Liquid Democracy: Transparency, Flexibility, and Equity

Democracy is the cornerstone of our society, but it’s not without its flaws. It can be slow, opaque, and often doesn’t represent the will of the people accurately. Enter Liquid Democracy and blockchain - a combination that could revolutionize the democratic process.

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water.” - Bruce Lee

Liquid Democracy - A Hybrid Approach

Liquid Democracy is a form of democracy where individuals can either vote directly on issues or delegate their voting power to others. It’s a flexible, adaptable system that allows for more direct participation and representation.

Recursive Delegation - Nested Support

Recursive delegation is a concept where a person can delegate their voting power to someone else, who can then delegate it further. This creates a nested support structure, allowing for a more nuanced representation of people’s will. If a person votes, their vote doesn’t follow the delegation flow. If they don’t vote, their voting power goes to the next person in the delegation chain. If no one in the delegation chain votes, it results in an automatic abstention.

Category Delegation - Tailored Voting

Category delegation is a concept where individuals can delegate their votes based on specific categories to trusted peers. For instance, you could delegate your “ecology” votes to a peer you trust to make good ecological decisions, and your “culture” votes to someone else. This allows for a more tailored approach to voting, where you can ensure that your votes are being cast by individuals who are knowledgeable and passionate about specific issues.

Real-Time and Transparent Voting

In a Liquid Democracy, voting can happen in real-time, allowing for a more dynamic and responsive democratic process. Transparency is also a key feature, as it allows everyone to see how votes are being cast and delegated. However, this raises a challenge regarding privacy. It’s crucial to find a balance between transparency and privacy to ensure a fair and secure voting process.

Sub-DAOs for Scalability and Independence

To handle scalability, we can introduce the concept of sub-DAOs. These are smaller groups of people within the larger DAO. For example, instead of having all of the planet’s votes in one place, you could have local votes in your city’s sub-DAO, along with the global votes in the main DAO. This introduces another kind of “category” - not a choice, but a context.

Smart Contracts for Flexibility

Smart contracts can add flexibility to the voting process. Both individuals and sub-DAOs can use smart contracts to customize their voting process. At the end of the day, the DAO is just an interface and can have many implementations.

Issue-Based Voting

In a Liquid Democracy, individuals can vote on specific issues, rather than just for representatives. This gives individuals more direct control over policy decisions.

Anyone Can Propose a Vote

In a Liquid Democracy, any member can propose a vote. This ensures that all voices can be heard and that the issues that matter to the community are addressed.

Mixing Discussion and Voting

In a Liquid Democracy, discussions and voting can be intertwined. For example, forums could be used to not only discuss issues but also vote on them. Discussions could even be forked to gradually reach a consensus.

Replacing Traditional Election Methods

Traditional democracy often involves electing a single president based on a marketing campaign, for a term of several years, with few ways for the public to impact decisions during that term. This is the opposite of Liquid Democracy, which is flexible and adaptable.

Thanks to the model of recursive and category delegation, we can expect to have what is truly needed. Sometimes, power will be very distributed, and sometimes people will want to recursively elect a leader such as a president. But this election will be more genuine, and there will always be the possibility to change the delegation at any level. Once “elected”, leaders will have the pressure to maintain their position, ensuring they continue to represent the will of the people.

The Role of Blockchain

Blockchain, with its transparency, security, and decentralization, is the perfect platform for implementing Liquid Democracy. It can provide a secure, transparent record of votes and delegations, making the democratic process faster, better, stronger, safer, and more transparent.

“The future depends on what you do today.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Here’s a simple Golang representation of a DAO with Liquid Democracy, Recursive Delegation, and Category Delegation:

type DAO struct {
    Members map[string]*Member
    Votes map[string]*Vote
}

type Member struct {
    Name string
    DelegatedTo string
}

type Vote struct {
    Member string
    Choice string
}

func (dao *DAO) Delegate(from string, to string) {
    dao.Members[from].DelegatedTo = to
}

func (dao *DAO) Vote(member string, choice string) {
    dao.Votes[member] = &Vote{Member: member, Choice: choice}
}

func (dao *DAO) ComputeVotes() map[string]int {
    results := make(map[string]int)

    for _, vote := range dao.Votes {
        results[vote.Choice]++
    }

    return results
}

In conclusion, Liquid Democracy, Recursive Delegation, and Category Delegation offer a new approach to democracy that is more representative, flexible, and nuanced. Combined with the power of blockchain, we can revolutionize the democratic process. It’s a future I’m excited to help build, and I invite you to join me on this journey.

“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.” - Lao Tzu

With the power of blockchain and the flexibility of Liquid Democracy, we can create a more inclusive, responsive, and representative democratic system. This is not just a dream, but a tangible reality that we can achieve with the right tools and the collective will to make it happen. Let’s work together to make democracy truly democratic.