How do we update the U.S.'s clearly flawed democracy via a business venture? I have a proposal..

[ricardborias]

Hi everyone. I'm 29, and I'm royally fed up with the current state of the United States' democracy.

>>Nearly no effectiveness and accountability

 

[marktime]

@ricardborias A very interesting concept. This could be useful at all levels of US government. Cynicism aside, elected officials are always interested in reliable polling data. If you do this right, it could take off. Where the public goes, the politicians will follow.

Office holders, staff, lobbyists, journalists, academics, and even bureaucrats could find this useful, provided the public buys into it.

 

[dan0101]

@ricardborias I think this idea is really good... however I have a hard time seeing politicians adopting it.

For one, this platform is pretty biased towards those who cannot only afford access to the internet, but those who are internet literate. For the same reason online voting isn't a thing, politics is supposed to be a public thing that everyone has access to. IMO this argument doesn't hold up when seeming everyone in America is on Facebook (or could be if they chose to) but that's politics

Second, I feel like this will have a hard time being adopted by elected officials becasue I don't think they have the public's best interest at heart. That may be kind of cynical but I can only think of a few people who are really in it for their constituents. The rest seem like they're in it to be in the "club". I site voting record and the perpetual gridlock as my source.

My question for you is how will you keep this from becoming like Reddit and having people suggest trolling measures that waste everyone's time? ("Boaty McBoatface")

Good work though. The UX looks sleek!

 

[ricardborias]

@dan0101 Thanks for watching and the reply!

Yes, I'm still trying to figure out the politicians. This is clearly the biggest challenge.

Yes this is definitely biased towards people who are internet literate, I think 80 years ago you would be saying the same thing about book literacy.

Trolling will be impossible on my platform because they will not get any satisfaction of seeing comment sections explode because there won't be any ability to comment. Additionally, we vet all the measures that end up on the monthly ballot.

Thank you for the UX complement

 

[clarityaim]

@ricardborias It's a really intriguing concept. But I have many questions about the envisioned execution.

How do you prevent this from becoming just another toxic social media? Is it that nobody can comment besides politicians -- if so, by the same regards, how do you avoid turning into another cesspool of misinformation?

Also, how does your monetization strategy of advertising prevent bias and propoganda on the platform?

Lastly, why do you think politicians would buy into this? It seems like you need politicians on the platform before users can do anything. But why would a politician adopt this system if it disrupts the former system which got them elected? It seems to me you need a mass of people on the platform to get to the politicians attention, but how would people begin to become users if their local politicians aren't interested to start with?

 

[ricardborias]

@clarityaim Thanks for the complement and questions!

The top 5 most popular motions will be converted into a measure if they are factually accurate and contain minimum bias (vetted by VoteLaser). This ensures that every item that gets voted on will not contain misinformation.

Advertisements will only be displayed on results pages following a like or a vote to prevent bias. Political ads will not be accepted.

My selling point to politicians is that they will have access to a large pool of constituents who are politically active and would serve as a substantial source of guidance and feedback for future legislation. Politicians would receive 5 majority supported and vetted proposals per month with robust demographic data behind each one. This will grant them unprecedented insight into the type of people behind each measure and what they want. Additionally, the platform keeps track of all the motions they need to review at each stage of its journey including implementation and fulfillment. If a measure needs to be rejected they can effortlessly click reject and fill in the rationale which will be automatically sent to all his/her constituents.

Lastly, like Twitter this will not replace or intervene in their political process, but be used as a complementary tool at the cost of zero dollars.

Extremely low risk, massive reward.

 

[clarityaim]

@ricardborias well until you have enough users I'm sure your biggest challenge is onboarding politicians, and if I were you I'd be careful about overly vetting every measure to be voted on as that could intrinsically pose risk of bias. You definitely have challenges ahead if you pursue this, it's a monstrous ambition, but all that said I'm sort of dumbfounded this hasn't received more attention on here.

My best input for you would be to get a small town or co-op or club or some tiny microcosm of governance to adopt this platform and use that as proof of concept. Then work your way up to mayors and governors and then once you've got a significant population of voters then is your only chance at getting the representatives on board.

I really dream that something like this could work in our world, but man your vision is huge and this will take serious work, big funding, and many many years of lobbying to get an inch off the ground (and hopefully exponential takeoff after that). I believe in the concept of direct democracy, what you're getting at here is the closest the world has ever come to that, but to get there legitimately you need to prove to people that this isn't just mob rule and you need case study examples of really intelligent discussions on this platform for even the smallest homeowners association or nonprofit board who needs to vote on things.

 

[ricardborias]

@clarityaim It's a monstrous ambition, but the pain from receiving a steady stream of bullshit from politicians and the mainstream media is also monstrous.

I completely agree. Small scale proof of concept before scaling up is goal #1.

I'm very determined tho and passionate about this. I hope others see that and support me. This isn't extreme. This isn't left or right. It's fair and empowers average earning Americans.

 

[clarityaim]

@ricardborias Out of curiosity, where are you and VoteLaser based out of?