In the future politicians will be unpaid. So if you’re currently receiving income as a politician, you can thank me later for giving you the heads up.
But who would do such a job for free? Well… Umm..
Freakin’ heaps of people! And they would, I’m sorry to say, probably produce better legislation.
Don’t believe me?
OK, lets just step away from politics for a sec. Lets take a look at an industry where unpaid work is commonplace.
As Clay Shirky points out in this video, people in the tech world have been producing some of the best programs; cooperatively and without coordination for free.
This is significant.
People can work together to produce what’s needed effectively, without someone telling them what needs to be done.
People like to do stuff that matters. People like to make dents in the universe. People like to master their skills. This video has heaps of awesome examples.
Watching mainstream news makes me wonder how government could be better and the conclusion I came to, is that the way we do government is rapidly becoming obsolete and an upgrade is overdue.
Sure, back in the ancient times, before twitter and facebook, before the intawebz, every community of people really needed someone to represent them, to be their voice in political discussions. I mean, theres only so many people that can fit inside parliament house…
People were, and still are, just too busy with their work, families, and paying off debt. They simply couldn’t take the time off to travel long distances to join in on national decision making.
It was a great idea to pay someone to listen to us and speak on our behalf in parliament.
But times have changed.
We don’t really need this kind of representation anymore.
No matter how many hours we might have to work to pay off debts, our voices can be heard, wherever we are. Anyone can launch a social media campaign to address issues they care about. YAY for technology!
There’s an African proverb; “if you think you’re too small to make a difference you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito”.
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