----- Original Message -----
To: wddm@world-wide-democracy.net
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 4:01
PM
Subject: [WDDM] Hello as a new
member.
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:03:32
-0700
6/22/09
Hello World Wide Democracy group members:
I am a new member, Bill
McConochie. I am a research psychologist specializing for the past
several years in political psychology research. My findings and personal
inclinations are very consonnant with those of your organization. I
believe I could help you in several ways to promote and realize your ultimate
goal of advancing human civilization to direct democracy forms of
governments. I will list some of these and await your responses.
Before I do that, let me share just a little more personal background. I
have a Ph.D., and 40 years of experience in clinical, I/O and now political
psychology. I have created a non-profit corp. to publish my research and
conduct research over the Internet. I am a member of the American
Psychological Assn, Div. 48 (Peace and Violence studies), the International
Society of Political Psychology, and the Oregon Psychological Assn. I
present papers at the annual meetings of ISPP. I will present one in
Dublin in July (09).
How I might be able to help you:
1. I have research findings that strongly support
human desire for government serving them as members of the community overall
rather than as members of special interest groups. This sort of data, of
which I have much, can support your efforts, giving them an empirical and not
just ideological grounding.
2. I have developed a reliable and valid scale for
measuring the warmongering-proness of political leaders, and have another one
ready for validation measuring constructive leadership traits. These can
be used by the media to help inform voters re: what elected officials are
likely to promote.
3. I have designed a working model for a political
party whose platform is based on member (citizen) polls of what they want
government to provide (policies and programs).
4. Sophisticated public polls on details of policy
issues can be conducted to create the platform for such a party (and for your
organization). They in effect pool all citizen opinions to create a
current empirical definition of the common good. Your organization could
conduct such polls and publish the findings to inform nations and the world
re: what citizens want from government. This can help pressure standing
governments to perform more appropriately and empower political parties that
want to represent the common good (such parties, I recommend, should be funded
entirely with member dues, no special interest group money). Such
parties would fund the campaigns of their candidates for elective office
as well, keeping their elected candidates independent of the contaminating
influence of special interest group money.
5. You could help me by having students and other
groups, e.g. church groups, fill out my research questionnaires, which
are online at my web site.
6. Together we could thus continue the research
that can give empirical grounding to your movement and perfect the public
polls necessary to operationalize public democracy, defining policy via
citizen votes.
This is enough for an
introduction. Please visit my web site to read various research and
essay articles under the Publications page.
Politicalpsychologyresearch.com.
I look forward to hearing
responses.
Best
regards, Bill McConochie
Much about politics originates in our
minds;
Understanding our minds explains much about
politics.