Good Afternoon, PVR

Thank you for your excellent description. It helped me grasp the pragmatic aspect of your proposal ... it can be accomplished with tools currently at our disposal ... a critically important point.

re: "The views expressed will be on the True Democracy platform. Since everyone is free to express his/her will, the voice of common people has much greater chance of being heard on the True Democracy platform. This will be especially so once it is increasingly known that such a platform is available to the ordinary citizen."

While I have concerns about your proposal, they are secondary to the basic premise: A method of empowering the public ... NOW!! We don't need perfection, we need a sound platform for change. I am reminded of an excellent passage in "The Tragedy of the Commons", Garrett Hardin, Science, 162(1968):1243-1248:

"It is one of the peculiarities of the warfare between reform and the status quo that it is thoughtlessly governed by a double standard. Whenever a reform measure is proposed it is often defeated when its opponents triumphantly discover a flaw in it. As Kingsley Davis has pointed out, worshipers of the status quo sometimes imply that no reform is possible without unanimous agreement, an implication contrary to historical fact. As nearly as I can make out, automatic rejection of proposed reforms is based on one of two unconscious assumptions: (1) that the status quo is perfect; or (2) that the choice we face is between reform and no action; if the proposed reform is imperfect, we presumably should take no action at all, while we wait for a perfect proposal."

Your proposal may not be perfect, but it's way ahead of whatever's in second place.

It seems likely the process will initially take root in a relatively small community. When the people of a town are able to influence the outcome of a contentious local issue, their fellow-citizens will be anxious to participate, as well. Once a level of success is achieved in one community, the mechanism will spread (See NEXUS, Small Worlds and the groundbreaking Theory of Networks by Mark Buchanan, W. W. Norton & Co., NY)

You have outlined an essential (first) step on the road to true democracy. The step does not put us in paradise, but it cracks the door a bit ... and it can be accomplished promptly by any community, as soon as the internet facilities are available.

I gather you feel WDDM should create a mechanism similar to the Roy Baine's [www.myverdict.net] site you mentioned in an earlier post. I must ask whether it would wise to implement the process at that site rather than re-inventing the wheel. It is well laid out for public participation on issues of local interest but has not, so far, attracted broad notice. If we wish to attain true democracy, wouldn't we be better served by finding a way to align ourselves with others with similar interests? Fragmentation of effort is a greater threat than public apathy.

(I must break away now, but will continue my response to you and also respond to mkolar as quickly as I can.)

Fred