Introduction: The Realism Manifesto: A Vision to Reclaim the American Dream proposes a vision for how average people might take back government from special interests and the politicians they influence. This essay proposes four main ideas. The intent of these ideas is to offer a different approach by which average people might lead more productive, hopeful and happy lives, while creating a more sustainable political and economic reality for everyone.

Idea #1: Realism. Realism is common sense. It’s a broad-based, non-partisan, objective ideology to provide an alternative voice for independent, non-aligned and disillusioned voters. Realism embodies three core ideas: 1) a Social Agenda, meaning that resources are allocated to protect the general welfare and rights of citizens possessing non-preferential political influence; 2) Non-Partisan, meaning that it may combine policy options from across the political spectrum; and 3) Objective, which means the formation of public policy begins with logic and reason, instead of emotion and self-interest.

The intent of Realism is to pursue political policy independent of the need to accommodate special interests and ideological purity, a primary source of legislative dysfunction. To accomplish this, Realism is a non-partisan ideology that’s conservative when it needs to be conservative, liberal when it needs to be liberal, and both when it needs to be both; or in other words, common sense politics for average people.

Idea #2: Civic Internet. The concept of a Civic Internet is a large online network of communities that connect and interact by means of a shared protocol. The core unit of a Civic Internet consists of groups of about one to three dozen people. These groups are called Social Blocks. The function of Social Blocks is to form small community groups that can network, interact and concentrate their political and economic power by means of a protocol that facilitates large-scale collaboration. The function of this protocol is to enable block interaction within a community network, similar to the way Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) enables data communication across the World Wide Web. The goal of a Civic Internet is to create a critical mass of social participation to transform the way we make political and economic decisions.

Idea #3: Community Government. Community Government is a form of social organization by which a Civic Internet enables people to collaborate across a range of social, political and economic issues. Community Government provides people with options to government benefits and services, thereby alleviating both reliance on and intrusion of government. Community Government would also provide an organized “voice” to impact public policy. For example, a large Community Government could influence public policy through coordinated voting and voter participation, the formation of a People’s Congress to debate legislation and important issues, maybe even a voting platform that collects the straw votes of potentially millions of voters. This level of voter activism would send strong messages to politicians seeking reelection.

Idea #4: Community Capitalism. Community Capitalism leverages the economic and political power of a Civic Internet to demand that markets operate for everyone, not just wealthy elites. Community Capitalism occurs when many households use their combined wealth, incomes and consumption to create powerful, organized markets, and then own a greater share of the economy. By participating in the economy from a stronger position, society will shift the balance of power from suppliers to consumers, and in doing so reshape the way we make political & economic decisions. The objective of Community Capitalism is to allow more people to share economic prosperity.

These are the main ideas in The Realism Manifesto. A further description of the Civic Internet idea is located here, while a condensed version of the essay is here.