It has become amply evident that democracy as we know it, in all its shapes and forms, suffers from severe deficiencies and weaknesses, having failed in eradicating abject poverty, in safeguarding clean air and water to all, in uplifting the destitute, and in exercising fairer development priorities. Nor has it successfully promoted fair trade practices nationally and internationally. Why? The answer is rather obvious: because the leading political ideologies have not managed to come up with adequate remedies and solutions. The whole spectrum of familiar ideologies, from radical Capitalism to radical Socialism, as propagated by their political parties, has proven incapable of enlightening us as to how democracy should function in order to satisfy its citizens' yearnings while fulfilling its national obligations. This book, however, has not come to add to the prevailing criticism, of which there is plenty, but to offer most urgently required viable solutions. Democracy is a process that has evolved from granting voting rights to the privileged few, via the emancipation of all male citizens and subsequently of all female citizens, to a situation where it is ripe for badly needed upgrading. The leading argument in The Transparent Democracy is that the upgrading of democracy is absolutely essential for raising living standards among the poor, for global synchronization of wages, and for eradication of corrupt or inept governance. The philosophy of upgrading is called Electivism, and it advocates, inter alia, four branches of governance instead of the customary three, the flow of essential data to every citizen, creation of a trade union sector, promotion of the preferred mix within the annual government budget, and a novel political alignment. The electivistic transparent democracy is an attempt to provide a viable blueprint for every country in the world, irrespective of its present status, assuming that if granted a choice, in the final analysis, people everywhere will prefer to live as free citizens with decent living standards in a truly progressive democratic society. This is therefore the story of the electivistic way.

Readers wishing to comment on the blueprint for the upgrading of democracy as laid out in The Transparent Democracy and/or to endorse the need for setting up associations in support of electivism are invited to email their views, suggestions, and comments to: blueprint4democracy@comcast.net