What is a Collaborative Democracy?

A Collaborative Democracy is a true democracy where the people rule using a collaborative process, as opposed to a representative republic where the few rule the many as we have now. It is the first true democracy in history that can scale to a federal level regardless of the size of the country.

Federal policies, decisions, and laws are created by the citizens themselves as a group, not by the politicians nor by the ultra-wealthy elite class, their banks, or the mega corporations that they control. All federal departments and corporations are administrated by federal councils of 9 people, selected randomly from a pool of qualified candidates. Therefore, no political appointments nor elections would exist and no individuals would make federal decisions by themselves. Political influence by the elite and their interests, control by the political parties, ideological extremes, the political divide, and large-scale corruption and favoritism would be eradicated. For more information, read Chapter 7 in End Politics Now.

Realistically, how could the people make laws together?

Citizens will collaboratively make all federal policies and laws through Citizen Governance Websites, which use a new democratic solution process. For these types of decisions, the collective intelligence of the people is much greater than the intelligence and problem solving ability of any individual or small group, including the President and Congress.

The democratic solution process enhances the collective intelligence of the people, leading them step-by-step to produce the best decisions possible that most people including minority groups support. We The People would actually make the best ruling decisions for our country! For more information, read Chapter 11 in End Politics Now.

Why is it necessary to update the Constitution?

The tiny, ultra-wealthy elite class, the 1% of the 1%, has ruled America plundering the people to benefit themselves and their own business interests for 400 years. They wrote the Constitution to stop the true democracy that was evolving in the states after the revolution, solidifying all power for themselves, the elites. Within a year after the new Constitutional government began, they created political parties for the declared purpose of protecting the business interests and wealth of the elite class.

No real change has been made to government since then. The elite class has continued to rule through the political parties until now. This control and all of its negative effects on our country can only be removed by updating two federal processes in the Constitution. For more information, read Chapter 2 in End Politics Now.

How does this elite class and their political parties rule today?

The elite class controls the two major political parties and chooses the important candidates through their political power and the billions of dollars they spend to fund election campaigns. The only power citizens have is to vote for one of the two candidates selected first by their elite rulers.

The elites and their companies spend additional billions per year lobbying the President and Congress. They also fund think tanks, foundations, federal advisory committees, and government policy-planning networks that the government relies on. As a result of these investments in political parties and politicians, their business interests profit through policies, laws, and lucrative federal contracts that benefit them over the people.

Political parties can control the government because all of the important government decisions and laws are made by only three people in government. These three are loyal, long-term career politicians who serve the political parties and the interests of the elite class before all others. They are the President, the Speaker of the House, and the Senate majority leader. For more information, read Chapter 3 in End Politics Now.

Isn't the political divide the real cause of our problems?

No. The political divide is just a symptom of competing political parties. The political parties are businesses that must differentiate themselves to persuade voters to vote in their party. If both major parties were in the middle where most citizens are, they would seem the same. The more extreme their position and ideology, the better for staking a unique space in the minds of the people.

The strongest instinct that we all have is to stay safe. Political parties have learned that it is easier to motivate us to vote against someone whom we are afraid of using negative ads than to persuade us to vote for someone with positive ads. However, combining both fear and hope is even more powerful. Keep in mind that party platforms and political slogans are advertising created by marketing people. The purpose is to persuade the most people to vote for their party, nothing more. For more information, read Chapter 4 in End Politics Now.

The solution to the political divide is a Collaborative Democracy that removes political parties from government. Collaborative democratic processes such as participatory budgeting have demonstrated that citizens want to be empowered, that they are happy to work together, and that the political divide ceases when addressing one issue at a time rather than enforcing a political ideology.

Why is a Collaborative Democracy the only possible solution?

No solution proposed previously would solve our political ills. Electing a particular president or political party into power has never fixed the problem. Term limits, multi voting, and amendments such as a balanced budget would not eliminate destructive politics. Because nothing proposed until now addresses the root cause of the problem.

The root cause of the problem is the federal power structure of the elite class and the political parties that control the government and our laws, policies, and spending. To end hierarchical control of the people by the tiny, ultra-wealthy elite class, elite hierarchy including representation and political parties must be disempowered. Elite and political hierarchy can only be disempowered through a stronger force, the people themselves. Power must not be given to an alternative hierarchical structure such as socialism or communism that are also ruled by the elite and their political party. Legitimate, effective results will only come if We The People rule.

For the first time in the history of hierarchical civilization, a solution has been designed that scales to a national level and that realistically allows the people to rule themselves through a true democracy. That solution is a Collaborative Democracy with federal councils and Citizen Governance Websites as described in the book End Politics Now, beginning with Chapter 5.