Updated version of NK-govt -- Left-Wing Discussion

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: Tue 2003-08-19 18:21:43
Author: arendt
Subject: Updated version of NK-govt
In reply to: arendt (reposting redeye from DU) 's message, "A new form of government - given that the current model is outdated" on Tue 2003-08-19 18:20:13

Hi, Redeye-

Sorry not to respond in detail with this post. I thought you might like to have
my current thinking to study while I study yours.

The biggest change I have made to my original proposal is to incorporate an
empirically/biologically motivated reason for hierarchical legislation. This
comes from my study of brain architecture (wife is a neuropsychologist, I
have Ph.D. in biophysics and have done a stint as a CPU architect).

Feel free to ask for clarification of terminology.

Basically, the brain is organized in some kind of a hierarchy, but there is
disagreement and lack of understanding about exactly what sort. The vision
system is the most studied. Basically, the brain areas for vision form a
feedback hierarchy. The lower parts of the hierarchy do the simple analysis -
this is a line, that is a circle. The next level up creates objects, and separates
figure from ground - it produces what the Gestalt psychologists understood
seventy years ago. Higher than that, and you get object tracking. At each
level, the spatial resolution goes down and the level of abstraction goes up.

What is newly understood is that this is not just a feedforward hierarchy. It
is also a feedback hierarchy. For example, have you ever looked at a trick
picture or an optical illusion? You can focus your attention and force your
brain to see the image in a completely different way. Basically, the higher
levels are laying down a template and telling the lower levels: connect these
lines, ignore that feature, this goes in front of that.

When all the levels are in equilibrium, we have a stable picture of the world.
This is the science I want to incorporate.

Since I have been working with powers of two, my first crack at this hierarchy
was a pyramid that reduced four at each level. When I ran the numbers, I
realized that the existing two level hierarchy was actually a three level hierarchy,
if you include the cabinet members. Look at the numbers.

Suppose I have 10 cabinet deparments and two layers of four-fold pyramidal
legislatures under each department.

160 + 40 + 10 = 210 legislatures x 100 = 21,000 critters

Forty 2nd level legislatures corresponds roughly to 20 + 17 current committees,
but those committees are largely duplicated in House and Senate . Ten 3rd level
corresponds roughly to number of cabinet departments.

This says:

160/210 = 76% critters at level 0
40/210 = 19% critters at level 1
10/210 = 4.76% critters at level 2

vs today:
476/591 = 80.5% at L0
100/591 = 17.0% at L1
15/591 = 2.5% at L2 (15 cabinet secretaries)

Each cabinet dept has 1 L2 + 4 L1 + 16 L0 legislatures = 21 x 100 = 2100 staff

Here is where the idea really solidified. Let's make the cabinet officers the
"president" of each pyramid of legislatures. I mean, cabinet officers are part
of the executive branch. Except today, they are like Congressional staffers -
we don't vote for them; they are appointed by crooked political logrolling.

So, now what? I have fifteen independent "executive branch" presidents.
Well, I think, at this level, those presidents should play by parliamentary
rules and "form a government" by electing one of their number the actual
and true "president". Only, he is more like prime minister. This highest
level of government would have "votes of confidence" so that presidents
that are awful can be removed immediately. Yet, the people doing the
removing are elected.

The secretaries and legislatures would have removal by impeachment and/or
censure, just like the U.S. today.

Whereas each citizen gets to vote only in a few specialized legislatures, he
does get to cast a vote for more cabinet members than legislators. For example,
if he gets to cast five legislative votes, he might get to cast ten cabinet member
votes.

The hierarchy is not only for checks and balance reasons, although they are
vital. Based on the brain hierarchy, I can say that lower level legislatures do
more of the scut work. They compute the budget (more on budget later, as
it is very important for integrating the separate cabinet departments).

One of the things the brain people say about the lowest level of the hierarchy
is that, because it has the highest spatial resolution, it is the "blackboard" that
all the hierarchy uses to write down and expand the entire comprehension.

So, I don't have a hierarchy just to avoid unicamerality. I have a hierarchy
that divides tasks into simpler and more complex.

If a lowest level legislature concerns itself with one task, sort of like a subcommittee
today, a second level legislature may coordinate tasks of related subcommittees,
and work out the division of budget allocations between them. A top level legislature
is doing the executive work of a cabinet department. It is setting policy, etc.

I have some rules about voting for and being elected to legislatures. Except at
startup of this Constitutional government, you can't jump in from nowhere and
become cabinet secretary. First you have to be elected to a level 0 (bottom) legislature
for X terms. Then you have to be elected to level 1 legislature, etc. This means
no more dilletantes, celebrities, and rich boys. They gotta do the work.

Also, this solves the issue of how voters get "seniority". For example, at age 21
you can vote only for L0. At age 25, you can vote for L0, and you get new votes
in L1, and you can vote for a few cabinet secretaries. Finally, at age 30, you get
L2 votes and the max number of CS votes.

This proposal lets young people vote, but does not give their immaturity full scope.
There is a precedent in the Constitution, in which there are age qualifications for
holding certain offices.

----

That's my current thinking. It evolves when I have time to work on it, and as I read
more cognitive science results. The theory I'm reporting on goes by the name of
Reverse Hierarchy Theory.

----

I am really amazed that you buy into this. We should talk. Too bad you are in CA
and I am in MA. Let me know what you think

arendt

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]