Andy: I really enjoy sensible questions about the TDG. They help me refine the idea. For example, I got a really good question after I launched the first version of the TDG in 2000: "How do we move from HERE to THERE? Well, answering that question became Chapter 6 of the later versions.
It is extremely important to understand that if we take our current collective psychology and dump it into the TDG electoral structure, the TDG will fail. Let me repeat that: THE TDG WILL FAIL.
While this "fact" isn't well developed in the TDG essay, I do go into a lot more detail in the TDG book. And the three TDG novels also reflect the deliberate steps required to create this new culture. In other words, the early TDG builders should fully realize that they need to change their "democratic thinking caps." As the TDG rearranges our collective psyche mindset, new members will encounter this new way. They will be somewhat accepting of it, and later grow into it. And this new culture will also be moving the mindset of the people outside the TDG in a positive way. This shift is definitely required for the TDG to work. So I am claiming a 10 to 20 year period for a TDG to build itself to assume responsibility for governance.
Brexit, you say? First off, there is not much a fledgling TDG could have done to affect the outcome or consequences of this decision. Rather, I am envisioning how a well functioning TDG would work in a Brexit scenario. Here are my conjectures:
1. The psyche of the public would be much different. They would be more accepting of the decisions of the highest tiers of the TDG.
2. The representatives of the highest tiers would not have their re-election or party position clouding their judgement. Rather the representatives would be looking more at what is better for society.
3. The TDG will be more consensus oriented. As the TDG matures, the decision making institutions will be fairly united in their deliberations. There will be less need for "tie-breaking votes." I can a TDG decision going 7-2, but the TDG culture means the 2 will allow the decision to carry itself out rather than finding ways to stop it. This "yielding to the consensus" is part of the new culture.
4. A TDG system would more ably address the concerns that led to the Brexit decision, thus circumventing the need for a "coin flip referendum." Unfortunately these kinds of little decisions will not generate big headlines.
Your tie-breaking vote s a valid concern, especially in the early stages of TDG development. Each local TDG should have a mechanism for a tie-breaking vote. But I'm going to let the early TDG builders develop their own mechanism--as part of their practice in TDG governance.
And if the vote is 4 to 4 and the tie-breaker has to be enacted, I fully instruct the "losing aside" to step out of the way, and let the "winning side" work to implement the decision. ONLY THEN will we know for sure that the winning side actually had the right way.
In November 2018, a fellow on G+ group suggested a write a novel about TDG governance. Well 39 months later, there are three TDG novels to that effect.
Not exactly romantic or swashbuckling. And unfortunately, the TDG is about people getting along, not the kind of conflict that keeps teachers of creative writing classes happy. So these novels will not be regarded as bestsellers. But they are good education about TDG governance in these early stages.
The fourth novel will have more conflict as the TDG has grown to entice outside forces wanting to take it over. But this novel is a year away.
Thanks again. Going through this process is preparing for when the TDG becomes more famous.
