Welcome to... |
SelfGovernanceScience.com |
21stCenturyCivics.com |
535PKQs.com |
3 domain names |
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1 academic objective | |
Build support within the field of political science... |
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i.e., our nation's academic experts on the democratic process, | |
and among the vast mainstream of America's ~155 million voters... |
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i.e., where the "buck should stop" in a democratic society, | |
for the creation and accreditation of a new field of study: |
S-G Science: | the study of Effective Self-Governance Theories, Models & Strategies |
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Note to first time visitors,
. "There is one thing stronger than all the armies of the world,
and that is an idea whose time has come." Introduction: Why S-G Science is a field of study "whose time has come." What we know...
A reasonable person would conclude that America's two warring PI factions couldn't possibly have anything in common when it comes to the legislative agenda our U.S. Congress should be pursuing to deal with America's myriad of problems. Fortunately (for our nation's future), that reasonable person's conclusion, although perfectly reasonable, would be wrong. Absolutely, positively, 100% WRONG.
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key concepts (partial list) |
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Nearly all of our mainstream voters -- and a significant number of our hard core liberal and conservative warrior-voters -- actually want Congress to pursue the same legislative agenda to -- not deal with -- but actually solve America's myriad of problems. They just don't know it, yet. For that S-G "fact" to become glaringly self-evident, our voters will need to possess a working knowledge of a small number of new, uniquely 21st century S-G concepts -- most notably, the concept of effective self-governance. Knowledge of effective S-G will give voters S-G "superpowers" For now, think of effective S-G as the ability of mainstream LOC and ROC voters to define and identify, then recruit and elect, (mostly) liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans to Congress who:
Unlike the self-serving PAPs our voters have been electing to Congress for generations/centuries, PKQ-caliber Democrats and Republicans will easily be capable of joining together and solving America's mountain of major EFFS problems -- no matter which party controls either chamber in a given legislative session. Moreover, in many cases, the problems will be solved completely and permanently -- with legislative solutions that voters from across the political/ideological spectrum will strongly support.
Finally, in terms of how quickly that mountain can be turned into a molehill, with PKQ-caliber Ds and Rs crafting the legislation, many of our EFFS problems will be solved relatively quickly. Obviously, a few of them, e.g., our massive annual budget deficits and national debt, will have to be put on a decades long solution-glide path. Three key takeaways:
Clearly, the idea of our Congress being controlled by PKQ-caliber legislators sounds like the storyline for a Hollywood fantasy movie. And no one in their right mind could seriously think that any national legislature -- even one overflowing with PKQs -- could ever turn America's EFFS mountain into a molehill -- at least, not without a massive amount of pain and suffering borne by everyone (but the super wealthy), but especially by our society's poorest and least capable. Yet, believe it or not, both of those outcomes are obtainable -- and the latter with relatively little discomfort. Ironically, the only really hard part will be recognizing (or acknowledging to yourself) that both the greatest existential threat to American democracy --as well as the greatest obstacle to America achieving broad based, widespread prosperity... IS NOT the Democrats!! or the Republicans!! IS NOT liberalism!! or conservatism!! IS NOT liberal!! or conservative!! policies, values, principles, etc.
It's PAP/PAP-controlled Congresses.
Why our LOC and ROC voters have never made the effort to "solve" their PAP-controlled Congress problem is a question for another time. Suffice to say, better late than never. To that end, you are about to be introduced to a new category of S-G knowledge founded on a new, "corrective" theory of S-G: the Strategic Cooperation (SC) Theory. In a nutshell, the SC theory says that if LOC and ROC voters identify, recruit and elect PKQ-caliber candidates to Congress, Congress will be able to perform their government oversight and foreign policy duties spectacularly AND keep their nation as free of EFFS problems as it is humanly possible to do -- again, no matter which party controls either chamber in a given legislative session. As has been alluded to, this new theory is, by its very nature, paradigm-shifting, status quo-disrupting, and course-of-history-changing. Which means (assuming the history of such theories* is a guide) it will initially be rejected out of hand by nearly every rational thinking person: political scientists, members of academia writ large, among our political intelligentsia -- even you, brave explorer, as well.
So, as you read on, don't be surprised when nearly every rational brain cell in your head "rejects" this new corrective theory.
That said (and not to sound too melodramatic), the fate of our democracy quite possibly depends on everyone who visits this web page keeping the following question/thought foremost in the "rational thinking" portion of their brain as they read on:
My hope is that, minimally, 50% + 1 of your neurons will answer in the affirmative. .
As everyone should have learned in their elementary and high school civics classes, America is not a democracy, strictly speaking, but a Constitutional Republic, or Democratic Constitutional Republic, or Constitutional Democratic Republic (just to name a few descriptors). For brevity, "democracy" is used as shorthand for the longer, correct terms. * * * * * * * * * * * * *
. Why "It's the voter's fault" is an The three above quotes pretty much explain why the prevailing view in political science is that -- like every democracy in history -- American democracy is going to fail. The only debate-worthy question is when, with some believing the process is already well underway. And since, in a democracy, the buck stops with the voters, ipso facto: it's the voters' fault. Clearly, there's something about nations governed "by the people" that, no matter how strong, healthy, prosperous or powerful they may get, they inevitably end up collapsing in upon themselves, becoming impoverished and indebted caricatures of their former greatness. If they're lucky. If they aren't, they devolve into either left-wing (think: Venezuela), or right-wing (think: Russia), authoritarian, democracy-in-name-only nations. In the case of American democracy, if you asked our nation's political scientists -- in fact, if you asked just about every learned individual -- what that something is, most would probably refer you to the third quote above (Churchill's). Meaning, it's the many shortcomings on the part of an embarrassingly large percentage of America's voters. Shortcomings like: uninformed, naive, gullible, apathetic -- and greedy, wanting more "free" stuff from Uncle Sam than they're willing to pay for in the form of taxes. But perhaps worst of all, far too many voters have a "cognitive capacity" problem. As political psychologist, Shawn W. Rosenberg (University of California, Irvine), put it,
TRANSLATION: not enough of our ~155 million voters are smart enough to engage in the process of self-governance competently or effectively. |
LOC: left-of-center ROC: right-of-center
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On the surface, the logic behind this view seems rock solid since, clearly, a truly intelligent electorate would never allow their national legislature to be permanently hijacked by what our LOC and ROC voters have allowed their U.S. Congress to be hijacked by:
Here's the problem with our political scientists' "it's the voters' fault" theory for why American democracy is failing. Leaving aside for the moment our voters' many non-cognitive shortcomings -- even if we stipulate that what Rosenberg and others say about our voters' intellectual "insufficiency" is 100% true -- cognitive inadequacy does not explain why our LOC and ROC voters keep Congress permanently filled to overflowing with self-serving, responsibility-phobic, influence-peddling, congenitally disingenuous, etc. PAPs...
...any more than cognitive inadequacy explains why, for example:
Cutting to the chase -- if what we mean by: American democracy is failing is that:
...then American democracy is not failing because of our voters' cognitive inadequacies -- nor, as will soon become clear, because of our voters' other shortcomings. Rather, the blame rests squarely with Political Science's (unwritten) "18th century" Bloodless War (BW) Theory of Self-Governance. In a nutshell, the BW theory is the theory we've been operating by since our nation's founding.
Seen through the lens of effective S-G, America's democracy has been slowly, steadily coming apart at the seams over a period of generations, because generations of our low and high cognitive functioning voters have bought into the BW theory of S-G. "You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing reality obsolete."
. reminder >> NLEP: National Legislative Election Process The Bloodless War (BW) Theory of SG implies that: America's voters should use their NLEP to achieve one political/ideological (PI) objective: decide which political party's WPs/WPs will control the House and Senate.
FYI: the BW theory explains why 21st century America's LOC and ROC voters are trapped in a part-Groundhog Day, part-Twilight Zone self-governance nightmare from which there seems no escape.
The Strategic Cooperation (SC) Theory of S-G says that: America's voters should use their NLEP to achieve two objectives. The first, an apolitical/non-ideological (ANI) objective: decide if Congress' two chambers will be controlled by:
The second, a PI objective: decide which political party's PKQ-caliber legislators (or just: PKQs) will control the House and Senate. The Strategic Cooperation (SC) Model's 3-Phase NLEP Phase 1: in advance of the House and Senate primary processes, "mainstream" LOC and ROC voters use a combination of social media tools, standard recruiting methods -- and yet to be developed "effective S-G strategies" -- to identify and aggressively recruit PKQ-caliber candidates to "run" in their respective House/Senate primaries. Phase 2: LOC/ ROC voters field PKQ-caliber candidates in their respective House/Senate primaries. Phase 3: PKQ-caliber candidates go head to head in the general election.
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RESULT: voters use the BW = 100% Bloodless War
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RESULT: voters use the SC = 90% Strategic Cooperation 10% Bloodless War |
RESULT: | RESULT: |
Dystopic democracy, or PAP-governed dem.: |
Neartopic democracy, or PKQ-governed dem.: a democracy whose nat. legislature stays permanently controlled by NON-self-serving, NON-politically ambitious, NON-power hungry, NON-"politicians" (a.k.a. PKQ-caliber legislators). |
100% DYSTOPIC (Where we are) | (Where 95%+ of us wish we where) 100% NEARTOPIC |
* * * * * * * * * * * * * “One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimension” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. |
* * * * * * * * * * * * * The "apolitical/non-ideological" (ANI) nexus (fyi: this is a rough draft, needs major editing)
reminder: ANI: Apolitical/Non-Ideological Optimizing Legislation If we exempt feel good/happy legislation, e.g., declaring a certain day: national jump rope day -- and self-aggrandizing legislation, e.g., renaming a post office after a politician -- it's highly likely that nearly every other piece of legislation enacted into law by Congress (in recent decades, especially) was written -- either in its entirety for self-serving reasons -- or the legislation wasn't written for self-serving reasons, per se, but was laden with self-serving legislative provisions (courtesy of the PAPs crafting the legislation). Provisions inserted, for example, to reward one or more of the politician's political party's clique of special interest groups, or a favored industry -- or for supporting the politician's re-election bid. Or to entice, bribe or appease said groups, industries, etc.
For purposes of definition, let's give self-serving legislation, and self-serving legislative provisions, unique names: DL and DLPs -- and create different categories of them.
Now we are able to posit the following ANI hypothesis: Given enough DL and DLPs -- at some point, the cumulative effect will be to dysfunctionalize a nation's myriad of systems: free market system, healthcare system, financial system, tax system/code, criminal justice system, etc.
What 200+ years of PAP-controlled Congresses have given us For comparative purposes...
Finally, our society should have the attitude:
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MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT
fyi: the table would be ~ twice Earth's diameter. |
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