Good for your psyche!
Soon I will be setting up Zoom meetings to teach the world about Tiered Democratic Governance (TDG) in a different way. These meetings will last one hour (or less). The format will be:
1. Introductions
2. Main Presentation
3. Question & Answer Session
Finding Connection, Purpose, and Hope
Let’s focus on the second part of this article’s title.
We all want to connect with reasonable people, right?
We all want these connections to give us some purpose, right?
We all want that purpose to give us hope for something better, right?
Connection
Throughout my TDG writing, I ask people to become local TDG builders.
What kind of people will these TDG builders be?
Some of you will say these TDG builders must be fools. It’s impossible to build a new democracy and later teach the world this new way, right? Just like it was impossible in 1776.
Let’s think for a second about the characteristics of TDG builders:
1) They have recognized that our current democracies (especially the American version) are breaking down and cannot be repaired. This is visionary and connection-oriented thinking.
2) They will be sacrificing 10 hours a month building their own local TDG. A future TDG is more important than many trivial pursuits of life.
I think these people will be the connections you are so looking for. You will enjoy working alongside them! Even for writing constitutions.
As well as finding interesting conversations, you might find some new, reliable social and community support.
Purpose
While quality socializing is important for our psyche, the early TDG builders won’t just be discussing weather, sports, and entertainment — or wishing for our politicians to behave better. They have a real purpose: they will be writing their own local TDG constitution.
This task serves two PURPOSES. As the local TDGs mature and merge, these local constitutions will somehow become part of the bigger constitution that will govern for the future. All the constitution clauses will be tested, tried, and amended as we learn about TDG governance. Those first constitutions are the first steps.
The second purpose of this constitutional writing is to practice and enhance our skills for consultation, collaboration, and consensus. When we build each clause of the 50 or so clauses, we can cast aside our tendencies for contention, conflict, and confrontation. We can take these new attributes to our families, communities, and workplaces.
Make no mistake about these two purposes. Building the TDG is about deliberately and consciously building a new political culture. A kinder, wiser democracy.
Is this not a noble purpose?
Hope
Many American political writers on Medium believe the Democratic Party can reform itself to deliver the kind of democracy the majority of Americans want. So they write political articles to bend the will of the Democratic Party to the writers’ ways.
Despite all the great advice, the last Democratic administration really did not take much of that advice the last time.
The Democratic Party Cannot Save the USA
We can hope the next Democrat administration will be better, especially with more great advice. But most of us have little control in realizing that hope. I suggest we should put our hope somewhere where we can actually have an impact.
Working on the TDG gives hope that the system can truly be changed.
Zoom
Unfortunately, there are no TDG builders in the world today. We have been trained to participate democratically as political workers, protesters, and complainers. But actually building a new democracy is culturally unacceptable. Which serves the purpose of those overly ambitious people acquiring status, influence, and power.
Maybe these Zoom meetings will help you find the connection, purpose, and hope you want in your life. Maybe these Zoom meetings will help you bring connection, purpose, and hope to your neighborhood.
The TDG-Zoom Plan
I will be starting the Zoom Meetings in mid-to-late March.
I will set one Saturday a month as my TDG-Zoom day. I will create four Zoom meetings on each Zoom day. So if one meeting time does not work for you, another time should.
The main topic will be the same in all three meetings. Here is my list of main topics:
1) The Inspiration for the TDG
2) The 12 Limitations of Western Democracy
3) The TDG Structure
4) Making Consultative Decisions
5) The Advisory Board
6) Moving from western democracy to the TDG
I will commit to these six sessions. If the attendance is there, I will repeat this list — and increase the frequency.
Finding the TDG-Zoom Meetings
1) The TDG website has a Zoom page. Bookmark this webpage.
2) Subscribe to the TDG Newsletter. I will give notice of the TDG-Zoom meetings to the subscribers about two days before.
3) If you are on Mastodon, you can follow @davevolek. The day before the TDG-Zoom day, I will give notice of the three meetings. Then one half-hour before each meeting, I will give notice of that meeting.
4) When a Zoom Day immediately follows my weekly Medium article, I will provide notice on the end of the article.
Conclusion
Since COVID, I have been in many Zoom meetings. But not as a Zoom host. Be patient as I learn new skills. I may ask for a volunteer to a co-host to handle the background tasks while I give my presentation.
I am an OK public speaker. But my style is not the hype we see in politicians looking for votes or TV preachers looking for donations. Just so you don’t have unrealistic expectations, you can inspect me the last time I was “live” on the internet about the TDG.
Published on Medium 2026
Dave Volek's Income Protection
Addendum
I set up three TDG-Zoom meetings: April 5, May 12, and June 2. I gave four times for each day: 3:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m., and 9:00 p.m (Edmonton time).
I gave notice on Medium, Mastodon, and the TDG subscriber list.
In these 12 meetings, I got only one person to show up. After my “TDG speech,” our discussion drifted to bashing the current system, not where I wanted to go.
My day goes better when I have few appointments. So setting up four appointments in one day was hard on me. Given the results, I decided not to do any more TDG-Zoom meetings, mostly for mental health reasons.
