Ask Slashdot: What Planks Would You Want In a Platform of a Political Party?

An anonymous reader writes "I am the Technology Manager of the Justice Party (sorry, no relationship to the Avengers). We are currently working on our Platform (version 2.0) and I would be interested to know what people in the science and technology field would like to see in a platform of a political party. For example, we are considering planks that relate to Open Government (data) access, science and maths promotion, space industries, promotion of open source, dealing with SOPA/ CISPA laws, improvement in user privacy and much more. Give us your comments so we can help build a more tech-savvy America."

Comments

Planks?

[DontBlameCanada]

Cedar is best, but pine is cheaper. Hint: save yourself from the darkest side and take up carpentry. Do something meaningful with your life, seriously.

Re:Planks?

[Dutchmaan]

I remember when politicians were built from mohangay and oak, now they're all just compressed particle board and fall apart after a year or two, but we never throw them out we just keep using them with all their broken drawers because we don't want to deal with the problem of disposing of it all!

Vi yay, Emacs nay.

[beowulfcluster]

I'd like to see vi become the official editor of the United States of America, and at the same time I would like to see Emacs declared an illegal tool only people of an evil doer persuasion would use and banned and hunted down. Start the War on Emacs and you'll have my vote. Thank you.

Re:Vi yay, Emacs nay.

[coldsalmon]

I totally disagree. If we ban Emacs, it will just go underground, making the problem even worse than it is now. We need Emacs users to stay out in the open, where we can monitor them. Emacs should be legalized and taxed so the government can actually control it. And before you libertarian nutjobs go off about big government, the whole reason that government exists is to control things like Emacs, which the free market has obviously failed to do. I'd rather have people getting their Emacs at Wal-Mart after a background check than on Silk Road with Bitcoins. Sadly, our politicians are too stupid to know the difference between Emacs and Bitcoin, so we'll be stuck with our broken system for the foreseeable future, and this discussion is irrelevant.

Constancy

[TechyImmigrant]

I want your policies to be constant. Plank Constants.

Something universally...

[fahrbot-bot]

... constant.

Third parties, generally, are not good

[Geoffrey.landis]

The election system, as it currently exists, squeeze out third parties. Worse, however, is that if a third party does get a toehold, the main result is has on an election is to takes vote away from the major party that it's most similar to-- the "spoiler" effect. This is why in many cases third-party challengers are secretly funded by entities that oppose the platforms that the third party supports: the "divide and conquer" strategy.

So, overall, my desire for your party is that your platform should adopt all the planks that I hate. Probably your party will be irrelevant, in which case it doesn't matter what your platform is. If your party does get large enough to make a difference, that difference will manifest by your taking votes away from your politically closest competitors, so I want you to be as evil as possible.

Thus: I suggest you adopt a platform of explicit fascism.

My Little Politicians.

[Remus Shepherd]

Note to moderators: If you feel the urge to moderate this, please do not hit the 'Funny' button. As ridiculous as it sounds, I am being completely serious:

I would like to see a Brony political party.

The planks of such a party would be the same as those that keep Equestria running well: The Elements of Harmony. Each of the elements are concepts that we need very badly in American politics right now:

Honesty -- Transparency and accountability should be a cornerstone of any government.
Kindness -- The purpose of government should be to help the poor and disadvantaged. The rich do not need help.
Loyalty -- Politicians should be loyal to their constituents and to America, not to corporate lobbies or foreign investors.
Generosity -- Liberal use of government power is good when such intervention is requested. Be generous and quick to help those who ask for it, but do not interfere with industries or states unless absolutely necessary.
Laughter -- A political candidate and party should be able to laugh at themselves. Not a consideration for governing, but it would help immensely with the dreadful campaign season.

I would *love* to see the Elements of Harmony adopted by a political party. I feel they are well thought-out principles for a just and harmonious society, and out current political system has gotten very far from any harmonious ideal.