Forum Post: Which SOLUTIONS should we focus on for November's Elections?
Posted 12 years ago on May 1, 2012, 8 a.m. EST by vrum
(6)
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Let's turn this fight for justice & fairness into an election year platform!! If we can speak with a clear voice and a voting block to back it up, government will represent our voice.
I favor building consensus for solutions that can EASILY gain cross-partisan support by setting up a LIVE FORUM at Occupy locations for an ongoing dialog and then voting on:
Which SOLUTIONS we should we rally round for the November Elections?
The idea is to set up a space that is dedicated to discerning the BEST SOLUTIONS. The result would be a People's Platform and Pledge for candidates this November.
The solutions could be for each level of gov't: City, state, and federal. Candidates that want the People's Platform vote would have to sign the pledge.
The live forum sets the frame for a mirror project online to discuss, cull the best solutions for top issues, refining every day until one or a few top winners emerge. A parallel online platform would enable different Occupy Teams to share ideas and ultimately be part of a final voting process.
Invite people online (ie not in a town with an enduring Occupy movement) to make viral videos that share the message in various ways that connect with different constituencies (grannys vs. kids)
Extra 'stars' if the solution:
- Promotes fairness,
- Cross-partisan 'tea occuparty',
- Low cost,
- Moms, kids and old people understand and agree,
- Working examples,
- What else?
We can start here: Which solutions should we focus on?
I wish you luck, but I personally think that the solutions are not going to emerge from drop cloths and bare feet, but from Web voting forums that work. During the early days of the Obama administration we saw them flounder around with at least three different ways of soliciting ideas and voting on them, failing every time because the first idea submitted got the most votes, putting whichever group rushed into the process fastest in charge of the outcome. They've been making some progress in later versions, but it seems like the transparency of the process, and the amount of participation, has dropped. I think that this is a technical challenge that could be met, by the right people with the right skills if they happen to think of the right answer.
Yes, I agree. The same thing happens in the MIT Colab on Climate Change. First solutions in get the most votes. That's why I favor starting with the LIVE forum at Occupy sites: top solutions can be visible every day - and when improvements or alternatives catch people's attention, the 'discussion can be reopened'. Then, based on what seems to work in the live, in-person forums, a model might then be replicated. Yes, it is crude and simple, but a drop-cloth marks the space, setting a 'common ground' in the simplest way I could imagine. If we don't try - nothing happens. And then it's just us protesting - which is vital - but the momentum then gets carried by those in the existing political decision making and solution making system.