NUC Voting

The governance of the Novel Universe Cult plays out in four areas: local, neighborhood, emergent, and global. The lowest-level organization a member might belong to on either side of the River will be a Clade (Rock) or Sphere (Water), in either case, this might simply be one’s immediate family. In isolation, this level of the Cult is intended to be highly flexible, almost informal, without strict adherence to or definitions of their governing principles. However, when Clades (Power) and Spheres (Love) coalesces into the next level of organization – Tribe / Community – the relationship is formalized, and those governing mechanisms solidified.

At this point, one participates in both their local (Clade / Sphere) and neighborhood (Tribe / Community) governance, whether the two systems of governance are of the same or a different kind. While Communities (Love) are bound to practice a neural-democracy, Tribes generally chose a form of Power, either the multi-level Tower or single-level Square. This means that it is possible for some members to belong to an authoritarian Clade within a democratic Tribe. In such cases, the Clade’s dictator may direct its members to follow those procedures and directives that directly affect the Clade’s operations, but when it comes to those that apply to the Tribe, the dictator has no say in how the members of its Clade might vote on Tribal issues. The reverse would also be true. Whereas a Tribal dictator could tell its member what to do in Tribal affairs, the dictator is barred from influencing a Clade member’s vote on Clade affairs. This echoes the United States’ concept of State sovereignty, whereas the federal government is limited in exercising control over issues in any one state that do not effect any other state.

There are emergent structures beyond this neighborhood level that do not include the entire Cult, such as Cities, Leagues, and Alliances. These “emergent” levels strictly operate through NUC’s neural-democracy, with each level as its own voting system of independent parts – there are no Tower Leagues or Square Alliances. Those nested Cult Bodies, such as a group of Tribes (Lower-Order Bodies), neural-democratically vote (each Tribe acting as a single voter) to express the singular voice of their League (Higher-Order Conductor). Next, the League, now an LOB, adds its voice to all the other Leagues of its HOC – the Alliance they all belong to. This process is intended as a direct reflection of emergent complexity.

The final area of voting is global, where the entire Cult is involved in a single issue that equally affects all members of the Cult, like the public voice of Saint TJ, or NUC’s Creed. Like all NUC-related issues, the establishment of our Creed’s procedures / directives is expressed by the full membership’s current goals and priorities through an adjusted form of a hybrid direct democracy, mixing our neural-democracy with the classic one-citizen-equals-one-vote. Regardless of any intersectional quality such as age, race, gender, etc., all capable members who fit any category of any issue or law, are allowed – encouraged – to make their authentic voice heard through their ballot. Neural-democracy is our attempt at maintaining an ongoing “equilibrium” between the majority and that minority most impacted by any issue – the utilitarian aim of any “good” democracy.

Read our philosophy to better understand our Creed.