[Campaigns-l] changing politics

[Asa Hopkins]

Hey folks,

I just wanted to jump in and second some thoughts from Stephen Abbott  
and Erik Mueller which I think get at the heart of what Jimmy Wales'  
open letter indicated the site would be about, but which the content  
so far doesn't reflect at all: "a central meeting ground for people  
on all sides of the political spectrum who think that it is time for  
politics to become more participatory, and more intelligent."

To me, this doesn't mean "a place to discuss a particular race" or  
even "a place to post info about candidates" or even "a place for  
background info about issues."  All these things are available  
elsewhere, and making the info available in a central place doesn't  
change the game at all.

What I was hoping for was a place to work on how to change the way  
that campaigns are run, the way the game is played.  Questions I'd  
like to see discussed are along these lines:
-- How does one run a campaign to represent hundreds of thousands, if  
not millions, of people, and still maintain a connection to each  
individual voter, or ever each individual volunteer or donor?
-- I'm a single supporter, and I have a great idea for a policy  
position I'd like my candidate or elected official to take.  How can  
the campaign make it easy for that communication to happen, and that  
idea get serious consideration?  This is what participatory politics  
means to me.
-- In each electoral district across the country there are experts on  
each of the policy issues that an elected official makes decisions  
about.  How can we set up the system so that our representatives  
easily tap this knowledge in order to make more intelligent decisions?

Unfortunately, the front page of the Campaigns Wikia site is set up  
as an issues discussion, and a discussion of upcoming elections.   
This is exactly what we don't need yet another site to do.

Asa

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Work is love made visible
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Asa S. Hopkins
MC 266-33, Pasadena, CA 91125
asa at caltech.edu
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~asa/
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