A.

Thanks for your great question. I will just address a few points.

First, a system like the TDG would not proffer someone like Donald Trump. For someone to find their way into the high tiers, they need to spend some time in the lower tiers. He has not had any experience in deciding things like putting up a pedestrian crosswalk across a busy street, which is not straightforward. Nor would I imagine he would want to be involved in decisions at this level. Yet the American system can vault him into a position that gives him the right to impose tariffs at will.

Second, the TDG will fail if we take our collective psyche about democracy/governance into the TDG. I make that point abundantly clear in my book. Just like citizens in western democracies have learned a new social order that vaults them beyond feudalism, we have to learn a way to govern to make the TDG work. Fortunately, the masses will not be attracted to the early stages of the TDG. The people who will be attracted to the early TDG are those who have the proper attitudes in place — or are willing to acquire them. Part of that goal of the early TDG is to make these attitudes a cultural trait within the TDG that as new people join, they too will acquire these attitudes.

Third, I have given two requirements to base a vote on the TDG: (1) Good character and (2) Capacity for Governance. Both are subjective to the interpretation of each voter. For example, I would cast my vote towards someone who seems to be responsible social drinker. But I would not cast it towards to someone who I have seen drunk on the streets. If that helps me define “good character”, that would be my prerogative. Other voters may deem total abstinence as one of their criteria, and that would be their rightful prerogative. “Capacity for governance” is also similar. If I find out a neighborhood representative is not attending TDG meetings, I will vote for someone else in the next annual election. The goal is not to provide an exact definition of “good character” and “capacity for governance” but to give the voter some parameters to think about when casting a vote. If a neighborhood has four or five people who would serve well in the TDG — and TDG electoral process selects one of those people to serve, then the elections are working well.

I hope that answers your questions. Thanks for your feedback.