Oh-oh. This is going to sound political. But I promise that I’ll vote however you want me to…
Try to imagine a world in which elected representatives vote according to the will of their constituents. Seems kind of absurd, right? (Since political self-interest and lobbying play such key roles in our government, which is supposed to be “of the people, by the people and for the people”). A New England thought leader recently remarked that he’d like to see a “no-party” system instead of a two-party system. I agree. Here’s how that could happen:
Run for office based on a social media platform.- Use the privilege of your office as an opportunity to explain what you see as the pros, cons and complexities of every issue.
- Use social monitoring and online voting to determine sentiment: let your people tell you how they want you to vote.
- Always vote according to the will of your precinct, period.
I know, I know…it’s idealistic and overly simplistic. Ironically, I think this is almost an abrasive way to reconsider politics (since the majority often takes a short term view and isn’t always right). But it’s an opportunity to reconsider the role of the elected official and his/her role in shaping policy. Would you vote for someone whom you could rely on to vote according to majority interest?
AfriGadget
Kiva
I hear that, Glenn. And while I can’t solve that problem with something quick and witty, I definitely agree that there’s a better way. A company in Providence (the Business Innovation Factory) has launched a new organization to deal with these complex systems by studying the roots of each ecosystem (in your case healthcare, though the same model can be applied in education, politics, entrepreneurship, etc) and bringing stakeholders together in a cross-disciplinary way. I believe it was Einstein who said “problems can’t be solved with the same intelligence that created them” or something to that effect…
Nice idea, but at this point I am convinced that the problem is much bigger than that. What most people are ignoring is that it’s a job of a completely different nature to represent 3/4 of a million people, as it is now, vesus 40 thousand back in 1790 at the time of the first census. Add to that the rise of corporations equal or greater in size to many whole governments around the world, a vastly more diverse and active collection of communication media, and so on, and it turns out, political parties or not, much more significant change is coming.
What will happen, indeed is happening already, is a diffusion of power ‘back down the pyramid’ from the federal government to the states and to even smaller groups (not just municipalities).
If you want to come up with an idea to help with this, tell me how to form a group of 100 people or less to pool together to support and enrich each other’s health and band together to share the cost of any needed medical care. Of course if true catastrophe befell a group of this size, it would need outside help. But with group members able to meet each other face to face, share about issues they are facing, good information on health, etc. I bet the outcome would be way superior to what we now do, with the run away medical industrial complex.