[Campaigns-l] This is what I find meaningful

[Angela]

I'm forwarding this on behalf of Neil Pistol who had problems sending
to the list himself.

This is what I find meaningful:

"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." -Ben Hubbird

"Sorry, IANAP (I Am Not A Politician) so I hadn't realized the
political meaning of "issue" -- I'm interested in proposals, not
issues." -Peter Saint-Andre

"Or, perhaps, an effort to move beyond the existing parties? As far as
I can see, many Americans feel politically homeless and do not like
the polarization of the political debate. I rather doubt that
Americans are as polarized as the parties are..." -Peter Saint-Andre

I understand Geddes Munson's wariness of "two versions for every page
: Issue_facts and issue_opinion" but I think it is a good idea. Some
people want discussion, some want facts, and some (myself included)
want both. Clearly label both sections, and allow others to separate
the two using the wiki format! (plus, I would like to interchange
opinion/fact for discussion/article.)

"we need to develop our political lexicon into a meaninful tool that
we can use to describe a multitude of ideological stories -- as many
stories as there are citizens" -Ben Hubbard

"We've got no shortage of facts available to us as voters, it's just
assembling those facts into a coherent narrative that's the trouble"
-Ben Hubbard

Thanks to all of you, dniel9

P.S. I do want to involve international politics, but I still feel
that the site should be geographically organized and open to local
politics, in order to revolutionize government/democracy
through-and-through.