A New System of Government

There will always be conflicting interests in society, and therefore in government. Every interest group has a voice, but in different (figurative) volumes, depending on their financial clout and political connections.

A typical example is when a nation’s parliament is preparing to vote on a particular issue that will affect several facets of society or the economy. Certain segments form lobby groups (or rally their existing lobby groups) to petition the government to influence the decision. Although the reasons for doing so might be important, for example preventing undue harm to their industry, the means often takes the form of corruption. These processes of lobbying and corruption also mean that some industries or interests have an unfair share of the national voice. Many interest groups have no voice at all. It also creates an environment where conflicting interests are fighting for opposing measures and bog down government progress.

Instead, a system of government must be created where the public produces a blueprint for the direction of the country, and can organize the society’s and economy’s interest groups to work for them. These interest groups should then be able to share the national forum to discuss their needs and concerns in an absolutely transparent manner, in plain view of the public.

In effect, the public would be presenting their goals, and then the nation’s interest groups would organize to meet them. The interest groups would propose the requirements that they would need to meet the nation’s goals, and to thrive with their own operations, in a grand reconciliation process.

This system would bring lobbying, currently an avenue for corruption, into a channel for all individuals and sectors to voice their needs with complete transparency.

Concurrently, the constitution must include rules based on Ireland’s Lobbying Act, an exemplary rule set to ensure the utmost transparency in lobbying, with a special body to oversee these rules. It uses the broadest possible definition of a lobbyist, defined as “anyone who employs more than 10 individuals, works for an advocacy body, is a professional paid by a client to communicate on someone else’s behalf or is communicating about land development is required to register themselves and the lobbying activities they carry out.”

To implement such a system, while maintaining the values of the New Physiocrats, a quadricameral parliament must be in place. It would comprise the following 4 chambers:

The Chamber of National Objectives (CNO)

The Chamber of Economic Design (CED)

The Chamber of National Society (CNS)

The Chamber of Transparency (COT)

The Chamber of National Objectives (CNO) must consist of directly elected representatives, using ranked ballots with a single transferable vote (STV) method, and an independent districting organization (to prevent gerrymandering). It must also have a Swiss-style direct democracy component, in which the public can introduce bills to the chamber. Each district must be relatively large to reduce corruption (by being answerable to a large number of people), and to increase government efficiency and expense (reduce the number of local governments).

The chamber would be responsible for drafting a long-term (10-year) vision; one that would be representative of the desires of the population. This would be the starting point from which the entire legislature would work together to plan its course of action.

The purpose of the Chamber of Economic Design (CED) would be to draft forward-looking economic policies based on the CNO’s vision.

The capital division of the CED must assemble capital industry groups together by their respective Sectoral Banks. This would include seats for the Basic Essentials Bank, Agriculture Bank, Manufacturing Bank, Resource Exploration Bank, Strategic Technology Bank, Infrastructure Industry Bank, Electrical Energy Bank, Export Development Bank, National Defense Bank, Housing Bank, Cultural Bank, and the Startup Bank. Each of these divisions would be of equal size, and would be elected by companies in their respective industries.

The land division of the CED would consist of three directly democratically elected organizations: the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Visual Space, and the Renters Union. These would represent all the interests of locations and physical space, including the environment, architecture / other elements of visual space, and accessibility of space for living.

The labor division would consist of unions and other labor organizations. The formation of these organizations would be very simple, as would be their ability to enter the chamber. Yet the powers to directly negotiate [employer-paid] wages and cash equivalents would be unavailable, as this goes against the principles of price-wage flexibility of the New Physiocrats, which recognize the incredible damage of price and wage controls. Instead, their role in government would be to formulate sound policy for the labor market in all other areas they see fit, and to address the labor markets concerns. This would include working hours, granting the labor market a degree of democratic control over their own time (working hours).

The consumers half of the CED would consist organizations related to end consumers, chiefly the democratically elected Department of Consumer Protection, and the Consumers Bank. The interests of these groups would be aligned with consumer safety, fairness, prices, and product quality / longevity.

Each half of the CED would have an equal number of seats, and each division within the halves would also have an equal number of seats. By balancing the powers of consumers, producers, labor, and physical space; cartel-like behavior would be mitigated, while offering a forum for all voices to be heard.

Not only would the CED give citizens a measure of control over their economic future (within the context of a free market), it also grants the public a tool to protect national interests in the face of competing countries that use state-run entities to achieve their geopolitical objectives. Economic groups would have a channel to raise concerns about unfair practices, and agree on a course of action with all other segments of the economy and society.

The Chamber of National Society (CNS) would also be divided into two halves: Urban and Rural, each with an equal number of seats. This chamber would be purposed with ensuring that the cultural, social, and economic interests of each societal group are voiced. There must be reserved divisions for the democratically elected departments for urban and rural affairs (elected by urban and rural voters respectively). The remaining seats would be filled by regional, ethno-cultural, and arts groups based on population, and which would be freely formed by members of the public. Depending on where the group originates and where its activities and members reside, would determine which half of the chamber in which it would be placed.

The purpose of the Chamber of Transparency (COT) must be to preserve government transparency, present a cost-benefit analysis on spending/regulatory bills, guarantee that the long-term interests of the country are ensured, and that the articles of the constitution are abided by. The chamber would consist of the (independently elected) Ministry of Transparency & Efficiency (MTE), the League of Futurists & Historians (LFH), and the Constitutional Guard.

The MTE would have the power to monitor, record, and broadcast parliamentary actions through its own media services. It would have to answer to any public concerns about corruption, and its compensation structure would be a function of the public score on corruption. Impeachment of its members would be possible via public petition. It would operate the national anti-corruption agency, meaning this agency would also answer to public demands. Finally, this would be the division responsible for presenting the cost-benefit analysis on spending/regulatory bills.

The LFH would be elected on longer (10-year) terms, and would require special qualifications to run for election. Half of the members must be under 40 years old, and all members must carry certain high-level qualifications in history and economic history. Salaries would be particularly high, and a function of median net income (adjusted for purchasing power) and environmental and social indicators. Its role would be to provide a long-term, far-forward-looking decision-making arm in government, and to compare policies to those previously applied in foreign countries as well as domestically. In part, it would inform government on the long-term effects of its proposed policy decisions, and recommend alternative options. As with other positions, members could be impeached by public petition.

The Constitutional Guard would be elected by the members of the Constitutional Law Guild, which in itself would have special educational requirements in constitutional law and New Physiocratic principles for its licenses.

While the Chamber of Transparency could not introduce new bills, it would closely monitor the actions of parliament, present any concerns, and a supermajority majority vote in the chamber would have the power to veto any bills, regardless of origin. The public must also retain the ability to petition the leadership of the anticorruption agencies and sections of the COT to step down if there is overwhelming support for impeachment. The independence of the anticorruption framework is paramount to the sound implementation of policy.

Legislative bills could be introduced freely by any of the divisions, aside from the COT, as long as a division has its own majority in which to do so. The bills would then need to be voted on within the entire chamber, reconciled, and approved by a majority in each chamber.

Presidents would be elected to 5-year terms and would be judged by their ability to work toward the public’s 10-year visions in the face of unknown circumstances and potential shocks.