Day 22: Equal access to congress (Saturday, July 5)

On the second day of collecting data, Rowena asks me if there is an online petition. “Not yet,” I tell her, “that’s the next step. If you could leave an email, that would be great.” People who sign do not seem averse to adding their email address.

There is a guy running for president out on the terrace today. I’ve never heard of him. His name is Donald Allen. He’s from Ohio and he is out here approaching people. He offers his card. I accept.

A police officer comes over. We haven’t met yet (it’s a big force). He asks what this is about. “So you want them to poll us every time they have a vote?” That’s right. “It seems like they’re voting all the time.” There is no question that making our reps more accountable will mean more work for us all. But with a yes-or-no poll, we will limit our share of work to the least amount possible. Of course, people wouldn’t have to vote on every bill: some measures, like earmarks, are local. You could vote just on those laws you feel are vital, or you cold vote on them all, same as the reps are able to. It would be your call.

My view in the morning

Day 23: Power to the p-poll (Sunday, July 6)

An Indian man asks, “can foreigners sign?” A tour guide walks by. “Is that about Ron Paul?” No, I say, digital democracy. Spiel. “Interesting idea. Let me take this and read it.”

On most days, I would say a full 40-50% of visitors to the Capitol are foreigners. Today they seem to outnumber Americans easily, their percentage being up around 70-80.

“O, I get it, ‘Power to the People’,” a girl says, from a distance. Her voice carries, because it’s fairly empty on this end of the terrace.

Dara, a young mother from Arkansas, is with her two kids. “My kids want to know what this means.” Children are much more curious than adults. Even though they can’t always stop and talk to me, most ask their parents what the sign means.

Nora from New Jersey wants to know how we could keep people from voting twice in a preference poll. “How do you know that people haven’t voted twice in a regular election?”, I ask her. The short answer is that like elections, a preference poll would be a government tool. There will always be a chance to use it for ill. Of course there would need to be security measures, but ultimately it boils down to trust. The best we can do is put the tool into place, just like the founders did with popular elections, and then have faith in each other and our system. She signs the petition.

An Australian man. We have a nice talk. He says, “Good luck, but it’ll never work.” He recommends a British sitcom from the ‘70s called “Yes, Minister.” It’s a great spoof on government he tells me.

Day 24: Raise your voice in the House (Monday, July 7)

A woman passes by and tells her companions, “I try not to get involved in that kind of stuff.” I hear you. It doesn’t have to be your life, but we are obligated to get involved if we believe something is not right. After all, how long does it take to see what it’s about and sign a petition or not?

A man walks by with his teenage son, “The first amendment’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?” he says, referring to my sign. An English bloke walks up. He’s an anarchist and wants to talk shop. Nice chap. He calls the P-poll ‘a good cause.’

Lonnie and his family are up from Texas. He’s disappointed that they can’t get in to see some of the House meetings going on. He was at the EPA yesterday. He’s going to email them some photos saying, “Clean up your building—there’s trash all around it.

A young man responding to the sign says, “They don’t let you talk in there, sir.” “I know. That’s why we’re talking out here.” “All right!”

Dilip, an Indian-American from Silicon Valley, says this is a ‘no-brainer.’ “They’re spending taxpayer money on crazy things.” What should we be spending it on? “Education.”

Day 25: Listen to citizens (Tuesday, July 8)

Every day on my way from Union Station to the Capitol building I walk by the Russell Senate Office Building. This morning I see a guy on the passenger side of an older Volvo. He has white hair and looks vaguely familiar. I keep looking. I’m pretty sure it’s Christopher Dodd, Senator from Connecticut, former presidential candidate. The car pulls over to park across the street from me. I see a bumper sticker that reads “Dodd” for something. It’s probably him. I keep walking, but I am thinking. Maybe I should stop and talk to him. I think of my audience, U.S. Reps and average citizens. He is not one of them. I have no brochures handy. I’d have to stop, take my backpack off, and pull one out. It might be awkward. He won’t care. I think. I keep walking.

That was a mistake, I realize at the end of the block. I should have approached him and spoken to him as a citizen. He is not an average one, but he has some power to help us.

It’s hot today. Even the officers have set up a patio umbrella to create some shade at one of their posts halfway up the Capitol steps. The heat keeps people quiet. Few people engage me today.

Some Spaniards come up. “As a politician, how could you know that the results of the poll are accurate?” “How do you know that election results are accurate?” is again the answer. You don’t, but you trust. Let us put the tool in place, do our part in good faith, and leave the rest to trust and fate.

Manipulation of such a system is a common concern. In fact, faithfulness to constituents and genuine representation riveted James Madison’s attention in the beginning. In The Federalist No. 10 he describes this problem as one that cannot be quite solved, at least not by popular elections:

The two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are: first, the delegation of the government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens, and greater sphere of country, over which the latter may be extended.

The effect of the first difference is, on the one hand, to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations. Under such a regulation, it may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves, convened for the purpose. On the other hand, the effect may be inverted. Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people.” (November 23, 1787)

Until we can see the interests of the people on specific House bills, it is impossible to tell if they are being betrayed.

Day 26: Tell your rep how to vote (Wednesday, July 9)

A college kid makes a good point. “We’d be polled on every amendment? I don’t want to vote on trees in Iowa.” Earmarks are local. You could customize the system to deliver polls regarding nationwide legislation only.

Andrew and Annie from Austin, Texas, talk to me for quite some time. They have been activists from early on and they refer me to a couple of organizations. They spent some time with Cindy Sheehan at Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas.

Kaline and Robert are here from Arizona for the Ron Paul rally on Saturday. They are expecting 10-15K.

My view in the afternoon

Day 27: No representation without consultation (Thursday, July 10)

A woman from Ireland is curious about my sign. “What does that mean?” Do you remember “No taxation without representation?” Yes. “That was part one. This is part two. We call it digital democracy . . .” Her name is Geraldine Murphy. I tell her that Ireland produced the greatest poets of the 20th century Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, and Samuel Beckett). I tell her I consider myself to be black Irish. She gets a kick out of that. She says that in Ireland, the country is so small that candidates for Parliament knock on doors. She writes to her representative and she always gets an answer, sometimes two to three pages long. We talk about the EU and the Lisbon Treaty. What was that all about? Well, she says, it had some good elements in it but it would also have required member countries to add more money to their military budgets. Ireland held a referendum. The people voted against it. All the other EU countries voted for it. One country has the power to veto. God bless the Irish.

On the lawn, a group of Somali-Americans is protesting the U.S.-sanctioned Ethiopian occupation of Somalia. There are about 15 to 20 of them. They hold a 20-foot banner and hand held signs.

Officer, “Hey, how you doin’ Pablo? You always have the thought of the day.” Points to my sign. “See what I mean?”

A young man, part of a group of teenagers, referring to the Somalis says, “this is the true Washington spirit.” There is something in freedom lovers that responds to a citizen assembly creating democracy. It is the same thing that makes people respond to me.

The Somalis, now numbering about 40, are chanting pithy refrains in a looping chain: “Ethiopian troops out of Somalia. What we want? Peace. When we want? Now. Ethiopian troops out of Somalia now . . .” They quiet down for a while. A couple of them come by. The two women are young, teenagers I guess, and one says, “What’s your cause?” We talk. She is very articulate, very American, in an indigo headscarf. I ask her about their cause. She says the U.S. backs Ethiopia’s occupation of Somalia because it’s an alternate way to do regime change.

Some French students approach me. I give them the pitch. The apparent leader fires off questions. “You have all the answers.” “I have heard all your questions before.” The leader continues. “We want to be consulted too. He says that the French government used to hold referenda but they didn’t like what the people said so they stopped doing that. They all agree that they are very grateful to the Irish for vetoing the Lisbon Treaty.

The Somalis pick up the chant again. An intern comes by. “That’s pretty cool.” Want to sign? I would but I can’t—I’m working for a member,” points to his photo badge.

Day 28: Gandhi & King would want e-democracy (Friday, July 11)

There is not enough room on the board for the word ‘digital’ so I use ‘e’ instead. A French woman wants to know, “What is e-democracy?” A man walking by reads aloud the sign, “E-democracy, what does that mean?” It strikes me that we are in a position to define some terms, just as the founders were. The difference between a democracy and a republic was James Madison’s concern:

The error which limits republican government to a narrow district has been unfolded and refuted in preceding papers. I remark here only that it seems to owe its rise and prevalence chiefly to the confounding of a republic with a democracy, applying to the former reasonings drawn from the nature of the latter. The true distinction between these forms was also adverted to on a former occasion. It is, that in a democracy, the people meet and exercise the government in person; in a republic, they assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents. A democracy, consequently, will be confined to a small spot. A republic may be extended over a large region. (The Federalist No. 14)

Of course, history has shaped the meaning of democracy, shortening it to mean popular sovereignty, i.e., rule by the people. In the process of researching and writing P-poll: are you happy now?, I looked at my son Daniel’s U.S. Government college textbook. The authors break the American system down into two fundamental parts: National supremacy—the federal government is superior to (and more powerful than) the states—and popular sovereignty (the ability of people to choose their own rulers). And that, in short, is the meaning of democracy—the ability of people to choose their own rulers. Incidentally, Hitler in his Mein Kampf says, “Sooner will a camel pass through the eye of a needle, than a great man be found by an election.” But that is the virtue of democracy—candidates must stand up to a diversity of views. And because the winning candidates must appeal to the most people, they are often likely to be the best candidates.

At any rate, e-democracy so far has been associated with electronic voting. But it can be more than that. If ‘democracy’ means rule by the people, and ‘electronic’ means via electricity, well, it makes sense to me that ‘e-democracy’ means using electricity to extend the rule of the people. On the other hand, ‘digital democracy’ may be the better phrase because ‘analog’ describes a system that uses a continuous signal to represent information. ‘Digital’, on the other hand, means a system that uses discrete values to represent information for input, i.e., piece by piece. Right now representation is analog—we place a vague continuous pressure on our leaders to do the right thing by and for the country. Making it digital would make the pressure discrete by measuring the will of the people on proposed laws. It would be very specific whereas now it’s very general. Sure you can write to your congressperson about specific issues and raise hell, but that’s all unofficial. Making democracy digital and making it formal would change the world.

So, about today’s sign, these two guys dedicated their lives to giving more power to average citizens. Can you think of a better way to empower average citizens than to give them an official conduit to their elected representative? I can’t.

A group of children is on the lawn. They are young, probably age 6-12, and African Americans all. There are about 300 hundred total. They are with the Freedom School and this is their Social Action Day. Led by a handful of teachers, they are carrying a banner and signs. They have a stage set up. A group leader is the M.C. She runs the program very smoothly. They chant, call and response. “What do we want?” “Health coverage for all children.” “When do we want it?” “Now.” Congressman Bobby Scott addresses them. They thank him with a song. Then one of the students gets to talk. He’s seven. They thank him with a song. Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children’s Defense Fund, gets a turn on the podium. They thank her with a song. “Good job, good job,” is their chant.

Conclusion: democracy is a duty

A legislative preference poll, in principle is simple. In practice, though, it involves many details. The future of the word ‘democracy’ may be up for grabs. The next development in its meaning is in our hands.