Lack of attendance/action

-Australians work long hours and are fearful to take time off due to the debt/slave cycle
-We have many distractions such as TV
-We know protests are generally ineffective because our pollies ignore them
-Our lifestyle has become sedentary, and so we are too lazy to protest
-The "protest/cause" market is saturated there are so many groups organising protests there are not enough punters to go to them
I could probably come up with a few more points but that is off the top of my head

Derek is right on the money, especially that protests are ineffective because our politicians can blatantly ignore them and always side with 'business' whether it is harmful or not.

The thing that breaks our spirit is fighting and protesting only to be ignored. In a perfect world, protests would escalate until our demands are met but the majority of people aren't willing to go to jail or risk injury for whichever cause it is they're protesting, and they shouldn't have to fear being imprisoned by exercising freedom of expression and protest.

I think the majority of people have accepted the situation that we've been beaten into submission (metaphorically and in reality).

Sorry to sound like such a downer but I'm speaking from my own point of view and I'm tired of the struggle, like a horse gets tired when it's being broken in.

I've made up my mind that the only way I can help others is in any significant way is to become financially successful in this world, then use my finances to assist or create better ways of doing things, like a slow transition to a better world rather than the immediacy of tearing down the establishment. Others are doing this also; Elon Musk comes to mind with the Tesla power wall and investing into better technology bringing about a real energy revolution.

I'm trying to add my 2 cents by bringing to market long lasting rugged cell phones that the telcos aren't offering to the public because they don't break easily.

So in essence, I think the move to a better world is happening in tangible ways but what people don't understand is that we as consumers have the power to force that change simply by demanding better products.
The whole world and all of the economies are dictated by consumerism, whether in a capitalist or communist society.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the biggest weapon we have against the establishment is our buying power and our ability to outfox the current structures, such as the banks by coming up with better and cheaper ways to do things that erode their profits. They are either destroyed or they get in line behind the movement.

If Australians were business savvy enough, we would have the financial collateral together to make demands and be heard. In short, we're just not playing the game smart enough to come out on top and we're being beaten by the bullies because they know they can get away with it.

I think that things are not so bad for the average Australian, so they aren't worried about changing things. To act on something requires motivation. For whatever reason, people aren't wired to act upon future concerns... people respond to present concerns.

I see the future continuance of humanity as a reason to be concerned. Life has evolved on Earth into a wonderful diversity but there is only one example of life evolving into an 'intelligent' being. Though we have intelligence, we don't have enough to realise that we can become aware our ancient destructive instincts and surpass them.

But I do have faith in the ability of collective wisdom. I am willing to test the theory of the wisdom of the crowd and see if humanity really can get past its stupid tendencies.

This is why I think that any direct democracy movement has to be more "liquid" to actually have any progress or uptake rather than somehow get 100% participation which will ensure this movement remains some ideal theoretical idea. Liquidity in terms of having the ability to have representatives (better termed delegates) for some issues & items, but still being able to withdraw that, or vote individually on items as you see fit.

People in the community here have stated that "you will have much more time in a direct democracy community therefore there won't be these same time pressures to use representatives" but that's simply not ever going to be true. The world is very complex now compared to ancient Greece, and resolving issues will be slow & arduous, people won't ever have the inclination nor the time to be involved in every issue.

See this video below for a quick summary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg0_Vhldz-8

modification to the working day, and the requirements of living WILL allow for time for direct democracy, but it cant Just be a change to how we vote.

society needs to be restructured to allow time, and freedom to be engaged in issues.

Life is too busy. Here here. So much to do, so little time.

The separation of community has become so widespread. It's been deliberate - as a unified community is a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately until an individual has become personally involved with "injustices" then coming together is going to be a mighty task. It's a sign of the times, but like everything there has to be those who blaze the trail to show there is a better way. Go the wayshowers!

im really pleased to see people starting to engage here on loomio. since this is the platform we are using for setting up how this group works.

keep it up everyone!

I have been toying with the idea of trying to initiate a direct democracy system, or part of, with my local council, if you could apply a simple system for non critical issues on a local level it would be a great proof of concept, plus if you got enough councils to give it a go you may just be able to tip the power pyramid from federal down to council up.... well it would at least get the state level to hear more clearly the will of the people....

I know that is not a move towards getting rid of representatives, but it would be a fun experiment, and a community building process, and a step in the right direction... just need a platform to execute it, and a friendly councilor to push it.....

online direct democracy party is already trying to achieve that kind of goal