Aired 29 September 2020 – 5:00 PM EDT
Interview with Tech CEO and Author Richard Lang
“Even more than a new President, we need a new PRECEDENT – government of, by and for the people where the government does OUR bidding, not the bidding of the highest bidder.” — Swami Beyondananda
As we are caught in the swirl of the most toxic and dangerous election season in our lifetimes, citizens from across the political spectrum are asking two questions: How did it get this way? And, how do we restore the missing piece in government of, by and for the people – THE PEOPLE?
If you’ve had the sense that the will of the ordinary citizen in America has little or no impact on what legislation actually gets passed — you’re right. A study conducted by Princeton University in 2014 concluded: “The preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”
Could this be why fewer Americans exercise their right to vote than any other “democratic” country in the world? Might be we need to rename our system “Futilism” because of the futility of voting for a candidate, who does the bidding of the highest bidder instead of doing your bidding?
Our guest this week, Richard Lang, has come up with a “meta-strategy” for bringing the collective (and amplified) voice of we the people to the forefront of politics. The idea starts with an observation: For the first time in known human history, it is now possible to convene an unlimited number of citizens, in one place, at one time, to cast collective, non-binding, advisory votes on any issue of collective concern or importance.
Think of it as Freedom of Assembly 3.0.
Richard, a software developer who launched a highly successful company, Burst.com in the 1990s, launched another company, Democrasoft to help “evolve democracy and empower individuals” in the 21st century. The result is his Virtual Country book, and the new platform for Advisory Voting.
Writes Richard, “We are talking about a new national institution for civic engagement, focused on issues instead of political parties and blind ideology — a powerful new counter-balance to the corrupting influence of big money in politics.”
Imagine … a space — nongovernmental, non-corporate, nonpartisan, independent of the mainstream media — where each citizen can have a voice and a verifiable vote, and these votes can be tabulated to indicate not just how citizens feel about certain issues, but how strongly they feel.
What if ten million or twenty million or fifty million American voters declared, “We want this”? While that vote would have no legal standing, simply recognizing the overwhelming support for a certain policy would provide pressure on legislators to adhere to the people’s will. Or face opposition at the polls.
And … what if we used technology wisely and consciously not to shape public opinion but to galvanize public will? What if we took advantage of that handy hand-held device that even homeless people own to bring people together in an entire eco-system for civic engagement that will evolve democracy into the 21st century?
If you’re ready to create “political climate change”, please join us for this show.
To find out more about Richard Lang and Advisory Voting, please go here: http://www.virtualcountry.us/