1)  World summitry on societal sustainability,
	     2)  A democratically planned and shared global economy,
	     3)  The DEMOCRATHON Process,
	     4)  Global freshwater equilibrium (Project Ice-SHARE/Green Earth).

 "Life comes from space because life comes from life."  
	       -  Brig Klyce, Astrobiology Research Trust   

1. democracybythepeople - to focus on DD in the USA
2. delaesquinacaliente - to examine DD worldwide

BC-STV Demonstration Ballot

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Public Forums Discussing BC-STV STV For BC
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Basically, given existing Indirect Democracy, by passing a law in Senate/Parliament etc, which creates a "direct" law-making procedure, we can convert existing indirect democracy into total or partial, pure or mixed, Direct Democracy.
In addition to legislature, by promoting and strenghening JURY SYSTEM, we can increase DIRECTNESS and reduce INDIRECTNESS in our courts, and thus make our democracy more direct and less indirect.

Now I am trying to get following 3 laws passed. One in City Council of Ahmedabad, another in Gujarat State Assembly and third in Parliament of India. As of today, I am focusing ONLY on the first two.

The text of draft to be passed in City Councils and Assembly are at
  lm01.draft.htm
  lm02.draft.htm
  lm03.draft.htm
These laws enact a new LAW-MAKING procedure, which I call as 'PARTIAL DIRECT VOTE'. The procedure is described at lm02.htm.

The brief description is as follows of the law making procedure I propose: (called as Partial Direct Vote)

(An existing LEGISLATIVE BODY, which used indirect democracy, divides a region into CONSTITUENCIES. A constituency has one REP. The body has what is called as SPEAKER who manages the house.)

1) any citizen can submit a draft to the speaker after paying a fee. The speaker will give a serial number.

2) any citizen can register his YES/NO on the draft within next 90 days after paying a small fee to cover the expenses.

3) the representative can register his YES/NO within next 30 days after speaker had issued the serial number. If the rep does NOT register YES/NO, it will be taken as a NO. THE VOTING IS NOT CONFIDENTIAL.

4) On 91st day, the speaker will calculate YES/NO fraction of each constituency as follows:

  Say a constituency has 100,000 voters.
  Say 10000 (10%) voters registered YES
  Say 20000 (20%) voters registered NO
  Then Rep's vote's weight will be     (100000 - 10000 - 20000) = 70000 i.e. 70%

Say Rep votes YES, then YES-fraction of that constituency will 10% + 70% = 80% and NO-fraction will be 20%.
Say Rep votes NO, or does NOT vote, then YES-fraction of that constituency will be 10% and NO-fraction will be 90%.

5) The speaker will add up the YES/NO-fractions of each constituencies, and if sum of YES-fractions exceed sum of NO-fractions, he will declare the draft as passed.

---------- Summing up: the procedure makes a Reprenstative as one who represents those, all those, but ONLY those who have NOT represented themselves.
Basically, this mixes the direct and indirect democracies. The citizens have procedure to register YES/NO after paying a fee, and rep will represent those who have chosen NOT to register YES/NO.

Those who like the bill, I request you to contact me at MehtaRahulC@yahoo.com.

Thanx, -Rahul
      Rahul Mehta, mehtarahulc at yahoo . com, India, 2004/11/8

Tribe.net is an up-and-coming social networking tool where one can make both personal and professional connections, join groups (called tribes) that reflect one's interests, advertise their services and wares, and much more. If you've heard of Friendster, Tribe.net takes the idea and implementation a lot further.

Recently, I started the "Direct Democracy" tribe at directdemocracy.tribe.net. Here's the current tribe description (open to suggestions for changes):

This tribe is for those who favor expanding public participation in the process of public policy decision making as well as expanding and enhancing the citizen-sponsored initiative process. This is not about simple direct democracy, but about making democracy in a republican context more direct.

Hopefully, this new tribe can be seen as a neutral (and mostly ad-free) location for direct democracy supporters and enthusiasts to congregate and network.

Hope to see you all there!
      Steve Magruder, director at democracy2 . org, 2004/8/27

Hi!, everybody.

The journey in search for a New Political System for the Informative Age (NPS) begins here.

If you agree that the existing political systems have not only let the ordinary folks down for thousands of years in the history of mankind, but also are manifestly inadequate for the future and have an idea or suggestion for the NPS, your contribution is most welcome.

The NPS must be truly democratic, meaning at its core is the sovereignty of the electoral majority, and at the same time provides effective government for the country and the people. And in order to get the discussion going, a NPS Draft is proposed here for the consideration of the readers for comments or amendments or additions of more and better ideas.

The search for a NPS is a worthwhile project that goes beyond local concerns with global and historic significance and you are invited to join this enriching and exciting journey in search of the NPS.

We may have problems that are apparently “insurmountable” as presently seen, but historic moments occur when such “insurmountable” problems are overcome. This is consistent with the lessons of history; for instance, the sudden and “inconceivable” demise of the former Soviet Union in December 1991.
      Eric Lim (lpc1998), lpc1998 at lpc1998 . com, Singapore, 2004/7/4

I've been assured by Senator Mike Gravel, the founder, that once the system is established in America, they'll work toward enfranchising the rest peoples of the world.

Click the link and go vote for the Initiative now, (US Citizens Only).
      Al Smith, info at majorityvoice . com, USA, 2003/7/2

Just publishing the book SOCIOECONOMIC DEMOCRACY: An Advanced Socioeconomic System
      USA, 2002/7/18