[Campaigns-l] Progressive Thought

[Ben Hubbird]

I like this idea a lot. The more that this can be a roadmap to the
political landscape, rather than just another collection of billboards
along the way, the more valuable and important it will be. I don't think
this SHOULD be a forum for discussion of "issues", as issues are merely
those prepackaged, focus grouped items that poll well with a politician's
target demographic.

Politicians love issues (especially bivalent ones) because they are easy.
We should hate them because they insult our intelligence as citizens and
perpetuate the myth that we are divided by some impermeable ideological
barrier.

Seems like the questions we should be answering are not "Who's right,
who's wrong?" It should be abundantly clear to anyone who has even a
modest political awareness that NOBODY is "right".

We should instead ask: "What should politics look like, if not the current
system? How can we get there?"

A section on how campaigns are run might be a first step -- nothing
impacts the current shape of the political debate more than the dirty
games it takes to get into office.

What do y'all think?

Ben Hubbird

George Murray said:
> One of my concerns with the current political process is the use of
> framing
> [see : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framing_(communication_theory) ] and
> buzzwords to redefine the problems rather than solve them.
>
> Campaigns Wikia could be a great way to "cut through" the redefinition
> these
> politicians do by taking whatever the latest buzzwords are and having an
> up-to-date record of their use and redefinition over time.
>
> Just a thought,
> -gmurray
>
> On 7/6/06, Chad Lupkes <chadlupkes at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Something this wiki is going to be able to do is define our terms for
>> the
>> ongoing discussion.  And the people who show up and make the edits will
>> do
>> the defining instead of paid political operatives looking to spin things
>> one
>> direction or the other.
>>
>> Chad
>>
>>
>> On 7/6/06, Ed Rodgers <ed.rodgers at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > i think you misunderstood my meaning of progressive.
>> >
>> > by progressive i mean moving beyond the process currently in place by
>> > utilizing tools available to us in order to better understand
>> > political and governmental decisions.
>> >
>> > i wasnt saying 'go out and buy every howard zinn book, now!' :)
>> >
>> > and now we see one of the drawbacks to internet based discussion -
>> > comprehension of rhetoric.
>> >
>> > we are progressing past television advertisements
>> > we are progressing to form an online community of thought contributors
>> > we are progressing toward a focus on the topics at hand
>> > it is a progressive movement, label it wikigressive so that it may not
>> > be misconstrued.
>> >
>> > stay tuned; same discussion to follow on democratic vs democratic.
>> >
>> > On 7/6/06, Peter Saint-Andre < stpeter at jabber.org> wrote:
>> > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>> > > Hash: SHA1
>> > >
>> > > Ed Rodgers wrote:
>> > > > I'm very happy as well that boing boing pointed me to this
>> > wiki.  It's
>> > > > yet another way to further progressive thought using the tools at
>> > our
>> > > > disposal.
>> > >
>> > > My sense from the mission statement Jimbo wrote is that we're trying
>> > to
>> > > open up the political process and make the political debate more
>> > > objective -- not that we're trying to further progressive, liberal,
>> > > libertarian, conservative, green, socialist, communist (etc.)
>> thought
>> > or
>> > > ideology or movements.
>> > >
>> > > Peter
>> > >
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>> > > Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
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>> > > =hzWb
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>> > >
>> > >
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>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Chad Lupkes
>> Democracy for Washington
>> http://www.democracyforwashington.com
>> Progressive Democratic Caucuses of Washington
>> http://pdcw.org
>>
>> If Democrats have a pre-911 view of the world, Republicans have a
>> pre-July
>> 4th view of the world.  Go back to King George, shall we?  Not while I'm
>> still breathing.
>>
>> The purpose of a political party is to turn the views and values of its
>> members into public policy. - Russel Wallace, Democracy for Wisconsin
>>
>> Blah, blah, blah!!!  What do we do about it!!
>>
>> Anyone want a roll-top desk?
>> http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/fur/178052982.html
>>
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>>
>>
>>
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