What's wrong with democracy?
Why competitive electoral systems don't produce democratic results.
Itâs time to stop expecting a competitive electoral system to produce democratic resultsâor worse, believing it ever intended to.
The system is functioning exactly as designed.
As Steven Covey once said, "If you donât like the results a system produces, change the system." Yet most of us are still hoping that tweaking the edges of electoral democracy will somehow yield justice, fairness, or true representation.
Hereâs the uncomfortable truth: electoral democracy is not democracy. Itâs an oligarchic system disguised as democratic process. Aristotle knew this 2,000 years ago when he said that elections are inherently oligarchicâstructured for rule by the few.
So letâs stop lamenting that there's nothing democratic about it, and start acknowledging two key truths:
- It was never meant to be democratic;
- If we want democracy, weâll have to build it ourselves.
From competition to co-petition
Real democracy isnât about competing for power. Itâs about sharing it. Itâs about co-petitionâworking together in pursuit of common good, not victory over an opponent. Colocracy is grounded in that principle.
It engineers governance toward win-win results rather than the win-lose paradigm electoral systems enforce. But hereâs the catch: the current power structure has no incentive to change anything.
If we want peopleâs government, the people have to build it.
From complaint to responsibility
We canât complain our way to transformation. We have to move from a culture of grievance to a culture of responsibility.
âThe smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.â
âNoam Chomsky
This is why protest is toleratedâbut building alternatives is not. The moment you propose real power transfer, the system will move to crush it.
Building democracy in parallel
By building openly, we allow the public to benchmark the system in real time. By building anonymously, we protect those involved.
This is the foundation of Colocracy. It means verifiable credentials (VCs), biometric authentication, proof-of-humanity safeguards, and transparent governance built on tools like Giteaâdeployable for less than $100.
- Public policy discussion
- Transparent deliberation
- Credential-based legislative selection
This Isnât protestâit's responsibility.
If this resonatesâif you're done waiting for someone else to fix the systemâyouâll want to read the free ebook:
