For New Democracy Builders Only
How an Average American Saves America: Epilogue
For those readers of “Politically Speaking” who have not read my series “Diary of a Future Politician,” let me summarize this book for you.
Chapter 1
We are introduced to Lenard Pash, an average American. He just wants a simple life: raising his family, living in a mid-sized town, paying his mortgage, serving his community, and enjoying some recreation. But the factory he has been working for the past 14 years has shut down. And he really has not acquired more useful job skills to find another job.
Len is introduced to a new way of governance by his neighbor and former work colleague, Rich Ridell. Rich has just abandoned his Republican Party and joined a new movement called “Tiered Democratic Governance (TDG).” At first, Len is skeptical. But with so much free time, he takes in a few of Rich’s meetings.
Chapter 2
Len is introduced to the basics of this TDG. He is particularly taken by the “culture of consultation” this TDG says is necessary. He sees various parts of his life where consultation was applied and parts where it was not applied. But these TDG meetings were the first time he has been formally taught about this way of decision making.
Chapter 3
Rich’s group starts putting together a local TDG constitution. At this point, the constitution is mostly about the elections of this local TDG. Len starts seeing the principles of consultation actually being deliberately employed — and with people Len would have probably not associated with before.
Chapter 4
Len is elected to executive committee of this local TDG. He also serves as its treasurer. This group has several challenges, like promoting the TDG and amending the constitution. Len sees consultation, not confrontation, as the means to making decisions. He likes this new way.
Len and Stacey (one of the other executive committee members) have a political disagreement. With the aid of the other two executive committee members, they have an interesting way of resolving their conflict.
Chapter 5
Len’s local TDG helps another TDG get started. Eventually they merge into a new TDG, with Len being an architect of the new merged constitution. One has to wonder how Len; a fairly unassuming man with no chance of acquiring wealth, fame, or influence; was ever given this responsibility.
Part of the new constitution is about changing some electoral rules. These rules led to Len not winning the next election. Len is very disappointed at this loss, and he realizes how important the TDG had become to him. He is now just an ordinary member, with much less influence than before. He rationalizes this turn of life in that he had helped get the TDG started — and maybe that was enough. It is time to get back to being an ordinary American again. And yes, he did find another job.
Chapter 6
Youth from the nearby Indian Reservation are looking for help to set up their own TDG. In an unambitious way, Len finds himself as their TDG advisor, despite not having much experience with Native American culture. Len becomes a natural for this advisory role. He also finds a non-TDG way to help this Reservation move a little bit forward.
The native youth do create their own TDG constitution, combining TDG principles with their traditions and current social structure.
With these six chapters summarized, now you can understand the important message of the epilogue of “Diary of a Future Politician.”
The Epilogue
If you, the reader, have come this far in this book, something very remarkable has happened.
You might have been lured by the title of this novel. Maybe you were expecting a nice guy or gal making the decision to change the USA by entering the field of politics. He or she joins a political party and starts rising up the party hierarchy. Along the way, our protagonist defeats or sidelines some formidable and despicable foes inside the party, while keeping his or her principles intact. Then our hero defeats the formidable and despicable foe from the other party in the general election. After assuming responsibilities of governance, he or she clears out some bureaucratic foes and begins solving USA’s problems. And everyone cheers. This is so much the story we all want to happen.
You didn’t get that story, did you? Yet, you kept reading.
No romance, sex, or affairs. No guns, shooting, blood, or murder. No grand conspiracy by antagonists. In fact, there really isn’t even an antagonist. Rather, this is a book mostly about our protagonists attending meetings. You followed the meetings. You even read through four constitutions, something not found on bestsellers’ lists! If you were looking to be entertained, this story is not exactly a subject to garner great literary awards. Yet you kept reading.
Dystopic literature and filmmaking are very popular these days. This novel goes in an opposite direction, towards some kind of utopia, where people learn to work together. But building this utopia requires time and effort and sacrifice. In these days of promises of quick fixes, why should we invest much of our own time and effort? Let someone else fix democracy, right? Yet you still kept reading.
So here you are: at the end of this novel. I estimate that nine out of ten people who start this novel won’t finish it.
It’s remarkable that you’re the one out of ten.
Think about that for a second!
Here’s my hypothesis as to why you finished this novel. I’d say that you have these special characteristics:
1. You’re an open-minded person, willing to consider new ideas.
2. You realize that western democracy — especially the American version — is breaking down.
3. You realize that western democracy can no longer be repaired. Consciously — or more likely subconsciously — you’ve been considering an alternative.
4. You have a belief in the positive nature of humanity. If a few people can be trained to behave more positively, they’ll affect other people to behave more positively.
5. You know good things come from time and effort. There are very few shortcuts in this world.
6. And you know we must learn new ways. The old ways, however well they might have worked in the past two centuries, just won’t continue to work as our societies get more complex.
So where do you go from here?
The first step is to rid yourself of the sense of powerlessness the current system has inculcated in you. If you’re saying to yourself: “Someone else will build the TDG,” or “It’s just an unreachable utopia,” or “Someone will just fix the current system,” or “Our society is going downhill regardless of what I do;” consider those social forces that made you think this way. These forces don’t want to be replaced. They have a vested interest that you are not thinking about or acting on replacing them with a new system of governance.
Next, read the TDG book. It’s a heavier read than this novel. But this novel has taught you a basic understanding of the TDG, so the TDG book should now be easier to understand. And the book is better at showing you how all the parts of the TDG work together than this novel.
If you like the TDG concept, spread the word. Let your real life community and your online community know about your find. Very likely, there will be a few people in your communities who are thinking just like you. If 1% of your contacts become TDG builders like you and they spread this idea to their communities, the USA and other countries will have a solid foundation to build many local TDGs.
Then start building the TDG in your local area. Consider the first pioneers of this novel: Rich, Len, Jackie, Holger, Stacey, Thelma, Ed, Jerod, Marwan, Aiden, Veronica, Eli, Sky, and Irena. They’re just ordinary people — not much different than you.
Where the TDG goes next is totally up to you. I cannot carry this burden alone.
And remember, you finished reading this novel for a reason.
