Ostrowski's Outlook VIII
Winter 2001
Have you ever thought about the future? I have. It's all I have to look forward to. However, I have this nagging suspicion that the future's not going to look like the past. This may sound obvious but I think a lot of government folks are hoping that the future will indeed look like the past. Somehow they think that the voters will eventually get tired of all these initiatives [the three I proposed last time don't seem to be going anywhere, incidentally] and return control of the government to the politicians and bureaucrats - who know what they're doing. Does that sound likely?
Actually, I've been thinking that the way to predict the future is to figure out the right questions to ask about it. The right questions would be those that actually tell you something about the future when you get the answers. They would also have a fairly obvious answer. We could then predict the obvious future. That's the one that, when it happens, everyone says they saw it coming! Of course, they didn't share this information in advance.
The first question is the one I asked above. Do we really think voters will get tired of initiatives? They will certainly get frustrated when things don't go the way they expected and things in general don't get any better but I don't think they'll tire of having a say in their government. The second question is more difficult. Will we find a way to blend the beneficial attributes of representative government with the involvement of direct democracy? This probably isn't a good question because it doesn't meet the second test of an obvious answer. What we do know is that nobody is trying to do it. So the answer is that it won't happen if nobody tries.
The third question is about technology. Is it more or less likely that the future will hold greater communication capabilities for all of us? I think the answer to that one is obviously yes. The fourth question is about public works. Will future transportation and environmental repair and protection needs grow? Again an easy answer. No one sees a trend toward less congestion and environmental recovery anywhere.
Ok, let's stop here and see what we have so far. We have a world that's getting more and more choked with vehicles and pollutants. We have individual citizens who want a greater say in what is happening and if we keep doing what we've been doing all the activity will be at the ballot box and in the courts as citizen groups battle their government officials for control. Not a very inspiring vision if you ask me. The future can't look like that. I can't believe that the future is just an extension of the present with no improvements. I especially can't believe it when I see all the opportunities that the technology we enjoy can bring to us if we use it to shape a better future.
The way to a better future might be found in question two. Shouldn't we be working on a better way to help our citizens make better decisions? Over two hundred years ago Thomas Jefferson thought we should. He said that just because the voters don't make the right decisions, we shouldn't take away their right to make decisions but we should inform them better so they'll make better decisions. He didn't use those exact words but I didn't think it would clear things up with quotes about informed discretion. Helping decision-makers make better decisions has always been a hard job. It's not getting any easier but it's certainly going to have to be done differently in the future. We need to start the discussion of how this is going to happen.
I'll always be happy to hear from anybody out there that wants to change the future and is willing to work with me on it. As always, I can be reached at ostrowj@pacifier.com.