All,
"Could we concentrate on design and promotion of tools (such as US
Vote Direct, Enitiatives, MyVerdict) and ways for increasing citizen
participation? Make it the main part of our Mission?"
I like that. Perhaps I'd modify the wording to: "...design and
promotion of tools for democratic deliberation and decision..."
Mark
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M. Kolar wrote:
Of course, I do not advocate putting any restrictions into
the political system on what people can decide to choose. So they
should be also fully free to choose any organization of economy they
want. (Which is by the way not always the case today. For example, in
Colorado, co-operatives can only legally be food producers. See
http://www.cooperativeauto.net/pdf/GettingStarted.pdf, 1st paragraph)
What I wanted to say was that when (if it ever happens) people will
start to think really democratically, they would want democracy in all
spheres of their lives, including economy. In other words, the one man
who would want to decide everything alone for the whole factory would
not find anybody willing to work for him without having equal say in
how the company is being run. That would of course also require equal
sharing of responsibility which is probably why people are not always
(or not yet) very keen to have (do not require more forcefully) real
democracy.
OK, I am apparently also guilty of spending here too much time on
discussing visions for a very distant future. This may be interesting
but it seems to be somewhat divisive.
What about concentrating on something practical and more immediate?
Could we all agree that increasing participation of citizens is
important and worth joining our forces? Could we concentrate on design
and promotion of tools (such as US Vote Direct, Enitiatives, MyVerdict)
and ways for increasing citizen participation? Make it the main part of
our Mission? What about demanding accountability of politicians such as
on http://accountabilitycircle.org/index.html?
Would that be a good starting point to achieve some changes?
Mirek
echarp wrote:
I tend to think that political freedom does
not "imply" a left economy.
They are orthogonal matters, where a democracy could decide to have a
left economy, just as well as they could choose a right one.
In fact a "normal" economy, should probably have components of both.
For
example worker led factories can cohabit with companies led by only one
man.
What about the most direct democracy we have today: Switzerland? Is it
not very rightist?
About the food system, we can discuss about it, but at the end I would
propose that the causes probably lie in the consumer's mind and the way
this mind is manipulated: advertising, trademarks. What do you think?
Why not remove this political artificial construct which some people
call "intellectual property"?
About the producer/consumer relationship, why should we favor one or
the
other in that relationship? What about free market to let them enter in
win-win relationships? (the collectivity can give money to its poorest
members to make sure they don't enter in transactions out of physical
needs).
echarp
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