Exaggerated opinions

[Saari]

>D- With a world human population of around 5.5 billion, is Mr. Saari
>suggesting that every indivdual have a proposal on any issue ?

To avoid the problem of dictatorial control of the agenda, and to ensure the
greatest chances to find good solutions to issues, I support the basic
nondictatorial democracy premise: Any member can call for a vote, at any time,
on any subject.  How would this work with 100 members or more?  Start with 10
members and assume steady growth.  Well, with 10-30 members it may be workable
to vote on every proposal but clearly at some point the number of proposals
will start to become unwieldy.  When this is clearly the case then we will
start seeing proposals to deal with it.  There are many possible
nondictatorial solutions such as requiring a couple of signatures before a
proposal is posted for a mass vote (imagine a "pre-vote voting table" where
ideas can be floated for such a purpose), limiting the number of pending
proposals allowed per member, etc.  The "right" solution will be group
dependent but is certainly possible.

>Is having a
>minimal support requirement for any issue (i.e. some X percentage of the
>membership) before it goes on the ballot (or agenda) being dictatorial ?  

No because it still treats every member equally - no special privileges.
>
>The reality currently is that in all current public legislative bodies the
>"leader" of the body or a small oligarchy of the body determines what will be
>voted upon.   

Yes, this is the dictatorial angle I am trying to eliminate in my design.

>I repeat my suggested remedy - the highest percentage of all of
>the members of the body who want a a vote on an issue should determine the
>order of voting on issues 

You are trying to establish an "order of voting" by means of another voting-
like structure of some sort.  Clearly this defers the core problem to a higher
level but does not ultimately solve it.  If your "highest percentage" remedy
turns out to be dictatorial then so is the entire system.  Can you specify a
method for your remedy which does not involve a chairperson or oversight
committee?

Rather than voting on issues one-at-a-time (with the attendent problem of
establishing the order of vote), I favor a concurrent approach where different
proposals are coexisting and are voted on in parallel.  This is the only
nondictatorial solution I can find.

Mike Saari