Help with Idea / Democratic Party - Internet - New Technology

[BJ Peters]

Alan-- Thanks for your contribution! I agree with Birgitt, particularly
on the coast to coast meetings. I was part of an event in Phoenix that
had Christopher Gates, President of the National Civic League as the
keynote speaker. He did a marvelous job of talking about the need for
what he calls "citizen democracy" - people coming together to engage in
civic dialogue, decision making and action on public policy issues
(sounds like a call for open space to me). He drew a line with
"representative democracy" (not working so well these days) at one end,
"direct democracy" - using the internet to obtain citizen input (votes)
at the other end, and "citizen democracy" in the middle. His take (and I
agree) is that "direct democracy" by itself is not the panacea some are
touting. It's the community and "fire" of dialogue, decision and actions
that we need.

BJ Peters

Birgitt Williams wrote:

>Hi Alan,
>I smiled when I read your exuberance about doing something to move the
>democratic party forward. I encourage you to consider why it might work a
>lot better to use OST either coast to coast meetings or the OS-online
>software to gather more than ideas. I believe step one of your plan will
>generate ideas much as in a brainstorming, but that does not build the
>community and the passion.
>
>Birgitt
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Alan
>Silverman
>Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 7:28 AM
>To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>Subject: Help with Idea / Democratic Party - Internet - New Technology
>
>First I want to say hello and tell you how happy I am to be here.
>I feel that I am at home.
>
>I worked at IBM in large systems networking, data storage and I/O.
>At IBM there were not many people like me, both highly technical
>and politically liberal, creative, spiritual. I left there in 1999.
>Now there still aren't many people like me, with my technical
>expertise and a deep understanding of how the new technologies
>can transform society.
>
>I'm working on an important idea, part of a matrix of ideas
>I've pondered for a long time.
>
>Steps:
>
>1. Write an  "Open Letter to the Democratic Party", the gist being
>that, considering outcomes of the past two elections, the Democratic
>National Committee should ask Democratic voters and the American
>people: "What should we do now?"
>
>The ideas will be submitted, discussed, and refined on Internet
>forums. People from anywhere can join. The goal being to create
>innovative solutions, concise well articulated plans with a high
>degree of granularity, intended to address specific problems faced
>by the Democratic Party and America.
>
>2. Once the letter is written, get prominent individuals to
>sponsor the idea.
>
>3. With their sponsorship, publish the letter in the NY Times
>or some like venue (Solon Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly?)
>
>The letter describes in detail the confluence of four technologies
>making it possible to gather ideas together and quickly refine those
>ideas into solutions.  The final technological key is digital
>certificates, also called digital signatures.
>
>In the short term we use this forum, these technologies, to figure
>out what the Democrats must do in light of the past two elections.
>
>In the long term it will answer the question, "Who should be making
>decisions and creating policy". The answer being:  "Whomever has the
>best solution," with everyone getting an equal shot and the process
>itself being out in the open for everyone to see.
>
>The Democratic Party is in crisis. If we step in and say, "We have
>the solution to your problem", it will work. It must work, because
>this is the democratic solution. If we don't say this now the
>Democratic Party will surely move in a different direction.
>
>I have written a lot already. Should I just put it all up here for
>analysis and discussion?
>
>Thank you,
>Alan Silverman
>http://thefuturevision.virtualave.net/
>
>Ps.  You may also want to look at
>http://www.hf.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/hnctt/get/show106/19.html?nogifs
>
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