Lets start a political party w no ideology,just democracy(end of world confessional?)

Here's some thoughts I wanted to share with people. I just want someone to hear them. If our species doesn't go extinct within the following weeks, do to the nuclear melt down's in Japan from the Tsunami, I would hope that our species, as well as the whole evolutionary record and struggle on this planet doesn't go down in vain do to some other human imposed catastrophe. The thought of it all ending has made me want to mobilize and try to do my part to bring about a truly democratic world, especially in the wake of all these uprisings within these regions run by autocratic dictatorships. This has shown me how real it all is. If we get through this, I would like to just do something that would do away with ideology altogether. I'd like to create a political party in which representatives don't just vote their own whim but are held accountable to the needs and wants of the people within their domains and districts regardless of even whether they voted for them or not.

I think everyone is an individual, and that everyone is really a mix of liberal and conservative views. The purists are really the minority and probably the least aware and most manipulated. With the current form of representative democracy, we have to roughly approximate our views to that of the candidates. In the end, a lot of people are sacrificing their own concerns, and there's not even any guarantee that a politician will keep their campaign promises or not do something drastic that they didn't even campaign on. The threat of not being re-elected is not enough of a threat to keep them in line either. They need the threat of being removed from office in the middle of their term by petition too. They can always fall on the excuse that times changed to work against the needs of the people. I would like to have a form democratic party (which a small d) where representatives vote specifically based on polls taken from people in their region, whether through internet or telephone polls. How this would be done effectively in a practical application is something that needs to be done through a rational, lengthy debate process, but I'm sure it can be done. If anyone is interested, please send me a PM, and we'll try to organize. I feel guilty that I hadn't pursued this earlier, especially now with the possible threat of mass death on the horizon.

If there's a God out there, I hope that he/she allows the human experiment to move forward. I think there's potential in what the universe can learn about itself. Were on the verge of becoming a democratic world and a space age society. To the universal soul, VALIS, God, the holy trinity, synchronicity, the collective unconscious, the Godhead, or whatever it may be, I apologize for what my species has done to itself over the ages. I have equally great optimism and despair at this moment. I'm sorry for how we've treated one another. Maybe the human ego is too strong for us to ever live peacefully. I think its very possible though, and I think humanity could have a wonderful future. This is one of those moments where, if there is a deity, it can choose to wipe us out for our ugliness or allow us to continue for our beauty. Maybe we'll just be overwhelmed by the chaotic demiurge of the universe that seems to have full reign too at times. I love every human being on the face of the earth, and I hope the best for everyone.

 

We have public opinion polls, they're called referendums. The public's view on something changes on a near hourly basis, it'd be asinine to force a representative to have to vote on what the latest poll said, especially when every poll says something else. That's what elections and recall elections are for.

 

All I have to ask is, when was the last time a president was pulled out of office, at least in the US, because he'd fucked up and been too unpopular? Yah, I know what referendums and plebiscites are, but I think the whole political game forces us to believe in ideology. It sets people against each other, and there's this artificial construct that propagandists build and people accept, as if all political thought can be divided into two black and white categories. There's more like four general factors that exist on a pane, Libertarian, Authoritarian, Cultural conservative and cultural liberal, and there's a lot of gray area. I'd rather people be at a place where the debate is on an issue by issue basis and not about picking a team.

I really don't think that with the more important issues, like the anti-union bills and the bail out, that the American voter is that fickle. Public opinion polls can be stilted, depending on the source. It depends on how wide of a sample is being polled. Certain websites, like say Fox News or Democratic Underground, don't represent everyone because they don't attract all view points. If you had a truly non-partisan third party, or a series of them, taking polls, I think you would get much more accurate results. People also change their opinions over time because of genuine disillusionment. Like with Obama, he campaigned, promising to get the troops out of Iraq in 6 months, pretended to be on the side of unions, etc etc, but it turns out he's mainly just as much of a shill for Wall Street as Bush.

Its not just my political opinions that matter. Its really everybody's. I don't care if they're conservative, liberal, democrat, libertarian. The debate shouldn't be about what ideology you choose or what party you choose to run everything for several years. Its like you choose a boulder to roll over a hill and hope for the best at the end of the run. I'd rather have more control over policy, as a vote, in-between elections cycles than having virtually none at all. If the electorate had more power and self determinism and they made bad policy choices, better it be them than self interested, self serving politicians and professional lobbyists.

All I'm saying is that if people want true populism, its more in our ability, because of technology, to do so than in the whole history of republican democracy. When you give all this power to affect policy to a few people and polls and public opinion is only a loose guideline, it can take on the properties of a dictatorship with a time limit.

 

Our entire system of government doesn't allow that. A parliamentary system allows for votes of no confidence at any time, but the trade off is less separation of powers between the executive and legislative branch of government. On the plus side on our system a government can't use it's popularity to call for a fresh election to try to increase its representation as elections are always set at a specific date.

This is exactly what our system does though, you're not forced to buy into an ideogy, for example a "Democrat" in say Alabama could probably run as a "Republican" in New York. Even in a highly polarized congress issues are still taken issue to issue, what it means to be a Democrat or Republican varies greatly depending on where you are in the country and party members are always willing to break lines if the issue is divisive enough.

Franly America is not ready for true populism, in fact no nation minus Switzerland(and only because they have a long, long history of it) can really manage true populism. True populism is not the glorious thing it seems on the surface. The electorate is often very angry, very emotional, and very uninformed.

 

i would submit to you that ideology, in the course of time, does not matter. history has shown this. what matters is human fickleness and schizophrenic behaviour. the cycles in history are pretty interesting. read gibbon, or any of the roman historians....you can track a number of western ideas as well as political thought. read some geologic history, and see if you can correlate that to political movements..i think Tecumseh tried that...this is pretty good, and occurred right aaround his time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Seismic_Zone

http://www.ratical.com/ratville/Tecumseh.html

the earthquake in nippon? i'm listening to coast to coast...the theories are all over the place. the plates move; we build rock (concrete is man made simulated rock) buildings and roads all around where the plates join. wtf do we expect? the forces of a moderate richter quake are beyond most peoples' imagining. pac rim is going to get the shit knocked out of it. will it change politics? maybe..when people are scared (and being in a quake makes you think the hand of god has grabbed your ass), they do strange things. i guarantee you, anyone who thinks about these things in reasonable depth knows more is coming, they want an explanation, and are willing to grab the first one comes along that looks 'ok' to them, even if it is stupid as shit.

wasn't half a century ago, they were torturing americans, raping chinese, gonna conquer the world and dictate everything for the holy emperor.....and now 'oh, woe for them. we're praying for you!'. they tried to rip us economically after deming saved their industry (along with macarthur)....and so did china...and the news was all 'woowoowoo' about the china quakes. dumbasses.

populism? yeah, let's build some cities on the ocean...great view.