I’ve read many political articles in the past year. My quick summary of the collective mood of political writers on Medium is that they believe the Democratic Party will govern again and govern more wisely than it had governed previously. So in their mind, there is no need to investigate my alternative democracy. After 6.5 years on Medium, it is easy to understand why I am still a bottom writer.
On November 1, 2025, Tiered Democratic Governance (TDG) got some serious constructive criticism.
First, a little history
In April 2019, I joined Medium. I thought I had found the people who were open-minded and thoughtful, something missing on the previous internet forums where I had been promoting the TDG.
About 20 people inspected the TDG and asked me some good questions about this new way. I welcomed the constructive criticism. I answered back. I addressed the concerns. I believed my answers were sound and logical. But the hope of the Democratic Party was stronger than my logic.
While I could not move these writers forward into the TDG, they were preparing me for the day when the TDG gets more serious inspection. In this way, those 20 people had an important role.
In November 2020, Joe Biden won the Presidency. One outcome was to shut off the TDG’s neon light. Not only did my readership numbers stall, inquiries about the TDG went to almost zero. After all, the Trump phenomenon was defeated. The Democrats were in charge. There was no need to investigate any new democracy. I continued promoting the TDG but not getting much feedback from the Medium crowd.
The only serious inquiry in the Biden years came from Sam Young.In 2023, he wrote a Medium article expressing his concerns of the TDG:
The above link is likely not going to work unless you are a Medium member.
With this article, Sam and I had a big discussion. I turned that discussion into a Medium article. I later moved that discussion into my TDG blog:
Mastodon, Trump 2, and Mastodon
When Sam’s article came out, I was copying my Medium articles to my blog. I was starting to promote the TDG on Mastodon (a Twitter clone). Then I would link blog articles in Mastodon posts. Let’s just say this change did not help. Traffic to my website stayed at two visitors a week, where it had been since 2021.
I was (and still am) recycling my Medium articles on Mastodon. One advantage is that my effort expended on Mastodon is much less than my efforts expended on Medium.
After November 5, 2024, I thought maybe the second presidency of Donald Trump would entice people to look at the TDG as a possible alternative. I wrote an article every day. I was more direct about the TDG.
The result: I lost 75% of my readership. Medium readers sent me a strong signal that they did not want to hear about my new democracy. Almost as if they preferred a presidency they so hated over investigating anything that could allay their political frustration. I still do not understand this paradox.
With much of the TDG blog uploaded in December 2024, I changed my Mastodon strategy. I used a series of 20 468x60 graphics with my Mastodon posts. Each graphic has the TDG logo. Each graphic has a different slogan. Website traffic increased from two visitors a week to about 15. Here are four of those graphics:
In January, I went back to writing one Medium article a week. Just to keep the TDG presence on Medium going.
In September, I added another 17 graphics to my Mastodon pool. And I increased the daily Mastodon posts from five to eight. Here are four of those new graphics:
With this change, traffic has increased from 15 to 40 visitors a week. Maybe my 250 Mastodon followers like these new graphics. But I think some of this increase is coming from outside Mastodon. Even a few Medium referrals are starting to show up. Something is happening, but I’m not sure what that something is. But there’s been nothing tangible to move the TDG forward yet.
The recent criticism
A new Medium contributor, Kevin Pauley, found my work. He wrote a thoughtful, succinct essay on why he thought the TDG could not work. He went to the trouble to let me know his thoughts on the TDG.
More than two years have elapsed since my last constructive criticism. I welcomed this opportunity to explain the TDG in this way.
I identified 11 points in Kevin’s essay. I took them all as valid concerns. It is my job to address these points. I believe I did a reasonable job.
I then combined Kevin’s essay (with Kevin’s permission) and my edited response into the FAQ of the TDG website. You can find that dicussion by clicking to the TDG home page, then FAQ, then “Kevin Pauley from USA wrote.”
Take a look.
So What Do You Do Next?
Well you made to the end of this article. Where do you take my call-to-action?
My experience is that my clickbait does not work that well in Medium. Probably less than one in 10 readers click, and I might get 10 readers for this article. With those statistics, I’m not expecting much.
Besides, we are a few days past the USA’s “little elections,” and the Republicans did not do well. The USA is showing signs of being saved again, so there is no point in investigating any new democracy; is there?
But Kevin did not easily dismiss the TDG. He thought it had enough potential to write something about the flaws he was seeing. I believe he was looking for clarification.
Maybe you should inspect Kevin’s concerns. And my responses.
We — the people — can do better than any reformed Democratic Party.
And history says it is unlikely to reform. We will be disappointed.
Don’t wait for 2030 to tell me that I was right.
Published on Medium 2025
Executive Functions in the TDG
