Strictly speaking, The United States Government is not now -- nor has it ever been -- a DEMOCRACY, but rather a REPUBLIC. (Confusing democracy and republic is rather like confusing strategy and tactics. In fact: you can declare the HOMOLOGY that DEMOCRACY IS TO REPUBLIC AS STRATEGY IS TO TACTICS. As I note below, democracy cannot be implemented as a tactic, since it degenerates into "mob rule". Republic is a way of realizing democratic strategies. But we should be aware of this and monitor its realization in our society!)
Technically, in a DEMOCRACY, its citizens vote on every essential DECISION. The Syndicalists here and in Europe. One form of this was the INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD (IWW), which advocated "One Big [industrial] Union". (The leader of the IWW circa World War I can "Big Bill Broonzy", protrayed in Warren Beauty's film, Reds, by Dolph Sweet.)
In a REPUBLIC, citizens VOTE FOR REPRESENTATIVES, WHO VOTE THE CRITICAL DECISIONS.
Our "Founding Fathers" used the political thinking of their time to write a Constitution for a Republic. And many of their ideas have lasted well.
However, beginning with World War I, we saw the development of a discipline, STATISTICS, which "spells out" REPRESENTATION better than political theory. And the GAP between POLITICAL REPRESENTATION and DEMOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATION is causing increasingly difficult problems in our society. We can declare, as another HOMOLOGY, that REPUBLIC IS TO DEMOCRACY AS STATISTICS IS TO DATA. We cannot deal with ALL THE DATA in any important concern, but we can deal with "averages" or "representations" of the data. Similarly with DEMOCRATIC NEEDS and REPUBLICAN REALIZATIONS.
As soon as we can recognize this and began to deal with this, the better and more stable our Government and Society will be.
Those arguing for better representation are criticized for seeming to argue for "More Government" to implement better representation. However, the exact opposite can be the case. The best means of achieving BETTER REPRESENTATION CAN MOVE TOWARD MINIMIZING GOVERNMENT! This is GOVERNMENT-BY-EXCEPTION, which has worked well in PRODUCT QUALIITY CONTROL and in business Management-by-Exception. Do Objectors have a double standard on this matter?
NPR: N(ormative), P(rosthetic) and R(epresentative) criteria for Minimal Government.
- NORMATIVE: creating "an even playing field for citizens" by STANDARDS that TEND TOWRD MEASURES;
- PROSTHETIC: just as physician prosthetically splints a broken limb until "Nature" heals it, so Government must provide prosthetic environment for those unable to help themselves so they can "heal" into citizen independence, with "convalescence" MONITORED;
- REPRESENTATIVE: Government's only claim to Legitimacy -- can be statistically Measured.
- Distinguish certain governmental functions as Normative or Prosthetic or Representative. (Can criteria be improved? Should be replaced?)
- Use NPR criteria in "nonNPR-by-exception" (figure-ground) fashion [if a function fails to fit either Normative or Prosthetic or Representative status, either it is unnecessary and could be eliminated, or reveals "a useful governmental function of a Fourth Kind"].
I see Luberals as hyper-NPR; Conswervatives as hypo-NPR; Livertarians as anti-NPR.
All NPR FUNCTIONS can be FACILITATED BY MATHEMATICAL DISCIPLINES:
- THE NORMATIVE FUNCTION CAN BE MADE SUBJECT TO THE DISCIPLINE OF "WHAT IS A MEASURE AS CONTRASTED TO A FIAT REGULATION?"
- THE PROSTHETIC FUNCTION CAN BE MADE SUBJECT TO THE DISCIPLINE OF "MEDI-PERT".
- THE REPRESENTATIVE FUNCTION CAN BE STATISTICALLY MEASURED, as noted in the associated file,
Anarchists who rejecting GOVERNMENT, along with cynics, may be reformed or silenced by contemplating the consequences of NO GOVERNMENT.