Colbert's Space Station Module - A Model for Direct Democracy

NASA recently decided to name its new space station module by way of a national internet vote. The Colbert Nation, talk show host Steven Colbert's legion of followers, seized the opportunity and stuffed the online NASA ballot in favor of naming the module after their standard bearer, Mr. Colbert. It is yet to be seen whether NASA will follow through and actually name the module after the election winner, Mr. Colbert. Nevertheless, the NASA internet balloting, and the Colbert Nation, have showed us how a model of direct democracy could work.

America is a Democratic Republic, not a Democracy. Democracy is a system in which all government decisions are made by the people. This kind of system is more accurately known as Direct Democracy. It existed in Ancient Greek city states such as Athens. Every elector (men of the patrician class) frequently met in the city to vote on legislative proposals, judicial decisions, and the like. To be sure there were elected executive officials that made certain decisions when necessary, but for the most part all government decisions were made by the people. Direct Democracy is fine in a small city, where all the electors are able to meet on a regular basis.

Democracy becomes impractical, even impossible, as the government increases in geographic jurisdictional size. The limits on Direct Democracy are limitations on travel, and communications. Imagine how unproductive you would be to have to travel for days from your home, business, and farm every time there is a legislative meeting.

The internet solves this problem. Now due to enhances in communications technology, we can all communicate with one another instantly, even virtually meet, discuss, and vote without leaving our homes. The Colbert space module is a model of how this can work.

There is a distinct advantage in direct democracy, versus representative democracy: decisiveness. Our modern representative form of government is actually hampered by telecommunications technology, not enhanced by it. In a world where everyone can instantly learn what is said and what is done over the internet, outrage and political correctness, dominates. No government proposal, such as naming a space module for instance, can get accomplished when the name offends some group, or fails to adequately represent some group, or interest.

One major example comes to mind: the re-building of the ground zero sight in downtown New York City. Almost eight years have gone by since the towers fell and in that time literally nothing has been done to re-build the ground zero sight. Its sad really. The most powerful nation in the history of the world cannot re-build the sight of its most tragic domestic attack in almost eight years: not a monument, not a building, scarcely a plaque, statute, or memorial of any kind. The reason is a hyper-sensitive populace, made more responsive to perceived offense, by the internet.

Political correctness has run amok, largely due to everyone being plugged in, all the time. Unfortunately elected representatives face the brunt of political correctness scrutiny and can therefore get nothing done. Here is how it works: a politician proposes a plan for a building including a name, and a blueprint. Some group decides that their particular ethnicity, or cultural heritage is underrepresented, or that the building is somehow offensive and they go online and rail against the politician and the plan. The media, having taken its cues from the internet for at least five years, picks up on the "outrage" and reports it, and then the outrage mushrooms. The politician cannot afford to stand up to the outrage, and he withdraws the proposal.

All is not lost. The internet can be used productively in a democracy, and the Colbert space module is the model. If there is no elected representative to focus the outrage on, no strawman who represents the insensitive or politically incorrect proposal, than the group's (or groups' ) outrage does not act a veto, but merely a voting block.

In the NASA internet voting model, every citizen who had cause to weigh in, weighed in and voted. The Colbert Nation was more mobilized than any other interest group, and their members signed onto the NASA sight in greater numbers than anyone else, and they won for their man, Steven Colbert. The module now has a name, and no one person is responsible for any possible offense, or lack of cultural sensitivity for the name. And, no one has any reason to be offended, left out, discriminated against, disenfranchised, etc., because everyone had a vote. This is decisiveness, created out of the inherent fairness of the direct democratic process.

So, thank you Colbert Nation and NASA. You have provided the model of the future of direct democracy in the nation and in the world.

More to follow.