[free-sklyarov] A new political party (IDP)

[Erik Moeller]

I have been tinkering with plans for a new political party for a 
while. I don't have any formal proposal yet, but I guess I could just 
throw a few ideas to you guys.

1) Why?

It should be apparent that the current political system is 
fundamentally corrupt, externally and internally. This is mainly a 
problem of imperfect information channels, a lack of bottom-up 
decision making and intransparency, combined with powerful corporate 
and financial bodies that do only act in their own interest. Recent 
experience has shown that even substantial media coverage alone is 
not enough to influence politics in a meaningful manner -- 
politicians go where the money is. Fixing the political system itself 
should therefore be a priority.

2) How?

An "International Democratic Party" should be created that uses 
technology for the purpose of truly democratic decision-making 
processes. All decisions should be mediated through to-be-designed 
technological interfaces, where every registered party member 
(registration is free) can vote on a given issue, or contribute 
material on that issue that may be of interest to other voters. 
People can rate contributions, or rate other people, so that good 
ideas rise to the top and trusted contributors are recognized as such.

People can change their vote on anything at any time. When new 
evidence is added to a proposal, party members should be able to 
notice that through the interfaces to the proposal and be able to 
immediately change their vote respectively (e.g. "New paper in 
Proposals-Copyright" or "Party member X accepted contributions from 
Y"). 

Core values

There should be a set of core values that determine the general 
direction of the party and which are only changed with a strong 
majority (e.g. 75%) vote. In my vision, these values would be similar 
to those of the US Green Party, with a strong 
technological/scientific bent and more emphasis on individual 
liberty. (Specific issues like copyright should not be in the set of 
core values, but rather be voted upon by party members.)

Internationality

It would be a goal to set this party up in as many countries as 
possible, and to communicate internationally to exchange ideas and 
visions. (Language for international communications would be 
English.) 

Local action

The party should support and coordinate local political grassroots 
movements and should report the results. It should assist activists 
and provide them with information. Party members should act as 
information mediators to people without access to the Internet.

Marketing

A wide range of activities should be targeted to make the party as 
widely known as possible. First of all, its own interfaces should be 
an active community and attractive starting point. Second, it should 
try to use viral marketing techniques to get its "brand" literally 
everywhere, offline and online, from signatures to link directories, 
from IRC channels to bumper stickers, leaflets and T-shirts. As its 
brand will be the direct starting point to start getting politically 
active, this is of essential importance. 

Third, party members who are also activists will try to use their 
activities as a grassroots marketing tool for the party itself. 
Fourth, party members will constantly try to get into the traditional 
media in order to get as much coverage of party activities as 
possible. Party name itself should potentially be a domain name, or 
other type of network address. Fifth, party should focus on getting 
as many long-term members as possible, as these will also determine 
its voter base. Party should target people from all political 
spectrums.

Decentralization and security

In order to avoid censorship and corruption and to maximize 
reliability and security, all tools and interfaces used by the IDP 
should be decentralized as much as possible. This means that, where 
possible, peer-to-peer networks should be used over client-server 
networks, that all technology must be open and changeable, and that 
administration itself must be spread over as many heads as possible. 
Security must be guaranteed through adequate technical measures.

Legal recognition

The party can operate before being legally recognized as a political 
party, but it should be a goal to reach this status as soon as 
possible.

Contributions

Basic party membership should be free to encourage wide 
participation, but various kinds of contribution should be 
encouraged, over various payment channels, mainly rewarded by 
additional status recognition within the interfaces, but although 
through many other reward mechanisms which are known to people 
familiar with "gift economy" ideas.

3) Be media and politics

The IDP would try to be both media and politics at the same time. 
Through its various communication channels, it would try to 
represent, voice and influence public opinion, and through its 
growing political influence, it would directly try to attain its 
various goals. It would also have growing access to traditional media.

4) Implementation

My current plans are to formulate a set of core values and then work 
on the interfaces (especially security aspects). But now that I have 
shared the very basic idea and reasonably hinted at the core values, 
perhaps interest is already there in cooperating. What do you think, 
should we create a mailing list and start working on it together? 
Depending on the input I get here, I might formulate a larger 
"starting document" and disperse it more widely.

Too big a goal?

It may be asked whether this is too big a goal, but I think 
eventually it, or something like it, must be started to restore (or 
create, depending on how you see it) democracy and bring and maintain 
peace. It seems only logical for it to start in the technical 
community, as it will be the tools developed by this community that 
are necessary to guarantee its functioning. "IDP" is not "yet another 
party" but a fundamentally new concept that has not yet been tried 
because the tools were not there. If success of other "new" parties 
is any measure, it should at least be possible to become a permanent 
and recognizable voice for freedom.

Regards,
Erik

-- 
Scientific Reviewer, Freelancer, Humanist -- Berlin/Germany
Phone: +49-30-45491008 - Web: <http://www.humanist.de/erik>
The Origins of Peace and Violence: <http://www.violence.de>

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