Dear Friends and Fellow-citizens,
I’d like to share something important with you.
It’s important to me, because it represents a personal milestone, regarding a decades-long dedication to an idea, and its manifestation. But it’s also important, I believe, to the greater good; because, while deceptively simple, this idea may be key to resuscitating our democracy, and in so doing, greatly improve the odds that we will effectively meet our many collective challenges, here and around the world.
The idea starts with an observation: For the first time in known human history, it is now possible to convene an unlimited number of citizens, in one place, at one time, to cast collective, non-binding, advisory votes on any issue of collective concern or importance. The place for this would be a new venue for civic engagement, online —a nonpartisan, non-governmental, citizen-run, virtual town square — the National Town Square.
I have just published a short book, one that’s more than 20 years in the making, and it presents an executable plan for how We the People can realistically build and safely maintain a new national institution for civic engagement, focused on issues instead of political parties and blind ideology — a powerful new counter-balance to the corrupting influence of big money in politics.
My book is called Virtual Country: Strategy for 21st Century Democracy. I humbly request that you get a copy, please read it all the way through, and then decide for yourself whether I have done justice to the importance of the opportunity that presents itself to democracy at this crucial point in history (if you can’t afford a copy, let me know and I will send you a PDF version at no charge). You can reach me at: Richard@VirtualCountry.us
If you find that you agree with the strategy presented in the book, I hope you’ll support it through the simple actions that are proposed, or perhaps in even greater ways. And of course, I hope you’ll give it good reviews online, and make a point of telling your friends and fellow-citizens about the book, regardless of their current political leanings, since this undertaking is completely non-partisan and represents a rare chance for citizens to work together for our common good.
Finally, it’s important to realize that no laws need to be passed or changed in order to implement the Virtual Country strategy. No politicians need to be persuaded. Our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly clear our path. We need only understand how we can take back the reins of our democracy, and then be willing to take ‘yes’ for an answer, by being part of our own solution, at this important moment in history.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and thanks in advance for reading Virtual Country. (For the Kindle e-book version, click here)
Sincerely,
Richard Lang
January 2018