How To Understand Who Decides The Future

The future is not determined by the dictates of a few, super wealthy and powerful people. To the contrary, it is resultant from the clashing of ideas; individuals jockeying for position; and people pushing for change at all levels of society.

Mental Model (Classic Government)

Imagine a monarch in the 17th century. Looking back, (initially) it might appear that the crown had absolute power over all of its subjects, lands, and other resources. The king or queen unilaterally decided the outcome of events, determined the fate of others, and regulated the movement of people. (The King made every decision and every outcome was known in advanced.)

Inner-workings

A closer look reveals, however, that the opposite was true, in most cases. The King may have been accountable for events taking place within the realm, but he was not responsible. For the sake of efficiency and effectiveness, the ruler delegated powers to others. Why? One person could not perform all of the executive, judicial, and legislative functions alone.

There were thousands of people working on behalf of the monarch to keep the kingdom working. These positions were not assigned arbitrarily, the king’s subjects competed for them. (It was a matter of skill, associations, and charisma.)

When assigned a position, the assignees not only executed the tasks given to them, they had to deal with the people and groups pushing for change at their given level of authority. That is, there were people at the national/federal, palatinate/state, and local levels (external and internal to the realm) that wanted the government to operate in a manner that was favorable to them or the people they represented.

Updated Mental Model (Modern Government)

In modern society, the role of monarch has been reduced or it has been replaced by a democratic, republic, communist, oligarchy, or autocratic government; however, the functions performed by the government are the same as those performed by the monarchy. The powers in many cases have been divvied up amongst agencies.

Your Role

You, like many other people on the planet, have ideas about the way your country should function; you act on these ideas using the tools that are available to you – your political vote, your dollar vote, and your (personal) ambitions.

The Clashing of Ideas

That being said, you are not alone. Others are doing the exact same thing. Some of these people are richer than you and others are poorer than you. Some have ideas you agree with and others have ideas you vehemently disagree with. Along the way all are making friends and enemies. Yet, all are only submitting a bid for what they want. In the final analysis, the winners and losers (at every level of government) are determined by how well one convinces others to share their ideas, ambitions, and actions towards change.

What do you think? (Leave a comment.)