So 2016 has shown that humankind is fundamentally incapable of making a correct democratic decision. Brexit, Trump: each time masses believed the lies, vilified dispensers of reason and truth, didn’t see the contradiction in the promises. Some suggest that we must end democracy to prevent this from happening, do technocracy instead where some elite class rules, but I don’t think that is right. We just need help.

So how about this as a future system. Instead of people and parties, we vote for a list of principles and prioritize them. Like the top1000′s that you get on the radio at the end of the year, people send in their top something of principles and they are compiled into a massive list of values of your country. Each time a decision needs to be made, the cost (material and immaterial) is calculated and compared to the values on the list. From that the country knows what to allow and what to ban, how much to invest in what, etc. These kind of calculations are already regularly made today, e.g. when political parties submit their manifesto; at least that’s what’s done in my country.

The advantage is that this whole system can be run automatically. Each time a problem comes up, the cost can be calculated by a computer, compared with the compiled list of the country’s value system and you’ll have your answer. No more need for referenda on an isolated topic. No more need for government and parliament making the decisions (not) based on the unrealistic promises they made a few years ago.

Such an automatocracy is still a democracy. We still decide. It is still a compromise derived from the value systems of all the people living in a country. But by cutting out the politicians, it’s probably a lot cleaner implementation of the democratic ideals.

Wow, after I made up the above and googled some stuff to check, it turns out this idea already exists and has done for some time. So, why don’t we do it?