the ruling class!

#DirectDemocracy
#ParticipatoryDemocracy
#GetInvolved
#Organize

#SystemFail
#NoWarButClassWar

As horrifying as are the consequences of #CultureWar for oppressed groups, remember that its function is to #DivideAndConquer- so as to avoid all-out #ClassWar.

Regan's unholy alliance with Pat Robertson ushered in this era of #WhiteChristianNationalism upon which the oligarchs (by way of #RepresentativeDemocracy), misdirect and zap our limited energy and resources, and distract us from their theft of everything valuable; including planetary life.

#WakeUp people, before it's too late!

#RepresentativeDemocracyIsNeither

'Representative democracy' is an oxymoron that functions to maintain oligarch rule!

We the people, will not experience life, liberty and happiness until we wrest control of our lives from the ruling class!

#DirectDemocracy
#ParticipatoryDemocracy
#GetInvolved
#Organize

Had the pleasure of interviewing @rittermo (Managing Director of #LiquidDemocracy) on their work to improve the foundational processes underneath #Democracy.

"On the one hand, #RepresentativeDemocracy can be very static. On the other hand, we can’t expect everyone to participate in #DirectDemocracy. So let’s address the shortcomings of both systems."

Check out the interview

https://democracy-technologies.org/industry-news/fluid-representation-improved-deliberation-and-liquid-democracy/