[usgp-dx] Relate GPUS to real life (slogan collection cum collective self governance)

Thank you Jim Lendall!

At the UWM school of Info Study, it's referred to as 

"the elevator speech explaining what an Information Resources degree is"

and it's said everyone needs to find their own story,

because it's in flux, and only meant to augment one's individual focus.

(the best explanation i have often involves this).

We badly need a web space

where our candidates can share the slogans

and resources that work best for them!

and how, when, and where, they work or don't.

As Jim points out, we all need such a resource,

the rank and file even more than the candidates.

Our 4 pillars and 10 keys are both a great start for indexing such work,

don't forget that an item is easily indexed multiple ways on the web.

How to organize the material consensually

is a monumentally greater task in a static document.

Online, if people want to list a slogan, source, or plank

under more than one heading, we can use them all!

actual consensus is fully empowered.

Potentially, multiple/redundant indexing is the key contribution 

of a better use of a document as a more egalitarian political instrument,

largely yet unseen and unused, by the web.

It could become a major contribution towards remaking democracy

into something much more consensual, 

making polities more horizontal and nuanced.

While i most often mention it in the context of

shorter and longer linked versions of our platform;

authoritative (GPUS) annotation, with authoritative (academic) references,

supporting our platform could be as important 

as sharing authoritative (candidates') slogans, 

but would require wider deliberation.

Ultimately such a thing could be the start of vastly useful public resource,

democratically linking slogans, values, and our pillars, 

with short, main, and (re)source annotated, versions of our platform. 

While it is hard for many of us to imagine getting a real consensus online,

there is a reason so many (most?) librarians consider Wikipedia 

among the highest authorities on most topics.

By starting with sharing slogans and linking them to values and sources,

then expanding this to index our platform, we could move eventually 

towards an instrument that lets every member of a member state party

propose and/or help select our planks.

Eventually we could replace internal representation of our constituents 

('member' humans) with direct democracy.

Expanding this to replace polls and representational government externally,

ultimately, would simply be a matter of then expanding our constituency/community

(by creating a more vibrant/fun/important place to discuss politics
with our more consensual platform/policy process/documentation).

This party has the most capacity to thus conflate voice, vote,

legislation, and, eventually, in an info age, even justice!

to bring a more consensual sharing of counterpoint to our ideas of democracy,

making means, info, policy, individuals, and the world collective,

into a much more amiable, easily navigated, and horizontally structured,

infotainment social sphere. 

Making media and government into conversation, 

legislation into almost an after thought,

and justice into citizen volunteer legal and police work.

(but we must do it before DARPA deploys their nanobots worldwide,

sucking our real world into their virtual one;

hence i tend to speak of our platform process in very fluid terms, 

rather than having much concern with a document or actual content).

The big picture (for me) would be a means for the GPUS

to assemble more consensually the collection of linkages,

properly utilized such a collection could even grow into a fun social space, 

and become a trustworthy source for product and legislative recommendations.

For now we simply BADLY need a single specified place 

where 'our' candidates can log in and post slogans,

and source material like Jim's Youtube below, 

possibly even allowing public comment. 

Not being a candidate, i can only offer to

host, design, manage, or otherwise support,

such a space.

monte letourneau
WIGP CC, GPUS NC Delegate
http://montesite.net

On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 11:27 PM, Jim Lendall <jelendall@comcast.net> wrote:

It is frustrating being a Green Party candidate, because I have had to spend my time trying to educate the public about what the Green Party is, not why they should vote for me. The Green Party has great philosophical underpinnings, but has done a poor job relating that philosophy to the voters' everyday lives.

Anybody who has gathered petition signatures or worked a crowd of potential voters knows that by the time you can relate more than one or two key values to someone, dozens of other voters have passed you by. If we want to make an impact on political thought in America, we have to become professional politicians, not dilettantes. We need slogans that relate to everyday life, We need to be able to describe the Green Party in 25 words or less (preferably fewer) in terms that people outside of the party can understand. I'm sure that the purists in GPUS, especially those who have never run for office, will decry the politicizing of a "political" party as being sacrilege.

We can hand out plenty of tri-fold pamphlets to hand out that few people ever read or care to read ... or we can develop succinct messages that will get our candidates elected.
******************************

+++ Al Gore and Archie Bunker in bed together +++
In a January, 2010, speech Jeff Rubin delivers a good analysis of the future of energy. I encourage you to listen to the whole presentation, including the Q&A, (about 45 minutes). While he's talking, keep in mind the 4 pillars and 10 whatchamacallits of the Green Party and how to translate our positions to the public.

Jeff Rubin, the former Chief Economist of CIBC World Markets and the author of "Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller" built his reputation as one of Canada's top economists based on a number of successful predictions including the housing bust of the early 90s and the rise of oil prices. In his recent book, Mr. Rubin predicts $225 per barrel oil by 2012 and with it the end of globalization, a movement towards local sourcing and a need for massive scaling up of energy efficiency.

Jim Lendall
Delegate - Arkansas
jelendall@comcast.net
(501)562-0011

Posted via email from geanark's posterous