<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> There is an active thread over on the Votorola listserv that is raising many important issues for discussion: A New Party Dedicated to Implementing Public Voting. The root links to the thread are: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mail.zelea.com/list/votorola/2013-June/001748.html">http://mail.zelea.com/list/votorola/2013-June/001748.html</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mail.zelea.com/list/votorola/2013-June/001753.html">http://mail.zelea.com/list/votorola/2013-June/001753.html</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mail.zelea.com/list/votorola/2013-June/001749.html">http://mail.zelea.com/list/votorola/2013-June/001749.html</a> (and following) As often happens when we try to use listserv platforms for rational discourse, the thread started out as a specific invitation from Rhett Pepe to Michael Allen, and has since morphed into a wide-ranging informal conversation between Michael Allen and Ed Pastore. (As an aside, to effectively and efficiently support decision making through rational discourse, we need a system that features professional profiling and automatic multi-threading of each unit and sub-unit of the discourse, and that structurally, procedurally, reliably, transparently connects the discourse outcome to the decision outcome. Blinap alone among all extant decision system designs provides these features. The listserv platform has none of these features.) Below is a list dealing with one issue, extracted from the thread, of aims and values and objectives and strategies, with my addition appended. <ul> <li>Rhett wants to start a new (mixed-format) political party (and run for city council), as a means to infiltrate Representative Democracy with Direct Democracy.</li> <li>Ed wants freedom from representation.</li> <li>Ed wants consensus-oriented direct democracy.</li> <li>Ed is also (like Rhett) considering founding a mixed-format party, as a stepping stone.</li> <li>Ned thinks that using our scarce resources to directly compete against entrenched powers (that have vastly more resources) on their own turf (in our currently existing polyarchies) would be a monumental waste of our scarce resources. We can more quickly and efficiently create a more effective global "bully pulpit" if we do not engage in the utter waste of competing directly (creating political parties, running for office, buying advertising, funding political campaigns, etc.).</li> </ul> </body> </html>