Designing the best new governing processes

In Figure 3-1 in Chapter 3, we described the current Ruler Selection Process and the current Governing Process. These two processes must be redesigned to empower Federal Councils and Citizens. Our design must prohibit any small group such as special interests and political parties from influencing Federal Councils. Figure 7-3 describes the revised processes.

1. The Ruler Selection Process

The four major activities that would be performed in the revised Ruler Selection Process are shown near the bottom of Figure 7-3. In the first activity, Citizens would complete an online application for each Federal Council where they would like to serve.

In the second activity, a new council member would be randomly selected from the pool of applicants once each year for each Federal Council. Assuming a council had 9 members, the senior member who had served for 9 years would leave the council when the new member was added. Therefore, the term of a council member would be equivalent to the number of members on that council. The most senior member would be the chairperson during their last year of service. Regardless, all members would have equal voting power regardless of seniority.

In the third activity, all new members that were selected would be evaluated to ensure they were qualified. If not, another new member would be randomly selected. Each Federal Council would have its own pool of applicants, partially because duties and qualifications could be different for each Federal Council.

In the final activity, the new qualified member would receive training on the processes for Federal Councils in general and on any specific processes for their department. The training would include administration and decision-making.

Figure 7-3

2. The governing process

The Governing Process consists of four activities as shown in Figure 7-3. In the first, Citizens would submit issues to a Citizen Governance Website. Non-citizens would submit issues through a registered citizen. Both Citizens and non-citizens could register on the website and view the results. However, only Citizens could submit issues and participate in developing the solutions.

In the second activity, the Federal Council that managed that Citizen Governance Website would select the next issue to address based on issue priority. When an issue became active, those who followed the issue, the department responsible for the issue, or the issue topic on the Citizen Governance Website would be notified automatically. Council staff would notify the public through press releases.

In the third activity, Citizens that cared about the issue would use the Citizen Governance Website to collectively develop a solution using our new democratic solution process. The Federal Council and its staff would facilitate and moderate the process.

In the final activity, a solution that could violate existing laws would be submitted to the judicial branch for review. The justice department would issue an opinion regarding the legality of the new solution. If it were legal, lawsuits regarding its legality would be prohibited. If the law caused problems that were unacceptable, the people could update it at any time through a new issue.