In many ways, humanity is still wrestling with the question raised by Plato in the Republic: What kind of state is best? Changes in values and morality over millennium have resulted in considerable shift in the belief about the origination of political authority, who may participate in matters of state, how people might participate, and so forth. There is ample reason to believe that there will be new experiments in the practical matters of governance, informed by new political and cultural beliefs. The Near Future Governance civic represents a hypothetical next step in how people organize themselves into governments, as political philosophers find new ways to codify commonly-held beliefs into systems that allow people to participate within the civic life.