Introducing The Democratist!
Definition: Democratist
A democratist is an expert in and/or a student of egalitarian group decision making.
The Democratist is my new home on the web to discuss politics, political economy, culture, society, democracy, economics, their scientific foundations, evolutionary origins, and future trajectories. It’s my hope to create a space for reasoned discussion leading to concrete action in the real world, or at least an informative series of articles that challenge more common approaches to these critical issues.
My name is Liano Sharon. I’ve been a leftist activist and a democracy geek since the 1980s. I have a degree in mathematics and 25+ years experience in international business consulting, cross-cultural communications, education, and training. In 2016 I joined the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) along with fellow leftists and progressives; in part to try and move the Democratic Party left, in part to understand from the inside how it works, and why it works that way. I documented my adventures in the Democratic Party on my blog from 2017 to 2020, and much less actively from 2020 through to now, partly due to the pandemic, related issues and fallout from that, partly due to less activity in the Party during the pandemic. I have served in elected Party positions at the County, Congressional District, State, and National Party levels, including 8 years on the MDP State Central Committee (SCC), 4 years on the SCC Executive Committee, 4 years on the SCC Rules Committee, and 2 years on County and Congressional District Committees and their Rules Committees. I currently serve on the Cannabis Caucus Executive Committee, as Chair of the MDP Progressive Caucus Rules Committee, and on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) - my 4 year DNC term ends December 2024.
This forum isn’t about the Democratic Party, but I may often draw examples and ideas from my experiences there. For those interested: here’s the story of what happened when I first joined the MDP, and my 4 year progress report (2016 -2020), after which I was elected to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on the Solidarity Slate (also see the platform). Here’s my 2023 DNC report. I’ll write final DNC report after the National Convention. Some other good articles from this era include this piece on clearly distinguishing between capitalism and markets, this one on collective bargaining, and this piece on cargo cult democracy. For a summary of problems in the Democratic Party, see this press packet.
The goal of The Democratist is to explore and understanding what democracy means both in principle and in practice, the science behind why we should want it, why we don’t have it, and how we can get it.
However, I’m starting this just days ahead of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, so many of these early posts will be related that the Democratic Party and the Convention.
Liano Sharon
15 August 2024