----- 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.