Abstract:
A Plant Manager became aware of a concept for communicating better in employee meetings from a Group Dynamics course that a co-worker had attended. He began to use this idea and found that it addressed a problem he had been faced with many times.
When an employee in the Q&A part of the meeting voiced a complaint and he tried to explain the company position, he was faced with the problem of being the ‘bad guy with the power’ arguing with an ‘employee with no power.’ Other attendees kept silent.
The group dynamics guidance suggested that he perform a simple survey of the group by secret ballot to determine if the entire group agreed with the employee voicing the complaint before he tried to explain and he began using this technique with very positive results.
Most of the time he followed this procedure, the balloting indicated that the majority of group did not agree with the complaining person. He could then explain how the company managed the issue and the plaintiff, realizing everyone did not agree with his complaint, typically lessened his rhetoric.
In fewer situations, when the majority of the group agreed with the complaint, he understood that he needed to address the problem and promised to look seriously into the matter and report back at the next quarterly meeting.
Much later in his career, he began to believe that this concept might be the solution to a much more significant societal problem in the field of Political Science and he founded the Association to Improve Government.
There is a growing concern that democratic nations are moving toward an authoritarian system, and this fear is frequently conveyed by the major media as a global situation. There is lots of evidence to confirm this movement but those reporting on this effect do not seem to be searching for the cause or the solution.
This article will focus on these aspects and the investigation has been extensive. Surprisingly, the cause and solution have been highlighted by a few for more than 5 decades, but the concept of cognitive dissonance seems to be preventing the general public from seeing what, to these few, is obvious.
These investigations focus much more on the fields of sociology, group dynamics and human nature than on politics and two organizations have zeroed in on the same concept coming from different perspectives.
The Association to Improve Government was established from a perspective of group dynamics, human nature and a very broad, global application. It concluded that public elections result in truly democratic outcomes because they are strictly enforced as a secret ballot process. This protects the process from coercion and corruption so the voters can actually vote their conscience. Unfortunately, this protection ends at the public election level.
The Congressional Research Institute began a scientific search to identify the cause of empirical data in the United States that indicated a specific and dramatic change in public trust in government. It concluded that public elections result in truly democratic outcomes because they are strictly enforced as a secret ballot process. This protects the process from coercion and corruption so the voters can actually vote their conscience. Unfortunately, this protection at the governing level ended when legislation aimed at solving a social/political problem actually had the opposite effect. The cure has turned out to be worse than the disease.
Both organizations determined the same cause and solution to counteract this effect. Both organizations have attempted to raise public awareness to solve this dilemma but neither have been successful in establishing a movement toward the solution.
The slide above demonstrates the process by which the voters elect their Representatives. The voters are protected by the secret ballot process so they can vote their conscience but unfortunately the next step in the governing ladder has been compromised by activities related to the 1960’s.
The Vietnam war, the Civil Rights Movement, assassinations of JFK, RFK & MLK and major public protests that included violence created an environment where the public wanted a solution. The answer proposed was strongly supported by almost everyone and the panacea was ‘Transparency in Government.’ It was a process that philosophers have recognized for centuries as people clamber for change. It is known as the ‘Hegelian Dialectic’ and it has been repeated over and over throughout history.
In this case, The Congressional Reorganization Act of 1970 forced all voting to be recorded votes and all committee meetings to be open to the public. Recorded votes subject representatives to coercion, corruption and severe consequences as we have seen at an increasing level ever since. Following this, special interest groups and powerful individuals gained the legalized ability to basically bribe all congressmen. Power-seeking individuals (authoritarians) act in their self-interest and the effect of their increasing influence seems to be recognized by all.
Representatives are coerced and corrupted at all levels of the process.
- To get on the ballot they must assure the party (a special interest group) that they will support the platform in all respects.
- To win the primary/election they must raise millions of dollars from special interest groups and wealthy donors which obviously requires promises.
- Once elected they have little option but to vote in-line with party directives or face the consequences of losing their job, face personal attacks from extremists, etc.
Special interest groups have internal departments that monitor every vote, action and statement of every representative to assure it is in-line with their interests. They hire lobbyists to sit in at every committee meeting and often actually write the legislation to assure it meets their needs.
The following slides convey the cause and solution, and we need to begin a movement to correct this inevitable journey to authoritarianism.
Readers:
Examples of special interest groups and powerful individuals contributing to political campaigns in order to influence legislation will be updated as information is submitted. You are encouraged to submit brief examples to info@improvegovernment.org, to be added to this list:
| Date | Brief Description | Reference |
| 2014 | The Cardboard Box Reform – Nixon’s Ghost Bill & A Crucial Flaw in Democracy | CRI |
| 2016 | Medicare legislation that documents special interest group influence in Congress. | Media |
| 2024-12-08 | 60 Minute segment on the Crypto Currency PAC payments to political candidates. | Media |
There are thousands of examples so please include notes to allow us to confirm your submission as legitimate information. Internet links to the information would be appreciated.
