[alphonsegaston]

The structural problems of American democracy are because candidates are unaccountable outside (except to their donors) outside a small election window, where they temporarily perform whatever act will allowed them to attain or hold onto power.

If Altman is sincere about wanting better candidates, I'd suggest pushing for technology-driven direct democracy, candidates who, in real time, act and respond to feedback from their constituencies. Trump was elected because he did an informal version of this via Twitter. John Robb outlined how this would work:

http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2017/02...

We essentially need to disrupt the notion of candidates and turn them into our true avatars for interfacing with the political system.

[ZenoArrow]

Direct democracy has its problems too. I'd suggest the best compromise is liquid democracy, where you have the right to take a direct vote, but can also defer your voting power to elected official(s) that you trust to act in your interests.

http://youtu.be/fg0_Vhldz-8

[jrs95]

There was basically an episode of Black Mirror about this

[alphonsegaston]

Which one? Hated in the Nation? The Waldo Moment? I think that both of those kind of argue that digital network systems can't exist alongside traditional governance without overtaking them. I'm talking about trying to integrate the two to prevent those kind of dystopian outcomes. Although with the advent of a figure like Trump, our "Waldo Moment" might have already come.

[jrs95]

The Waldo Moment was what I was thinking of