Mind Mastery

“Hi everyone, Theresa here.

Sometimes it can be easier to show you how something works rather than explain it.

I’m going to show you some examples of modern democracy and real democracy and see if you can spot the difference.

So right now, you’re all going to be voting for whether myself or Rebecca is going to be the mayor of Frocksville.”

A group of men violently stood up and yelled at Theresa.

“The whole point of this meeting is so we don't have crazy people thinking they can be the boss of us all and now you go and declare we have a choice of dictatorship between you or her”!?

Theresa laughed. “I’m very glad you know what an involuntary society looks like, but this is just an example. 

A real democracy doesn't have mayors and isn't like modern democracy in the respect of only being able to choose your dictator."

“Oh, sorry” The group of men sat back down and crossed their arms.

“Don’t be sorry, I’m glad we have such passionate men attending the meeting, we can’t make this happen without a bit of masculine energy” She said as she winked at them.

They looked at each other with cheeky grins and uncrossed their arms.

“Ok, so back to the purely theoretical examples of modern democracy and real democracy.

Rebecca wants to increase GST to 15% so she can install more security cameras and hire more police to increase town safety.

I want to leave GST at 10% but introduce 14 new tax laws so we can build a new military base in town, just in case there is civil unrest that needs to be put down quickly.

So who do you vote for? 

If you don’t vote, you will be fined and police will be coming to your house to collect the amount owed. 

Hands up if you vote for me?

No hands in the room were raised.

“Raise your hands if you vote for Rebecca”.

Again, no hands were raised.

“Oh no, it looks like you are all going to be fined and be getting visits from the police!”

So that was obviously a demonstration of modern democracy.

Here’s a demo of real democracy.

Please raise your hands if you would like me to get off stage now so Larry can explain community protection.”

A few people raised their hands.

“Oh my, I’m sorry you feel that way!”

The crowd laughed.

“Ok, raise your hand if you would like me to continue my democracy show and tell?”

Most of the crowd now raised their hands with smiles on their faces.

“See, how simple is that, democracy!

The crowd clapped and smiled.

"Since most of you voted for me to continue, more than 51%, which is the amount to be considered a majority, then I shall keep demonstrating what real democracy looks like.

So here’s another one.

Who wants taxes increased by 5%?”

No one raised their hands.

“Who votes to have police go door to door collecting that increase in taxes that they didn't vote to support?”

No one raised their hands.

“Ok, that’s good to see.

Now, who votes to have another community meeting like this at 6.00pm next Sunday?

Before they could vote, a lady stood up with her hand raised.

“Excuse me Theresa, may I speak for a moment?”

“Yes of course you may.”

“I think if we are going to be finishing at 9.30pm, that’s getting a bit late, what if we were to start at 5.30pm instead of 6pm?”

“Ok team, let’s put it to the vote, who would prefer 5.30pm?”

About 70% of people raised their hands.

“And 6pm”?

The rest raised their hands.

“Ok well, I don't need to count every hand to see that 5.30pm is more popular. That’s settled then.

Ok, back into it.

Who votes that the speed limit should be reduced by 10kmph everywhere in town and that if you get caught going at the old speed, you will be fined?”

No one raised their hands.

“Good as that would be really silly now wouldn’t it?”

People nodded in agreement.

“Michael has an idea to build special radio towers that will allow us free access to the internet, meaning you won’t have to pay for home WiFi or mobile data anymore when you’re in Frocksville.

Who votes that they would support the idea of building these towers, as long as they are proven to be 100% safe?”

Most people raised their hands.

“I’m asking for a volunteer who didn’t raise their hand to share why they wouldn't support such an idea please”.

A woman stood up and started speaking.

“We already have too many towers in town that emit harmful radiation that’s affecting our kids and causing depression. 

It’s just not safe.

Theresa said “If we made sure through proper testing that our new towers would be safe and we decided to replace all the harmful towers in the town with safe towers, would you then support the idea”?

“Well, yes, yes I would” Said the lady as she sat down.

“Wonderful.

“Greg has an idea of building a free energy device, a machine that can power your home indefinitely, require no maintenance and will be very cheap to purchase. 

It would decentralise our power grid, making it less likely you would lose power from weather events or accidents at a centrlaised power facility. 

It would also make all your electricity free of course.

As long as it’s proven to be 100% safe, would you vote to support Greg’s idea so then everyone in Frocksville can have one of these devices in their home to generate free electricity?”

Most people raised their hands.

"If you were able to have access to the design and step by step instruction manual of this free energy device, would you consider building it for yourself?"

Many hands were raised.

“Arnold wants to begin replacing damaged sections of road with a new prototype made from recycled plastic, called plasroad.

This idea will use plastic rubbish that has been recycled to make roads that are 250% stronger, estimated to last 780% longer and are 300% cheaper to build.

Hands up if you would prefer to stick with our current method of building roads where you are taxed on your petrol, registration and income to continuously pay for the repair of roads? Which when it comes to the roads that are built nowadays, is about every 6 weeks or so!

No one placed their hand in the air, but the crowd did laugh and nodded in agreement, acknowledging all the poor quality roads.

“Hands up if you would prefer to start implementing Arnold’s idea of plasroad?

Almost everyone raised their hand.

“A volunteer please who didn’t raise their hand”? Inquired Theresa.

A man stood up and said “Because I have a blueprint I’m ready to build that will make cars hover. We won’t need roads then.”

“Well that’s a fantastic idea and I hope to see your presentation at a meeting very soon” answered Theresa.

“Gerry has an idea of building cars that have a free energy device powering them, very similar to Greg’s idea, an electromagnetic engine that never runs out of fuel and doesn't require any maintenance or very little. This would mean you wouldn't have to pay for petrol ever again and car maintenance cost would dramatically decrease.

Would you vote to support this idea?”

Most raised their hands.

“A volunteer please?”

A young man wearing a baseball cap stood up “I like petrol cars, they’re fun”.

“Of course, I can see the attraction, it’s the smell isn’t it? Joked Theresa.

“No one would be taking your petrol cars from you, you could still use them if you like, or just keep it as a hobby for race tracks.

Similar to how we don’t rely on horses for transportation anymore but people still ride horses.”

“Yeah true, that’s a fair point” answered the baseball cap man.

“Hands up to vote to keep petrol cars, maintenance, paying for petrol, paying for petrol tax and polluting the environment, as the only solution for powering our cars?” Theresa added the last part just to be clear.

One old man put his hand up and said "What about electric cars"?

Theresa answered "Electric cars have a short distance they can travel before needing to be recharged. They still require power from somewhere to recharge them. The batteries are very expensive, are hard to make and last less than 10 years. They are also known to have many problems, like the batteries exploding.

Gerry has informed me that the eletromagnetic engine, which he has a working prototype, can run continuously, meaning it can go for millions of kilometeres, doesnt need to be recharged and requires very little to no maintenance. It's also very cheap to manufacture.

That's a very simple and basic explanation, I'm sure he will have a presentation of how it works in the near future.

Does that answer your question?"

The old man nodded, "that's enough info for now, I'd like to see this thing working before I actually believe it."

"Fair enough, ok onto the next idea.

“Instead of paying for yearly registration and number plates, would you prefer a system where you were issued a free plate and had the choice to record it in the town database or not, for free, would you vote for that?”

Almost everyone raised their hands.

“A volunteer please who does not support this idea?”

A short haired middle aged woman stood up.

“Well, if we aren't paying for registration, how are we going to pay to build and fix roads”?

“Via donations of course” Answered Theresa.

“Any town project that has our backing and which a form of currency is necessary to complete, we will donate.

If a cause is worth supporting, people will show their support through wilful donations.

If it’s not a cause worth supporting, well, it won’t go ahead.

This way we make sure that things only change in our town because we the people will it.

Not because a ruler said we had no other choice.

Even better than the idea of currency donations is the idea of volunteering and resource donations.

If someone who had the resources to build a new road donated the required materials to the town, then the people needed to build it volunteered their time, we wouldn't even require monetary donations.

A touch better method then the old ‘pay your rego or else’ threat, don’t you think?

‘Yes, I think you’re right, that is a better way, thank’s for your time.” Said the short haired woman.

“My pleasure” Responded Theresa.

“If we could start using an alternative currency that there was no gst, no fees and no taxes, such as The Freedom Credit, would you consider using that currency alongside the national currency?

Everyone raised their hands.

“Aaron wants to build a football stadium on Smith avenue, would you vote to support the idea of building it there?”

Only 20% of people raised their hands.

“Do you believe that whatever we decide here in Frocksville, we have the right to enforce our decisions onto our neighbouring towns?

The crowd looked a bit confused at this question.

“Ok I’ll say that another way. If we decide that we will use the freedom credit here in Frocksville, do you think we should be able to force people in our neighbouring town, Shermanville, that they must also use The Freedom Credit?”

Three people raised their hands.

“A volunteer please for why you support forcing others to do something?”

A man in his early 20’s stood up.

“Well, don't we want people to use The Freedom Credit so then we don't have to pay taxes and all that?”

“Yes that’s what we want, but as soon as we force or threaten anyone to do something against their will, we become the bad guys, we're no different than government then, it doesn't matter how good our idea is. If they want to use The Freedom Credit then they must voluntarily choose to use it. Does that make sense”?

“Oh Ok, I see now. We should let them decide to use it. If they want to use it they will. If they don’t, they won’t. Gotcha.”

“Yes that’s right.”

Theresa continued.

“Sally wants a bridge built from Frocksville to Shelter island to replace the ferry. Would you vote to support this idea?”

About half the crowd raised their hands.

“Karen would like there to be an open speed limit on the freeway going through Frocksville, do you support this idea?”

60% of people raised their hands.

“A volunteer please”?

A man wearing a blue shirt stood up.

“It’s just too dangerous”.

“Do you know that studies show it’s not speed which is dangerous, it’s lack of concentration?

It’s much more difficult to be distracted when going fast than when going slow, but I hear your concerns.

Perhaps this next idea may help.

“Peter would like to build a driver education track and facility so we can have a higher level of training for drivers to improve skills and safety on the road.

It would be a free of charge course run by volunteers and the system would be modelled off professional race car drivers, who have to be the best drivers in the world.

Would you vote for this idea to be implemented?”

Everyone raised their hands, especially the blue shirted man.

“Susan doesn't like it how people in the community take drugs, but she likes it even less when they get punished for doing so.

She wants to abolish the idea that punishment is the answer for taking drugs and instead build a facility to help educate people on the dangers of drugs and provide a safe place to assist them coming off drugs.

This would be a free of charge service offered to help people who have drug problems.

Since this is two topics in one, I’ll ask each question separately.

Do you support the idea of violent force and punishment being used against people who take drugs, I don't mean people who take drugs and drive or cause trouble, just people taking drugs and behaving peacefully at home?”

No one raised their hands.

“Do you support the idea of allowing people to make their own choices and to take drugs?”

80% of people raised their hands.

“Do you support the idea of building a drug support and rehab centre in town and offering a free service to help those in need?”

Everyone raised their hands.

“Do you support the idea of building homeless shelters and providing a safe place for those people to get back on their feet?”

Everyone raised their hands.

“Do you support the idea of installing 60 new security cameras around town?”

Only 15% of people raised their hands.

“Do you support the idea of having more police checkpoints for alcohol breath testing?”

Only 10% of people raised their hands.

“Do you support the idea of developing self driving cars that use free energy engines that have been proven safe and could operate like a free Uber service for in town?”

Most people raised their hands.

“A volunteer please?”

A dark skinned man stood up.

“I work as an Uber driver now, I would lose my job if this happened.”

“If you were able to find or create a new job that you enjoyed more and which paid better, would you support this idea?”

“Well, it’s not that easy finding a new job you know”…..

“If we came up with a solution to help people like you transitioning away from jobs that machines can do and helped you find your place doing something else that only a human can do, would you like that”?

“Well yes, if there was a system to help, that would be Ok then”.

“Beautiful” Said Theresa before continuing.

“Do you support the idea of more random compliance checks by police to ensure you are obeying national policy?”

No one raised their hands.

“Do you support the idea of a new recycle bin offered free of charge for every house dedicated to metals?”

Most raised their hands.

“A volunteer please”?

A pot bellied man in his 60’s stood up.

“I have a car yard and I keep lot’s of metal, I don’t want to go giving it away for nothing”.

“As is your right, no one would force you to recycle things you wanted to keep.

The choice is yours.

The metal recycle bin would be optional for those who think they could value from it.

Would that make you change your mind and support the idea”?

“Oh yeah that’s alright then, I just don’t want anyone taking my metal”.

The crowd laughed.

“Do you support the idea of building a tram line through the middle of town?

50% of people raised their hands.

Do you vote to remove the current town policy of requiring a permit to build on your own land?

80% of people raised their hands.

As you can clearly see, this is how real democracy works.

There is no rulership or authority required.

People simply come up with ideas, present them to the community and the people vote yay or nay to implement said idea.

It really is super simple.”

“What about for those people who aren't at the meeting, how do they have their say? Piped up an elderly woman sitting at the front.

“Would you vote for the idea of building a community based app where you can see all current ideas being suggested and vote online as well as in person at these meetings?”

Most people raised their hands.

“Does that answer your question mam?

“Oh yes thanks that’s a good idea, but I’m not so good at technology, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to use it.”

“Please raise your hand if you would be able to offer assistance to, what’s your name ma’am?”

“Alberta.”

“To Alberta here?”

At least 10 people raised their hands.

“As you can see Alberta, many people would be willing to help you.”

“Oh that really is excellent, thank you all!”

“Is there anyone in the room who could develop and build the app?”

Several people raised their hands.

“Fantastic!

Who would now like to here from Larry about community protection?”

People half heatedly raised their hands.

“We want to hear more from you!” Someone called out.

Theresa laughed.

Ok ok, I'll leave you with this summary.

Modern democracy is voting for which dictator you would like to make every decision for the next however many years.

Real democracy is everyone voting all the time on every decision.

Ok, I’ve spoken enough for now. 

What Larry has to say is very important, so over to Larry.

Larry walked out on to the stage.

“Well, I know when I’m welcome don’t I!

Raise your hands if you want to hear about community protection and security!

People laughed and raised their hands.