I am calling for a revolutionary change in democracy. Not a change of leaders, but of the institutional system itself. The inherited flaw is foundational: modern democracy was built on the blueprint of the monarchy it replaced. We kept the architecture of domination and called it freedom.
Democracy’s True Purpose
At its best, democracy solves an inescapable problem: all people, however intelligent, are fallible. Individually, we usually err one time in ten, hoping it isn’t on something critical. But in a collective society, a single catastrophic decision can destroy us all.
Democracy’s core role is clear. When many informed but fallible people decide together by majority rule, the probability of disaster plummets. Democracy is, at its heart, a Decision Game—a mechanism for collective rationality.
The Shadow We Inherited
But modern democracy is also a Power Game. When representative government emerged from European nation-states, it didn’t erase the old hierarchical system—it absorbed it. The state had been forged through centuries of conquest, where winners took all and rewarded allies. Its ultimate tool was organized violence.
We inherited both games in one unstable hybrid:
| Decision Game | Power Game | |
| Goal | Public good | Personal gain |
| Method | Deliberation & voting | Strategy |
| Logic | Cooperation | Domination |
The Corruption
The Power Game is embedded in the system’s DNA. Thus, decisions are made not only for the public good but for strategic advantage. Salaries rise while services crumble. Public assets flow to political allies. And the spectacle of power—the theater of dominance—is increasingly mistaken for governance itself.
We cheer for leaders who crush opponents. We treat elections as sporting events. This zero-sum mentality, built on conflict rather than cooperation, guarantees instability. When power is at stake, the cooperative spirit of the Decision Game is always the first casualty.
The Path Forward
Revolution means surgery: separating the essential from the destructive.
We must decouple entertainment from politics and, more critically, decouple the Power Game from the Decision Game. A resilient democracy is possible. But only if we consciously design institutions that minimize the struggle for control and maximize the mechanisms for rational choice.
This is not Utopian. Switzerland uses direct democracy to prioritize collective decisions over political maneuvering. Consensus-based systems in cooperatives and indigenous governments prove that governance can be collaboration, not combat. Equal Peer Democracy is the tool.
A Call to Action
Change will not come from above. It never does.
We must demand reforms that separate these two games. Support leaders who prioritize the public good over personal victory. And engage—not as spectators cheering from the stands, but as players in the game that matters.
The question is simple: Do we want a democracy that decides well, or one that merely crowns winners?
The answer will determine whether we flourish or fall.