hear ya #1
pausing the essay format to check in
Wait, no “lots to X”?
Back to that soon, but I wanted to start a new pattern: every tenth email or so will be a check-in. Sort of an introspective tithe. I’ll do housekeeping, correct errors, acknowledge help, amplify comments, etc. I’ll address questions that are more about the newsletter than its content per se (responses to content questions will usually fit into essays). I’ll reflect a bit on how things have gone and where they’re headed…
And I’ll celebrate a bit. Because I’m extremely fortunate to have your attention to dig into these democracy ideas for a little bit each week, and I don’t want to forget it.
Housekeeping
- Early on, I asked folks not to share links too widely; I wanted a chance to settle in. Now ten emails in (this is the eleventh), I feel sufficiently settled. Please share away. I usually share by sending people to lotstogain.org.
- If anyone is interested in paid subscriptions, the good news is that they exist! The bad news is that, as of yet at least, they don’t buy you anything. I’m not ready or eager to withhold content from folks who can’t pay. So you’d just be supporting the work. To those who are already: thank you. It means more than you know.
- A wiki guy at heart, I can’t get used to the idea that I’m not supposed to edit stuff after I’ve mailed it. So, I have continued to do so; I live and die by the delete button. Most of the edits are custodial: a typo fixed, a link corrected, etc. But some are more substantial. The biggest so far is that...
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I renamed an entire society, albeit an imaginary one. I got several reactions to the name “Calmalot,” none particularly favorable. Some thought it was an accidental misspelling, others found it awkward and contrived. The unease resonated; I liked the name less and less, which was a bummer, because I had wanted a name that would private a handy reference point. So I updated the first line of “lots to imagine” to read:
Ah, New Camelot. No kings, no knights, but lots of roundtables. We should go there some day.
All further references to Calmalot were updated accordingly; New Camelot it is now. Hang on to all that Calmalot paraphernalia; might be collectors’ items some day.
Errata
Here I feel a bit like a televangelist who tearfully confesses his many sins but neglects to name any in particular. I know I have made lots of errors in these posts, but sadly I don’t yet know what most of them are (yet).
I did catch one significant goof: In lots to cast (my favorite title so far) I referred to the Ekklesia of Ancient Athens as an assembly of randomly selected citizens. It wasn’t really; the Ekklesia was a huge gathering of around six thousand male citizens. Basically every male citizen in the area was supposed to go. Too big and nonrandom to be called a mini-public, and too oratory-dominated to fit most conceptions of deliberation, the Ekklesia doesn’t really provide an early example of the kind of “citizen appointment board” I was describing. It was closer to a low-turnout election. I was confusing the Ekklesia (sometimes translated as the Popular Assembly) with the Boule (sometimes called the Council of 500), which was indeed chosen by lots. The Boule had a lot of responsibilities: preparing legislation, overseeing finances, supervising appointees, etc. But, to my knowledge, they didn’t actually appoint anyone. So they never served as a citizen appointment board, either.
I fixed it and left a footnote. Thanks to all who've pointed out typos, broken links, etc. Let me know when you spot more mistakes of any size.
Asked
I've gotten several questions about Buttondown, the platform I picked for the newsletter. Some involve functionality, like why can't we edit comments? (I wish we could. #deletebutton) But more are curious about the tool choice. Why not Decko, for example, the platform I've been developing for nearly twenty years? Or, more often, why not Substack, the industry standard? The short answer is quite nontechnical: my biggest challenge was getting started, and Buttondown provided the least friction.
This is easy to explain with Decko; if I wrote in my own platform I would get distracted trying to improve the functionality. Essay writing would compete with code writing. Even thinking about updates bogged down the works. Decko was the original plan; changing my mind is what got things rolling.
Substack presented more complicated questions, harder ones than I want to investigate in depth here. In fact, harder than I have yet managed to investigate very deeply anywhere. Questions around content moderation, free speech, business models... I got a bit stuck contemplating them. The issues seemed heavy and pressing if I were to commit to a dominant tool growing more dominant and less so if I took an exploratory approach, supporting a smaller player that kept the market colorful.
So, for now it's Buttondown. Lightweight, affordable, straightforward, geek-friendly... I may yet switch to Substack someday if it becomes clear that's a better tool for advocating for these ideas. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who thought a platform change would make a difference.
Reflection
Of the first ten posts in the series, five were about amending the constitution via citizen conventions. I would not have predicted as much, but I think it was important to me personally to have articulated a credible route to reform. If we can't realistically reconsider our constitutions, much becomes functionally impossible, and talk of new systems feels too implausible to meet the moment. If we can, the possibilities explode.
Now an alpha version of a constitutional convention strategy has, if only bones, at least a fairly complete skeleton.
Much of the plan has emerged from the writing. When I began lots to state, part 1, I hadn't had the idea of a single Citizens' Constitutional Convention Congress to design state and national conventions. When I started part 2, I expected to focus on automatic ballot referrals but ended up arguing for ballot initiatives in Montana.
Moving forward, there will inevitably be lots of strategy revisions. (My love affair with the delete button endures.) As just one example, I have spoken to nary a Montanan about the hopes I've just pinned on their state. I've got mountains to learn.
Nonetheless, of the value of giving the strategy a go, I have managed to persuade, if no one else, myself. It's time to start having many such conversations and to seek folks with common purpose. I'll keep you posted about how to get involved.
Yahoo
From years on working on incremental projects I’ve learned the importance of celebrating progress from time to time, even if no obvious milestone has been reached. Now’s as good a time as any: woot!
It took me a long time to get started, and it’s still just a tiny newsletter with a tiny readership, but I’ve seldom enjoyed a project more. Thanks for helping me get going.
Good gd I love your writing. My favorite line from this: "I have spoken to nary a Montanan about the hopes I've just pinned on their state. I've got mountains to learn."
Ethan I know you're all into democracy n stuff, but I kind of want you as our king. For a while anyway. Just until the absolute power absolutely corrupts you. I think it might take a while for you though, so... maybe just consider running for King, 'kay? I'd vote for you.
Oh wait, Monty Python tells me that you don't vote for kings. Dang. Ah well. Then just keep doing what you're doing. You are appreciated.