Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is this idea for liberals or conservatives?
The idea is for everyone who loves democracy. Who does not want an improved democracy? We need to first give citizens the control and the strongest voice. Afterwards, we can delve into our issues with a profoundly better approach. For more detail…
Who will control the Decision Website?
All of us will democratically administer the website. It is ours. It is crucial that we all trust this idea. In addition, the website will be fully transparent in all decisions, finances, and software. For more detail…
Who can participate in debates?
For practicality, we may devise a way for a smaller group of people to perform the actual debate. But the citizenry must maintain control over who those participants are and how that debate progresses. Remember, this concept is not about your personal voice, but whether your ideas are represented. The full spectrum of opinions will be our goal. For more detail…
How can we manage so many participants?
First we consider using a smaller number of contributors that we all select and control. The idea is for citizens to ensure that all perspectives are being properly heard and debated. Next we build the system to enable and encourage collaboration between like-minded individuals. Then we structure the voting such that participants have it in their best interest to merge ideas and seek to accommodate the largest number of citizens.
How do we register participants?
This is tricky. When debating a topic, registration is not an issue since all ideas are welcome. But when it comes to voting, then citizenship is a requirement. For more detail…
How do we solve redundancy?
AI will help here in letting people know that their submission is a duplicate. Also, we can encourage collaboration to reduce redundant points of view. There is a lot of design work to be done on our system using our wealth of smart people in this country. For more detail on AI…
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Social media debating is horrid. How do we overcome that?
It does feels like we are stuck in habits of bad communication. But we are not. The Decision Website can use techniques that shift us to a more sophisticated approach. We can learn to debate in good faith by immediate resistance towards poor logic, by breaking issues apart, and by forcing ourselves to answer challenges. For more detail on logic problems…
Wouldn’t it be easier to just listen to experts?
No, because we no longer need to simply follow leaders. Times have changed. Just because you are head of an organization, have a title, have some fame, have a charismatic personality, wrote a book, or even have educational credentials… we no longer want to simply trust your opinion. Instead, we want to see the knowledge, logic, sensibilities, and proofs. Experts can submit their studies into a reference section and participate in the debate. But we want to grasp each step of their thinking so that it can be challenged along the way.
What about people’s bias?
We are solving this by the sheer number of participants, the diversity of those participants, and the ability to challenge each other’s rationale.
How do we combat hate speech?
First, we can use an up-vote/down-vote method to let poor speech sink out of sight. But really, once we get a grasp on the type of logical debate we are seeking, participants will naturally constrain themselves to make progressive rational submissions. Otherwise, they will be unheard and wasting their time. For more detail…
How do we sort out the conspiracy theories?
We don’t. They may be true or maybe not. Instead, we focus on building a true democracy. That is, we take back the power of the political system from anyone absconding with what we rightfully deserve. And we will take note of who is interfering with our movement. For more detail on who’s against the Decision Website …
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How do we move a debate forward?
Consider that every opinion will receive challenges that must be addressed in order to remain relevant in the debate. So our opinions will have a natural evolution towards exactness and correctness. At the same time, we will break down an issue into small parts and each subtopic will have its own selection of “Position Statements” or conclusions that we can use to build the basis of our final opinion. That building process is moving forward. Throughout the entire debate, we will be seeking better solutions so as to garner more support from the citizenry. It is consensus thinking that tries to satisfy the most people, and it’s done with the best logic. For more detail…
Won’t we be continually debating over and over again?
Not at all and this is the beauty of the Decision Website. There will be plenty of hard work initially performed on each issue. But because we broke an issue apart and we retained our debate and conclusions, we can make modifications much easier in the future. New findings, new situations, and new ideas can all be added without the need to start from the beginning.
Won’t political parties and special interest groups take over the debate?
If necessary, we can make debate participants anonymous. Nobody will know if they are part of a party or a group. All we know is what ideas they are presenting. And all ideas are welcome. Parties and groups could speak from outside of our debate and try to persuade people to follow their lead when voting. But they are losing power as we all learn to follow good logic rather than following the opinions and platforms of so-called leaders.
How do we overcome the media?
Big media is locked into a profit motive, which they cannot escape. Sensationalism and polarity drives viewership. We need to create a democratically run media using the Decision Website model. Also, we let our own thinking in the Decision Website be our primary source of information. For more detail on the media…
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Isn’t it ridiculous to assume citizens can administer the Decision Website or a media network?
Remember that this model is not about everybody submitting your opinion when others have already submitted that same opinion. We will use the model to formulate broad principles and policies, and then make decisions accordingly. We may also allow staff to make some decisions as long as everything is transparent and we retain the ability to immediately change direction.
What about the tyranny of majority rule?
Built into the Decision Website will be consensus rules to force compromise. Every position will be required to address challenges. There will be mechanisms for blocks and there will be super majority triggers. We can begin to think outside of our current box, and initiate compensations when one side benefits more than another. Additionally, we will rely upon a robust bill of rights that supersedes all. For more detail on majority rule…
How do we get constitutional amendments?
The road is bumpy but within reason if we create the Decision Website to get citizens thinking the same way about an improved democracy. Then we will have the power of unity and working together. For more detail…
Is there a critical time issue?
Our world is dramatically changing. For the people to not be in control of this change is unnerving. There are some critical factors coming into play in the near future. For more detail…
Won’t the Decision Website get hacked?
If you think about hackers as individuals, ask yourself why wouldn’t these smart and sometimes disenfranchised people want a democratic world where the masses of us seek to benefit all of us instead of letting small groups retain power. We will still have to contend with state hacking and special interest hacking. But it would not surprise me if we see a new kind of hero come from within the hacker community. For more detail…
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How do we know what’s true in this world?
That’s a good point since there’s so much hidden. It’s tough. But what if we pool all of our knowledge together with verification and come to our best determination. Once the citizenry takes control of this nation, we can open up with transparency and find out the secrets. Until then, let’s focus on designing a better democracy.
Won’t there be opposition to the Decision Website?
Definitely. Virtually every politician, person of power, and institution with power will be against giving the citizenry real control over our world. The opponents are relatively few in number but strong in their influence. This change is going to require the people to stand up for what they deserve. For more detail…
What will opposition to this idea look like?
They might attack the people involved with the Decision Website. And they will succeed because we are all flawed and biased in some way. But that is precisely what we are trying to overcome. It is not the personalities that we need to follow, but rather good informed rational thinking. Our goal will be to judge the ideas instead of the people.
The opposition will also use the same argument that the kings and queens used in earlier centuries. That the “common” people are not equipped to participate in these decisions. With good information and reasoning, we are very much capable of controlling our own destinies. For more detail…
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How else can we use the decision website model?
We can democratically administer virtually anything with this model. Imagine a union being run democratically and transparently by its members so as to remove the mistrust of corruption and power. For more uses of the model…
How can Democrats and Republicans work together?
It seems that they cannot work together within our current political climate and structure. We need a new approach. The power of the political parties need to go away. For more detail…
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