Online elections would make it very convenient for people to participate in a Direct Democracy. However, given that election fraud is more likely to occur with electronic voting, especially with machines made by Diebold and ES&S, there is room for concern that online votes can also be hacked. Both election fraud and voter fraud might…
Ranked voting
Most developed nations have multiple political parties, not just two. Protecting voters against the “wasted third-party vote” syndrome could be accomplished with ranked choice voting. See Fair Vote, the non-profit organization that is leading the charge to pass RCV nationally. With ranked choice voting, if your first choice doesn’t win, your vote goes to your…
Anti-Monopoly Laws
Anti-Trust Laws were conceived to break up big monopolies in order to allow fair competition between similar companies and guarantee consumers fair prices and quality products. This assumes that competition leads to best practices and encourages innovation. Some claim that anti-trust laws are used mainly by smaller businesses suing larger more competitive businesses, in…
Trade Tariffs
When the USA was first formed, income from trade tariffs provided 95% of the funds needed to run government. By the 1915, only 30% of the Federal budget was provided through trade tariffs, and currently only about 1% of the Federal budget is provided by tariffs. Advocates of trade tariffs say they tend to encourage…
Utilities
Utility companies provide electricity, cable Internet, cell service and natural gas. The free market may be less capable of providing utilities because generally only one utility company can operate in each area, and/or because governments often regulate or subsidize the construction of lines and access, and this benefit should not go to any private corporation. …
Hospital and emergency care
No civilized society allows people to die just because they don’t have money for medical care. The United States is the only developed country without a universal health care system and where medical bankruptcy is a problem. Even people covered by insurance may suffer bankruptcy when insurance covers only 80% of care that runs into…
Public Education
When public education was established in the U.S. back in the 19th century, cost efficiency was undoubtedly a primary concern and a main motivating factor. A dozen children could be educated by a single well-qualified teacher for far less than the cost of hiring a private tutor for each family. Today the average cost of…
Robbing Peter to pay Paul
Some are against Direct Democracy because they fear that poor people, who outnumber the rich, will vote for more government welfare services for themselves and higher taxes for the rich. Taxes Funding for government activities does not have to be provided by an income tax and was not provided by income tax before 1913. Directly…
Privacy
The Library Bill of Rights affirms the “ethical imperative to provide unrestricted access to information and to guard against impediments to open inquiry. When users recognize or fear that their privacy or confidentiality is compromised, true freedom of inquiry no longer exists.” In a library (physical or virtual), the right to privacy is the right…
Military – Defense
The United States Department of Defense reports spending about $600 billion per year, which is more than one third of total military spending of all countries on the globe. The next biggest spender after the U.S. is China at about $200 billion per year. A military defense system against foreign invasion is an obvious service…
Tax on Wall Street
According to Prospect.org, instituting a Financial Speculation Tax could rein in some of the worst excesses of financial markets that too often operate like casinos. By increasing the costs of placing trades, the tax would moderate trading activity generally, but it would most strongly deter short-term trades rather than longer-term investments. Importantly, for example, an…
Volunteer Support for Warfare and Welfare
Partisan groups are often divided over the issue of spending tax dollars on war and spending tax dollars on welfare. What if decisions about going to war, sending weapons, or funding police actions could be made by the people instead of Congress or the President? What if those who voted for war were expected to…
Examples of Direct Democracy
In Iceland, the Pirate Party’s core policies include direct democracy, transparency, civil rights, the right to self-determination, public access to information and responsible decision making. The core policy text forms the basis for all policymaking. The online voting system is the primary method through which Pirates settle disputes and reach consensus on policies. In the United States,…
Regulations
Licenses and regulations are intended to prevent people from doing harm to others. Consumer protection regulations, many of which exist due to Ralph Nader efforts, have saved many lives. Critics of the practice say that this is preemptive justice, effectively punishing people (with economic harm) who have not committed any crime; instead, they claim, the…
Prison System
Enforcing laws created by the state (or, with a Direct Democracy, the people) is an indisputable, essential role of the state. How can this service be performed without creating a financial burden on the people? Critics of big government often point out that, without profit motivation, bureaucracies do a poor job of running programs efficiently….
Exemptions for Charitable Donations
The practice of allowing exemptions for charitable donations can encourage wealthy people to fund public projects such as museums, universities, libraries, parks, and other public buildings. Currently, tax payers can deduct 50% of charitable donations from income, to avoid paying income tax on that amount. A tax-payer who pays roughly 40% on the top tier…
Reduce the Number of Bills
In 2015, Congress voted on about 600 bills. Perhaps not all these bills deserve public attention, if even the attention of Congress. For example, Congress voted on whether or not to rename a post office in Staten Island, New York. Could decisions like this be made by the Post Office? or by the people in…
Corporate Tax
U.S. federal and state governments have imposed one of the world’s highest corporate tax rates. High tax and strict regulations are often too costly for small- and medium-sized businesses, and many corporations merge to reduce costs and make management more efficient. But this results in a greater concentration of power and wealth among the few….
Welfare for disabled persons, children, crime victims
Some believe that a healthy state takes care of individuals who, through no fault of their own, cannot take care of themselves. Does a state have the moral duty to care for disabled persons and children? What should the state provide?
Correlating Taxation and Voting
Direct Democracy cannot work if citizens are allowed to vote the country into deeper debt. What if all approved programs and services had to be correlated with a source of funding? Public works might be paid for by fiat money, as well as partially supported by workfare. Tariffs might pay for basic government operations. Hospital…
Free Press
A true democracy depends upon an availability of information and diversity of viewpoints. When virtually all information sources–television, radio, newspapers, magazines, book publishing, movie production–are owned by a few corporations, there is little opportunity for diversity, dissent, or criticism of the corporations or the political group they may favor. Censorship may occur for a variety…
Workfare for the poor
Assuming that providing welfare for children and the disabled is considered a separate issue, should the state provide welfare for those who cannot find work? If so, under what conditions and for how long? During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt started a number of social welfare programs to keep citizens from losing their homes or…
Mass Transportation / Public Roadways
All citizens share the roadways and mass transportation systems. Even those who do not use mass transportation can benefit from these services insofar as the systems increase property values by making commuting more efficient. No individual can have access to such a system without a community or a corporation to provide it. Since roadways and…
Inheritance Tax
Since wealth has a natural tendency to accumulate (the richer get richer; the poor get poorer), inheritance tax is seen as a way of slowing the inevitable increase of economic disparity. Critics of such wealth redistribution strategies claim it merely transfers the power of the wealth from the person who acquired it to the government….
Consumption Tax
Taxing products such as alcohol, tobacco, junk food, recreational drugs, fossil fuels, and fossil fuel by-products–many of the products that contribute to poor health–could be a way of funding public health services. A consumption tax is voluntary tax if citizens can choose not to buy inessential items. Advocates of the consumption tax say that taxing…
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