Good Morning, RoyDaine (properly spelled, I trust)

Is it possible you'd have found the phrase 'partisanship is healthy' less offensive if you'd read the full text on the topic? The PARTISANSHIP section concluded by pointing out that:

"Partisanship is a vital part of society ... provided it is always a voice and never a power. The danger is not in partisanship, it is in allowing partisans to control government.

I believe partisanship is healthy because it is a human trait. It is better accepted than restrained. I see no reason why partisanship and individualism should be mutually exclusive. As you point out, partisanship tends to be issue based. With the free flow of ideas, some individuals opt for one side of an issue, some for another, some do not participate, and some form divergent views. Those who align themselves on one side of an issue tend to reinforce themselves, filling in tiny gaps in each other's understanding. In that sense, they broaden each other's view.

You may see that as unhealthy. I don't. It was by precisely this method I learned, slowly, that my views could be used to serve a more pragmatic, though less idealistic, goal (that I did not support).

As far as individuality is concerned, I'm a huge champion of it. Among the many horrors we've endured in recent years is the suppression of individuality. It has become impossible to get an honest answer to a question. Corporations refuse to acknowledge their errors ... they try to correct them, but they never admit they exist. The most obvious, although not the most serious example, is in major sports where participants attend classes to learn how to evade questions. The result is a neverending restatement of platitudes.

Although I've signed up on your "myverdict" site and think it a powerful concept, I'm less sanguine than you about the prospects for direct democracy.

Achieving direct democracy is not a simple matter. I doubt that the potential for rabble-rousing is any less significant on the internet than it proved to be with other forms of mass communication. It is a topic that deserves careful analysis.

Fred