If you search Internet for Bitcoin, Ethereum and other crypto currencies, you will soon come across the expression: “decentralization” of finance, of information. The new technology, blockchain, will make unnecessary most of the current banks, Google, the YouTube, Facebook, etc.
The new technology of blockchain will simplify and reduce the cost of bank transactions, of buying and selling houses, will give artists control of what they do without intermediaries, etc.
In the cryptoworld, they refer to this as decentralization. This means, for example, that the buyer and the seller of a house will not need real estate agents and lawyers, and will not have their fees. This will happen because the thousand of blockchain computers, that can not be comntrolled by central entity, will have all the information seller and buyer need about each other. As a result, they know who the other party is; they know they can trust each other to satisfy their part of the deal.
Like wise will happen with videos. With this technology, a person will post the video in the new Internet, no need to go to YouTube. Any other Internet user will find the video with the search engine. No need to sign up and supply information to any central entity, no possibility of being censored, etc.
We could say blockchain technology is about decentralisation, about economic democracy, of decisions regarding buying, selling, information, contracts, etc.
Direct democracy is similar. It is about decentralizing decision-making. In a direct democracy, the voters elect the politicians, like in traditional democracy, but they also have the power to decide and prevail over the decisions of the politicians. They do not need to do that all the time, just when 1% of the registered voters decide they want all voters to decide in a referendum if they accept or reject any decision the politicians make. They also give themselves the right to force the politicians to do things the politicians might not do otherwise.
The people in a direct democracy have the power, for example, to stop a law to raise taxes, or a law to privatise health insurance. But they also have the power to do the opposite, to reduce taxes, or to institute universal health insurance.
I believe the decentralisation of much of the economic decisions dovetails with the decentralisation of political decisions. We could say that political direct democracy and economic direct democracy reinforce each other.
The new technology of blockchain may also help carry out elections without cheating and corruption. But if a country has direct democracy, cheating and corruption are not a problem because the people have the power to force the politicians to pass the laws.
With the mainstreaming of Bitcoin, Ethereum, ADA-Cardano, Chainlink and others, we have another factor to help current representative democracies grow towards direct democracy.
By the way, blockchain technology is a better technology, just like using fire to cook meat was a clear improvement over eating raw meat. There is some resistance to anything new, even when it is a clear advance. The same thing happened with microwaves, TV, cars, mobile phones, etc., it is normal, but as time passes people accept the new advance. That is why practically all of humanity eats cooked meat, uses phones and cars.
This is also why there is also resistance to direct democracy among ordinary citizens, even if it empowers them and is beneficial for them. Politicians in representative democracies no not like direct democracy because they prefer centralized decision-making, centralized in themselves. For the same reason, the industries, and governments, that will be disrupted by blockchain initially resist it. However, like in the case of cooking meat, TVs, cars, etc., direct democracy will become the normal democracy.
Direct democracy bring better political management to our lives, blockchain brings to us better economic management.
So, now we have two things to fight for; political direct democracy and decentralize “direct” economic decision-making.
Victor Lopez
