To those who promote Swiss democracy

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1. Like you, I believe that people who promote democracy are discouraged by the lack of interest or even hostility on the part of citizens. This observation is a good start to realize that despite the overwhelming evidence that db works, most are against it. What is really surprising is that it is not the government that is the biggest opponent – it is the citizens who are most opposed to db. Once we have come to terms with this awareness, it’s time for step 2.

2. Why do people think db won’t work? The best candidate I’ve found is the “illusion of superiority.” Just try this: when someone says that db won’t work because most are stupid, ask them if they would make good decisions in referendums. 99% of people will say that they will make the right decision themselves. The same people will say that 99% of people (they know nothing about) are too stupid to vote.
This theory still has to be proven, but for now let’s assume that it is correct. The illusion of superiority has repeatedly proven itself on many different topics, but not on db). In the meantime, we can try to use what we know about the illusion of superiority to overcome this cognitive bias.

3. Research by psychologists says that people think well not only about themselves. People also consider their friends to be intelligent. So what happens if we start creating democratic communities with groups of friends?
So far, this configuration seems to work in theory (people agree that db will work well in small groups) and in practice (new democratic groups are being formed and their numbers are growing).
What is really convincing about this approach is that this is how Swiss democracy was born. Initially, there were only many separate villages in the mountains. Their inhabitants agreed to cooperate only on the condition that each group would remain independent. This is a truly bottom-up approach.

4. It seems that the following scenario may work:
– many small groups
are formed – each group builds wealth for its members (very important, we are in this place and this stage will take decades but it cannot be overlooked)
– the number of groups and their numbers
are growing – people notice that direct democracy works well on a small scale
– groups come together to achieve a common goal
– the obvious choice of the political system for the confederation of groups seems to be db (but db is not intuitive – all previous experiences on a small scale are proving to be very useful now)
– a peaceful revolution is taking place

5. What I’ve been able to do with this knowledge so far is:
I created voting software inspired by Swiss democracy. It is OpenSource licensed under MIT: https://github.com/soma115/wikikracja
Currently, there are 11 instances of this software working, of which:
– 1 demo instance: https://demo.wikikracja.pl/
– 2 groups are super active
– 4 have low activity
– 1 falls because its creator counts on local governments instead of citizens
– 3 are under construction

Wikicracy software is designed to best serve small communities. Voting is anonymous (based on the zero knowledge proof algorithm), and the group can govern itself without an administrator (members are approved and blocked in the popular vote). I’m adding new features at a fairly decent pace, but help from a Django/Python developer would be appreciated. All in all, there is no problem here, but:
I really need help from a JavaScript developer. I have a chat implemented in Wikicracy, but it is very rudimentary. And Chat has great potential.

I will be happy to run an instance of this software for any group. Just put your details here: https://wikikracja.pl/grupa/ You need 2 other people to start a group. The software can also be installed on your server with or without my help.