I feer the only way to 'get things' done is to convert to a technocracy<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy>and possible a parimenatarian one at that-but short of that--yeah my issue with AECorp is it isn't transparent-not that the democracts/repubs are but that'd be a start if possible-i'm also a little wary of having to supply my social to "be involved" it's bad enough that the JC wants my social for virtualy everything. But yeah- what happend to the promise by AE to be a better process and be a direct election etc. oO ?
On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 11:54 AM, Steve Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > I share your (various) doubts about the people behind the AE process, but > I *do* welcome the concept of a more open and engaged and egalitarian > process for supporting existing politicians who are not insiders at the big > show (e.g. Kucenich, Gary Johnson) and for maybe > finding/exposing/supporting people who *don't* already play in politics (or > at least not nationally). > > I'm not particulary deluded (or misiguided?) by the AE folks into > believing they have my best interests at heart... I suspect they recognized > that this was an inevitable development and wanted to be in control of > whatever part of it they could. That alone is a little nefarious. > > But to be honest, the important question is "what *would* be a better > process/circumstance for all of this?" Who *could* foster/muster > something like this. I'd be equally (differently) scared if it were > GoogleZon doing it... like > Vote.Google.com ? Maybe someone like EFF could do something less > muddied by conventional money and politics? > > Certainly not FRIAM or TED or ???... > > It is an interesting "experiment" even if it is openly flawed in some (not > so?) obvious ways... I'm less interested in believing this will lead to > first-order useful/meaningful results for the next election than I am in > understanding what this class of "meddling" can mean for our whole process. > > As for Doug's article.. I'm not very inclined to like anything I hear from > big-money traders about politics, if just on principle. > > I think the concept that putting oneself (and career) on the line by going > on the ballot and risk being voted out of the process "by the process" is > interesting but probably both not very thought through and hyperbolic at > the same time. > > I'm hoping that this election year brings some qualitatively new things, > and ideally ones I am more impressed with than the 2000 and 2004 > elections. The "draw" of 2000 and the *re-election* of Bush in 04 were > both fairly big things in politics in my opinion (not ones I welcome, > especially in retrospect, but big things nevertheless). > > I think our only viable option at this point is to give Obama 4 more > years to unlimber the rest of his skills and experience now that he's had > time to settle in, learn some ropes, lay some foundations. Maybe the > public are tired of their obstructionist congresspeople and will elect some > more who are interested in getting things done. Or maybe the divisiveness > will continue and expose itself yet more? > > Meanwhile, 2016 is sure to be a hoot. I predict things will have changed > as radically by then as we could wish, if not neccesarily in an appealing > direction. > > - Steve > > This article sums up my feelings on the subject: > > http://www.cnbc.com/id/46692982 > > --Doug > > On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 9:58 AM, glen <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> I don't think it would help me. An e-mail directly to me might make me >> feel like one of the cool kids. But my main concern is the sense that >> Americans Elect is a corporation, not a democratic process. Don't get >> me wrong, I'm all for corporations to the right purpose and context. >> But AECorp seems a bit shadowy to me. If I were pressed to be concrete >> about my feelings, I'd have to say that it's just too difficult to >> investigate the clique members involved. And when I do find some new >> piece of data about them, it's nefarious ... like the identities of the >> largest funders and the evolution from Unity08. >> >> I just don't get the feeling AECorp has my best interests in mind. >> >> Not that that's a big deal. The Demopublicans don't have my best >> interests in mind, either. But at least they admit that they're >> political parties, whose sole purpose is to help politicians get (and >> stay) elected as long as they tow the party line. That seems more >> authentic than a shadowy corporation that claims it's not a party, >> funded mostly in secret by long-term behind-the-scenes political players. >> >> These data should be prominent on their website, not hidden in PDFs I >> have to hunt for. And even if they privately sent _me_ all that data >> and it was all above board, I would still wonder why it wasn't on the >> website so anyone could see it immediately. >> >> Gillian Densmore wrote at 03/15/2012 06:42 PM: >> > That might help. I know I used to get emails from them mostly about what >> > to make there logo to look like. Part of the problem at least on my end >> > is lac of transperency and comunication. Maybe I needed to somehow know >> > I needed to watch the forums or something. Even then discus ala FRIAM >> > would(V) helped at least in my case. >> > >> > On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 7:02 PM, Greg Sonnenfeld <[email protected] >> > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> > >> > If you want I could ask the regional coordinator to give you guys an >> > e-mail so you could discuss your concerns. >> >> >> -- >> glen >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >> > > > > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
