Stephen Erickson

Does anybody care to argue with this? The only point that I would make is that hospitals and other medical services are more akin to police and fire protection than buying a television. When citizens cannot do without the service they need and the providers can charge whatever they want, then that is exactly what they do.

May God bless and save France, along with all of Western Civilization. Peace.

Shame on the USA for being this irresponsible. Shame on us still more if we don't reform our political system to forever end politics as a profession. Our career politicians of both parties have bankrupted our nation. We are paying for it --and will pay much more--with inflation. Inflation is a tax that hurts the working class most. It's terribly regressive. And it's unforgivable. Follow me and be part of a campaign to end careerism in politics. Follow the link and explore the solutions: citizensrisingusa.substack.c…

Arab political parties in Isreal anticipate winning more seats in the upcoming election. How many Jews in Arab countries will serve in their parliaments? Oh wait. Arab countries don't have meaningful parliaments. Oh, and all of the Muslim countries were ethnically cleansed of Jews many years ago. Arab parties on course for 17 seats in Israel election, early results show aje.news/l7fv0z via @AJEnglish

There will only be real change after we abolish politics as a profession. Join me at Citizens Rising. @SallyMayweather citizensrisingusa.substack.c…

Does it seem to you like no responsible party is ever in charge of government? I know that’s how I feel. Politics is a playground for the self-serving, the deceitful and the foolish. Think of the people you know from all walks of life. Are not most reasonably decent and knowledgeable about something? A few people you know will be exceptionally kind and generous. Others highly intelligent and accomplished. But those with the power seem entirely different. Many of them act like sociopaths. To make matters worse, their pathology trickles down to us. Why can’t a nation full of good people fix what’s going so very wrong? Why can’t we organize ourselves to do what is necessary? Here’s an alarming truth: we have not even taken the first step toward fixing our broken political system. James Madison—the Father of the US Constitution— anticipated our problem, which is astounding given how far his time is from our own. Madison was not only a deep political thinker; he was also a political organizer. Madison and Alexander Hamilton launched the convention that designed the US Constitution. Bear with me here, because what follows has everything to do with the place where we now find ourselves. In Madison’s time, critics said the republic he proposed for the United States would never work, because history showed that republics are only appropriate for small communities, like the city-states of ancient Greece. Madison’s political opponents said it was folly to try such a thing in a land the size of America. Madison countered that republics had always been unstable because they had all been too small. In a small group, it’s easy for a majority to form and oppress the minority. However, if the sphere is expanded to include many people in a large geographic region, it becomes increasingly difficult for that oppressive majority to coalesce. In a large republic, many diverse interests might check and balance each other, with none ever becoming strong enough to capture the government for self-serving purposes. As it turns out, a large republic is more stable than a small one, according to Madison. The idea is so prevalent in Madison’s writings and speeches that it’s like an obsession. He must have become a bore at parties. One can imagine Dolley Madison giving James a swift kick under the dinner table as he droned on about the virtues of a large republic where interests could check interests. Madison never imagined a modern government like ours, which is rich enough and powerful enough to serve a vast horde of special interests simultaneously. He also never could have anticipated the incredible changes in wealth, technology and society since his day. Still, Madison perceived a flaw in his own theory about the safety of a large republic that he almost never mentioned to anyone. Even most historians have not picked up on this. Writing privately to his friend, Thomas Jefferson, Madison expressed a worry that he usually kept to himself: “As in too small a sphere oppressive combinations may be too easily formed against the weaker party, in too extensive a one, a defensive concert (emphasis added) may be rendered too difficult against the oppression of those trusted with administration.” Get past the highfalutin language and see what Madison is revealing here. Madison’s “defensive concert” has nothing to do with cellos and oboes. He is referring to the difficulty of taking concerted action when the government no longer represents the people and when the society is large, geographically spread out, and splintered into very many interests and groupings. Is this not where we are today? I have deep and long experience trying to herd the cats for political reform. I have been trying to walk in the footsteps of James Madison most of my life and I bear the scars to show for it. No, I don’t pretend to solve great problems all by myself, but I have been trying to assemble diverse and public-spirited leaders who can. That is what James Madison did, in addition to his own intellectual contributions to the Constitution. Today, money and mindless partisanship plague political reform every bit as much as they debilitate sensible government. Vicious partisan media has otherwise smart and decent people believing that anything “the other side” is for must be stupid, wrong and evil. It is politically and socially costly to work with “the enemy,” so spiteful and knee-jerk have our politics become. I once brought a leading conservative thinker to a dinner with the entire executive leadership of Common Cause. We didn’t get past the appetizer before the President of Common Cause announced that Common Cause was a progressive organization, and implicitly, they were not partnering with any prominent conservatives, no matter how much each side might agree on getting money out of politics. After all, how might Common Cause’s progressive funders react if the organization partnered with notorious conservatives? Another regular feature of the sputtering political reform fiasco is what I call “the hero on horseback” phenomenon. Someone, almost always a male, will ride in with an idea and a small posse of financial backers. Because this hero prioritizes being the hero, he won’t work with anyone who won’t follow his lead. Invariably, little to nothing is achieved. Political reform fiefdoms can go on for years accomplishing nothing this way, until the funders start wondering what it is exactly that they have been paying for. At the dawn of social media, we were told that it had revolutionary potential to organize people to accomplish great things. That’s been true in tech and in the marketplace. The brilliant Linux computer operating system was developed through voluntary online collaboration among software developers. Google reviews and Yelp provide invaluable help to consumers by sorting out good products from bad ones. In politics, however, social media is used as a tool for political manipulation. It turns out that we scarcely need powerful propaganda organs when the people will police political thought themselves. Everyone is herded into the red or blue political narrative where we are kept in line through social punishment. If you dare dissent from a political narrative, you will suffer social abuse. Social media has us doing the work of Big Brother on each other. Rather than being revolutionary, social media is mostly a means of social control. Online political commentators are rewarded for producing content their existing audiences want to consume, rather than challenging assumptions or advancing solutions. Repetition in messaging, an essential practice in propaganda, reinforces political conformity. The same pundit on X will post the same partisan message all day long (assuming the pundit is not really an AI). Of course, there’s potential for constructive political online collaboration, but so far, the political action on the Web is mostly destructive. Meanwhile, the best content either never changes anything or remains siloed. Just as political reform organizations fight with each other over funders, so podcasters and pundits compete for swipes, clicks and subscriptions. A few social media personalities are independent-minded and public spirited, but they are too busy building their own brands to collaborate. Some of our most original thinkers and investigators leave their most important work behind paywalls. Our few constructive public intellectuals can talk and write about valuable subjects with great insight, but they leave the work of real problem solving to someone else who never arrives. The online propaganda, social aggression, scams and smears turn sensible citizens away from social media entirely. It’s hard to organize people when they are not there. All of the above is what happens when a self-serving leadership class is itself the problem. The United States, along with almost every other supposedly democratic nation, needs new leaders not selected through corrupted political processes. It’s not just me, or another hombre on horseback. We need all of us. The problems are so dire and numerous that there’s a place for every would-be civic leader. What we need—as James Madison would urge—is concerted action, because those “trusted with administration” systematically betray us. Leadership is a fundamentally human endeavor. Would-be leaders cannot be reliably judged through the lenses of social media and advertising. True leaders are recognized by their actions and reputations, seen and known by fellow human beings, in person. Those of us who want to fix our failing and corrupt institutions need to be in a room together. We need to look each other in the eyes, shake hands and make plans. It’s time for a Convention of the People. Follow me as we explore the possibilities. Subscribe on Substack to see how we might abolish politics as a profession. citizensrisingusa.substack.c…

Lovely.

I think this is brilliant. But my concern is that we don't have the systemic political structures to replace what must come down. Again, eliminate politics as a profession and crowdsource representative democracy to keep the people in charge of their own nations. See my link below. @brivael citizensrisingusa.substack.c…

Alarmed by the way our political system is failing? Here is a solution: 1. Abolish politics as a profession. Make it a part-time job with a stipend. 2. Crowdsource representative democracy. Very many citizen legislators can serve from home. 3. The Senate is picked through indirect election, either via the state legislatures or via the expanded House. Importantly, political districts would be so small that money would not matter in elections. Once you get money out of the system, you get corporate corruption out also. Sounds impossible? Not at all. Here is a realistic strategy: citizensrisingusa.substack.c…

We all know what the problem is with American government, don't we? It's professional politicians who serve their own interests and not the interests of the people. We all know in our hearts what needs to be done. We must abolish professionalism in elected offices. Normal citizens need to be in charge. This is how you weaken mindless partisanship and bring about clean government. The data is very clear. People of all political persuasions detest professional politicians. We would have a super majority of 70-80% in favor of ending political careerism. That's a lot of political power. Using citizens' initiatives and referendum, begin by amending city and county charters to eliminate full-time elected offices. Massively expand local democratic representation to many normal people who can serve part-time and keep their day jobs. The most livable cities in the world are actually run like this (but not in the USA). Then, in one state that has a citizens initiative process, do the same thing. Create a very large legislature of normal citizens who can serve on the Web from home. In community-sized districts, each of us could elect a trusted neighbor. Elections become fair. Districts are so small that money doesn't matter. Running for office becomes about reputations and relationships, not money and marketing. Elected officials can be based at home, among the people they are supposed to represent. Normal human beings are finally in charge of government. Think of it as "crowd-sourced representative democracy." In one state we will have modeled true citizen government for the rest of the nation, including the US Congress. The citizens' initiative process makes this possible in 18 states, which we can win one at a time. We will need 16 more states to call a constitutional convention (for a total of 34), in order to de-professionalize Congress. Many of these will be small states that are not so dominated by professional politicians. An Article V Convention of the States is called. We abolish professionalism in American elected offices and usher in a new age of citizen government. Yes, it would be difficult. Great achievements are never easy. But we already agree on the problem. The consensus is there waiting to be tapped. Nothing happens until we get ourselves organized. If you like this plan, please share this post. Read more at Citizens Rising. citizensrisingusa.substack.c…