Day 148: Policy Initiation and the Role of Administrators in an Equal Money System

Within the following blogs we'll be replying to a comment made in relation to 'Day 147: Constitutional Equality and Voting in an Equal Money System'.

How would new policy ideas be brought up? For example, if it came to be that the systems in place to provide for everyone's basic necessities became so efficient (many years down the road) that it was no longer necessary to have every human contribute 4 years to maintain it, how would it work to propose reducing the conscription period to, say 3 years and 3 months? Could individuals propose new policy changes or would they only be proposed by policy-makers as experts?

Within the stage of identifying policy-issues, everyone is able to participate, regardless of qualification or expertise. Each one will have a 'Life Profile', which is an online profile, like we are familiar with from networking sites such as 'Facebook'. This profile will be your main interaction portal with the political decision-making process, through which you can signal policy issues that require direction or alignment, as well as make your own suggestions as to how to correct the point. Therefore, the stage of the identification of policy issues is available to all, regardless of qualifications. Once policy issues have been identified and suggestions have been made by the general population, the next stage is initiated, which involves the policy formulation by experts.

It might be helpful to provide specifics on how these committees of law-makers will be assembled.

To answer this question we require to distinguish between the various participants within the law-making or policy-making process - which are:
- The general population
- Scientific experts
- The administration

In terms of the content of the policies to be decided on, only the general population and the scientific experts are relevant.

The role of the general population mainly pertains to the identification of policy-issues as well as the cross-referencing point in terms of voting on whether or not the proposed policies indeed adhere to the Constitutional Principles of Equality and What is best for All.

The role of the scientific experts pertains to the formulation of policy in adherence with the scientific and mathematical methodologies as laid out by the Constitution.

So - what role is left then for the administrators? The role of the administrators is a purely managerial function. They have in fact no more influence on policy-making than anyone else does. The type of functions administrators are to perform are for instance the convening of all identified policy issues by the population as well as their suggestions, the directing of all organizational aspects involved with bringing together a qualified committee of scientists with the relevant expertise in terms of the particular policy that requires to be formulated, the publishing of each step within the policy-making process, and so on. Their role is thus to ensure that the Rule of Law as laid out by the Constitution is followed without influencing the content of the policies themselves.

Members of the administration require to have a minimum set of qualifications and will be voted into office for 1 term. Ideally, each person will only be able to take office once in their lifetime to give each one who so desires, the opportunity to experience what is involved within taking in a position of responsibility in the world.

I'm assuming they will be payed beyond the basic income everyone is to receive in an Equal Money System- so does that mean they receive the same hourly wage as everyone else choosing to take part in work beyond the 4-year conscription period? 

Your question shows that you're coming from an understanding of the Equal Money System based on old information. The Equal Money System proposal is one that goes through change and adjustment according to feedback and comments we receive (like yours). So, I suggest reading the Labor section on the EMS Wiki to understand that there will be no relationship between labor and the resources available to you. In other words, there will be no hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or any other type of wages paid out in an Equal Money System. Each one fulfills their 4-year internship, which forms part of each one's educational curriculum, after that - for those who wish to in some way continue to contribute to society, labor is voluntary. Everyone is equal within this point and Administrators will therefore not receive any type of special treatment in terms of receiving additional resources or support while they are in office.

The point of resources allocation will further be clarified within the next blog.

Related articles

• Day 147: Constitutional Equality and Voting in an Equal Money System
• Day 142: Presidents under Fire
• Day 141: Even the Rain: Water Politics - Catastroika

Day 142: Presidents under Fire

Shit is hitting the fan in many countries these days - several conflicts pertaining to the abuse of power of Presidents.

In South Africa, a vote of no confidence will be debated against President Zuma. One of the accusations is that the president used taxpayers' money to fund the construction of his R200 million residence.

In Thailand, 10 000 protesters gathered to demonstrate against Yingluck Shinawatra's government. She is accused of corruption and of being a puppet of her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra.

In Egypt, judges and prosecutors are strkking in Alexandria in protest of President Mohammed Mursi's decree that places him above the law. In what he says to be an attempt to protect the revolution, he issued an order that prevents any court from overturning his decisions - which makes it so he can rule unchecked until the new constitution is drafted. He claims the courts were about to disband the assembly that is writing the Egyptian constitution and wanted to prevent it. However, Egyptians fear the real agenda is not about protecting the revolution or new constitution, but to simply increase the president's powers.

It is becoming more and more clear that representative democracy never actually is representative and leads to catastroika. During campaigns people's perceptions and feelings about the candidates are manipulated in the candidates' favours - yet, when it comes to actual ruling - the reality of the situation is revealed: they never actually cared about the country or the people, they only cared about their own position, status and bank accounts.

Democracy today is far removed from what it was at its onset in the Greek citystates where the democratic form of government was direct democracy. In direct democracy there is no middle-man - no 'guy at the top' that is supposedly protecting the interests of millions. People rule directly. It is claimed that today it would be unpractical to have direct democracy - that the size of the countries is too big, that people don't have the time to go and debate policy-issues. However, considering the technology available today, these objetions are meaningless. If any time was a good time to have a successful form of direct democracy, it is now. We have phones, faxes - and most importantly: internet. Millions can cast their vote on an issue without a problem. We do it every day on sites such as YouTube and Facebook where we share what we like and what we don't like - there is no reason similar technology can be applied for more meaningful activities, such as participating in political life - activities which actually affect people's lives instead of just provide entertainment.

This is why the Equal Money System suggests the implementation of direct democracy so as to remove the need for people to rise up on the streets in protest of their governments where they are met by police, tear gas and rubber (at least if they're lucky) bullets. Direct democracy removes the need to place trust in another only for it to be betrayed afterwards - where it is truly the people who are ruling themselves.

Related articles

• Direct Democracy Ireland
• The Future of Freedom - Direct Democracy
• Thai police fire tear gas in clash with hundreds of protesters
• Thailand anti-government protests quelled by riot police
• New political party 'Direct Democracy Ireland' launched in Dublin

Day 88: Capitalism vs Socialism?

This blog-post is a continuation to: Day 82: Government Failure, Day 83: Nationalisation and Privatisation and Day 86: Who Really Pays the Taxes?

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to believe that politicians actually represent the population that elected them, without considering that the population only has a say when they cast their votes, and afterwards don't require - and thus, don't - consult with the population on matters of public policy - and thus, any representative democracy is really a fraud as voting is just done to make people feel like they are part of the decision-making - when, in the end, it is those with power and money who get to decide.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that bureaucrats are in quite powerful positions, able to influence the situation to suit their own needs, while they are not held accountable to/by the population in any way whatsoever.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that in a country/society where some have more money than others, it will always be those with the most money who actually run the country, despite elections, executive governments, parliaments and judiciary systems - because each official in government can be seduced and influenced by greed and thus, act in a way that benefits the few in spite of the many.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that, unless our monetary system is based within and operates according to the principle of equality, the public nor the private sector is suited to distribute goods and services - because, in the end, the distribution of resources is handled by individuals, who due to inequality, feel they have the right to abuse their position to distribute resoruces in a way that suits their personal desires.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that a monetary system of inequality and competition is directly responsible for the creation of crime - as all crime is an act of inequality, which is justified in the mind of the criminal by the acceptance and allowance of inequality by society as a whole.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that, unless all individuals are taken care of with the resources required to live a life of excellence in an equal way - no one can be trusted with the task of distributing resources - neither the government, nor private companies - because within inquality, the human is corrupted and acts accordingly in corrupt ways - therefore, only an equal money system can ensure efficient and equitable distribution of resources.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that taxes are not an effective way to redistribute resources among the population - by 'taking from the rich' and 'giving to the poor' - because the government is only able to specify who hands over the tax, but does not specify where it gets the money to be able to pay the tax - and thus, it is often customers who bear the real tax burden and not the owners or shareholders of the company, as companies, faced with having to pay higher taxes, simply raise their prices and, thus collect the money to pay their taxes from the customers who still require/want the goods or services they provide.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that any attempt to 'correct' market failure in terms of unequal distribution of resources will be negated by the market itself, as the whole economic system moves according to the principal of inequality, and thus ways will always be found to manifest unequal results that benefit some at the expense of others.