Saturday, January 22, 2011
Alternative to Political Parties
The 2 party political system is not working. 10 parties wouldn't work either. Maybe we need to create something other than a party. Here in Georgetown County, South Carolina we have created what's known as a Public Primary.
Public Primary was created to be the most simple and easy to start political organizations. No need for tax except status and no need to file any paperwork to start this organization yourself wherever you live.
Imagine no political parties, factions, or political labels. Politics does not have to be this way. The basics of politics are these. The voters- the ones in charge. The candidates and elected officials who are servants of the voters. The mandate. These 3 things are all that is necessary for representation.
How would we create a mandate? Traditionally it's been party ideology. Public Primary creates a mandate by the voters judging solutions on political issues. District, County, or Ward volunteers have folders of these ideas. These volunteers find the local voters, ask them to judge these ideas and judge more ideas every 2 or 3 months and the voters see the results of how others are judging these ideas. The average score of each idea is averaged with how other are judging these ideas on a district/ ward, county, and state. The goal here is to find the most popular solution to every political issue out there. Make this common knowledge to ourselves and candidates.
Public Primary candidates. Our candidates are non-party candidates. That means they are all write in or petition candidates that have no commitment to a political party. Why is this important? I could write out 100 reasons but the most persuasive reason would be this. It's the only thing we have no tried to do let alone accomplish in state or county.
Voters. So far we have done something very simple and strait forward but very unique and dramatically different in creating a mandate and candidates who adopt this mandate. Now all we have to do is put our candidates in office. Public Primary has created a pledging system where voters can see job applications of candidates that will also be in these folders. Under each candidate will be a space where you can pledge your vote for this candidate. That will tell that candidate "If the election was tomorrow, I will vote for you." Everyone who has spent the time to judge solutions to issues will have a chance to pledge their votes for candidates. The pledges grow for each candidate but the closer we get to election the pledges would naturally consolidate to one candidate per seat. Hence the name "Public Primary". When the voters are pledging and changing their pledges they are also aware of how many people voted for each seat in the last election. That way no one will feel they are wasting or splitting the vote when they show up to the general election with their worksheet of everyone they are voting for. The public is aware of how many votes each candidate will receive before the election.
If you want to make a difference in politics I would suggest to get Public Primary started where you live. It's simple. Here are a few basic steps to get started.
1. Create a define area of constituency. It could be municipal, county, ward, district or what ever local political area you have. Pint or purchase that area map and post it on a wall in your house with some thumb tacks. Create a blog or FB group page for the people and voters in that area.
2. Get some 1inch binder folders. Print out some ideas/ solutions to political issues. Make sure there are multiple ways they can judge these ideas 1-4 or multiple choice answers. Keep things simple and easy to read. Print out each idea insert the idea page into a sheet protector. Cut out the back of the sheet protector for people to judge each idea. These ideas can be on solutions for any political subject local, state or national. The goal, as stated above, is to find solutions that unite us.
3. Walk down the street to your neighbors. Find a volunteer. This Neighborhood Volunteer would the organizer for 50-60 or so voters or potential voters eventually. Explain Public Primary how you can work together to find voters in the designated area of streets or neighborhood. Explain this will take about 1 or 2 hours a week. Explain too that we are putting together a permanent organization together to build momentum for issues and candidates between elections. As it get going- every 2 or 3 months you would get the results of how people are judging these ideas to publish them into folders that other volunteers have.
4. Create a standard job application for candidates and an idea/ solution application for people to submit a solution if they have one for the public to judge. You can use our applications as an example. Just email me robertandlarri@gmail.com and I will send you word docs on ideas and applications we are using. That way you simply change a few things and you're rolling.
5. On the map you created you would put a label and thumb tack on every volunteer, Spacing them out to eventually cover you area. Most states you can purchase a list of registered voters from your state election website. It would make it much easier to contact voters and help volunteers to find voters to participate in Public Primary.
6. As Public Primary gets going and a mandate starts to become clear and candidates start to fill out job applications you can start collecting pledges for these candidates. The same people how have been judging these ideas can pledge their votes to build them momentum. On the back of each candidate's application will be a place where people can indicate they would pledge their vote for that candidate. Add up these pledged compared to the number of people who voted for that seat in the last election. You want to do the research to find all the elected seats coming up for election within a year, indicate this in the folder. You would want to describe that position and their duties. Also in the folder have the basic requirements to run for each office you can vote for from your area.
Now, it's important to understand this. As a volunteer you have to be nonpartisan and impartial. Don't start Public Primary for notoriety. To start this you have to be self motivated with a clear goal in mind and that is representation of the people- no matter what it is and no matter who the candidates are. Replacing party candidates with individuals is politics of the future. Be a visionary and be a part of it. One little baby step at a time, hour or 2 a week.
Public Primary was created to be the most simple and easy to start political organizations. No need for tax except status and no need to file any paperwork to start this organization yourself wherever you live.
Imagine no political parties, factions, or political labels. Politics does not have to be this way. The basics of politics are these. The voters- the ones in charge. The candidates and elected officials who are servants of the voters. The mandate. These 3 things are all that is necessary for representation.
How would we create a mandate? Traditionally it's been party ideology. Public Primary creates a mandate by the voters judging solutions on political issues. District, County, or Ward volunteers have folders of these ideas. These volunteers find the local voters, ask them to judge these ideas and judge more ideas every 2 or 3 months and the voters see the results of how others are judging these ideas. The average score of each idea is averaged with how other are judging these ideas on a district/ ward, county, and state. The goal here is to find the most popular solution to every political issue out there. Make this common knowledge to ourselves and candidates.
Public Primary candidates. Our candidates are non-party candidates. That means they are all write in or petition candidates that have no commitment to a political party. Why is this important? I could write out 100 reasons but the most persuasive reason would be this. It's the only thing we have no tried to do let alone accomplish in state or county.
Voters. So far we have done something very simple and strait forward but very unique and dramatically different in creating a mandate and candidates who adopt this mandate. Now all we have to do is put our candidates in office. Public Primary has created a pledging system where voters can see job applications of candidates that will also be in these folders. Under each candidate will be a space where you can pledge your vote for this candidate. That will tell that candidate "If the election was tomorrow, I will vote for you." Everyone who has spent the time to judge solutions to issues will have a chance to pledge their votes for candidates. The pledges grow for each candidate but the closer we get to election the pledges would naturally consolidate to one candidate per seat. Hence the name "Public Primary". When the voters are pledging and changing their pledges they are also aware of how many people voted for each seat in the last election. That way no one will feel they are wasting or splitting the vote when they show up to the general election with their worksheet of everyone they are voting for. The public is aware of how many votes each candidate will receive before the election.
If you want to make a difference in politics I would suggest to get Public Primary started where you live. It's simple. Here are a few basic steps to get started.
1. Create a define area of constituency. It could be municipal, county, ward, district or what ever local political area you have. Pint or purchase that area map and post it on a wall in your house with some thumb tacks. Create a blog or FB group page for the people and voters in that area.
2. Get some 1inch binder folders. Print out some ideas/ solutions to political issues. Make sure there are multiple ways they can judge these ideas 1-4 or multiple choice answers. Keep things simple and easy to read. Print out each idea insert the idea page into a sheet protector. Cut out the back of the sheet protector for people to judge each idea. These ideas can be on solutions for any political subject local, state or national. The goal, as stated above, is to find solutions that unite us.
3. Walk down the street to your neighbors. Find a volunteer. This Neighborhood Volunteer would the organizer for 50-60 or so voters or potential voters eventually. Explain Public Primary how you can work together to find voters in the designated area of streets or neighborhood. Explain this will take about 1 or 2 hours a week. Explain too that we are putting together a permanent organization together to build momentum for issues and candidates between elections. As it get going- every 2 or 3 months you would get the results of how people are judging these ideas to publish them into folders that other volunteers have.
4. Create a standard job application for candidates and an idea/ solution application for people to submit a solution if they have one for the public to judge. You can use our applications as an example. Just email me robertandlarri@gmail.com and I will send you word docs on ideas and applications we are using. That way you simply change a few things and you're rolling.
5. On the map you created you would put a label and thumb tack on every volunteer, Spacing them out to eventually cover you area. Most states you can purchase a list of registered voters from your state election website. It would make it much easier to contact voters and help volunteers to find voters to participate in Public Primary.
6. As Public Primary gets going and a mandate starts to become clear and candidates start to fill out job applications you can start collecting pledges for these candidates. The same people how have been judging these ideas can pledge their votes to build them momentum. On the back of each candidate's application will be a place where people can indicate they would pledge their vote for that candidate. Add up these pledged compared to the number of people who voted for that seat in the last election. You want to do the research to find all the elected seats coming up for election within a year, indicate this in the folder. You would want to describe that position and their duties. Also in the folder have the basic requirements to run for each office you can vote for from your area.
Now, it's important to understand this. As a volunteer you have to be nonpartisan and impartial. Don't start Public Primary for notoriety. To start this you have to be self motivated with a clear goal in mind and that is representation of the people- no matter what it is and no matter who the candidates are. Replacing party candidates with individuals is politics of the future. Be a visionary and be a part of it. One little baby step at a time, hour or 2 a week.
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