Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
Take what you believe and make that your party planks.
Proportional representation. Small factions will get represented too.
Separation of Church/Religion & State, be it whatever religion
If you're going to require me to pay for my neighbor's health insurance despite them smoking a pack a week, then require that every person own a gun to protect their neighbor as well.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
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.
I want your policies to be constant. Plank Constants.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
1) strict term limits for congress
2) corporate money is not free speech...no place for it in politics
3) Single payer health care
4) increased minimum wage that is subsequently tied to inflation
5) Large scale infrastructure projects...LARGE. High speed trains, universal fiber broadband
6) a commitment to overhaul the national power grid or begin the the process of implementing a decentralized solution to replacing the grid
7) outlaw lobbyists
... constant.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Years ago, local industry where I lived had a problem getting qualified workers with the right skills. Folks said, "Like what skills?"
Industry said, "CNC Machinists."
So, the local tech schools, colleges, industry and governments got together and created CNC programs and solved the problem. Now industry has has a steady flow of qualified workers, people who may not have the talents or inclination to be a white collar cube worker have a career path to a middle class life, government has an ever increasing tax base and the local community is thriving. (CT, Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky Aircraft, etc... to name some names.)
Contrast with the tech industry:
"Waaa! We can't get qualified workers with the right skills!! Waaaaaaa"
The rest of us, "Like what?"
Tech industry,"Waaaaa! We can't get qualified workers we need more H1-Bs! Waaaaaaaaaa!"
I think they won't mention the skills or qualifications they need because we will all see that the Emperor Has No Clothes. We would see that in fact, every college and university in the US is producing folks with the right qualifications and that the tech industry is full of shit and made up the "lack of skills and qualifications" as an excuse for H1-Bs - to state the obvious.
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.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
"Max Planck. Get him for your party. That would be one hell of a party."
Party Motto: Be discrete, not continuous!
I know I am a little too far down, but here goes.
1. Identity Fail.
"An anonymous reader writes "I am the Technology Manager of the Justice Party..."
Really?! For me you sunk your chances right there. Politics is about promoting yourself and hoping no bad $hit from your past sticks too badly. (Because there IS some, it's only a question of relativity!)
So "Anonymous Reader", for a party I've never heard of? Nope. Go away. I won't even begin to (oh wait, I am) open the can of worms on authenticity security for ... wait for it ... the *Technology Manager*... of a party?! Sales guys, I get. Tech Manager? Oh dear gawd.
2. Too F#$%$% Sick of "Hidden One Way Flow" data-slurps in politics. You want all our notes, but you won't stand to even log a Slashdot Username to respond to replies? And this for a *political party*? Screw that. I'll dignify you by saying you're not a complete fabrication by site Mgt. Let's assume you are real. Why So Sneaky?
Bye Bye.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
I live in Canada, and with first-past-the-post my vote essentially means nothing at all due to where I live.
Our national government has a "majority" with less than 40% of the popular vote.
If enough people come forward and sign a petition claiming abuse of authority, this should force a officer of greater rank from an unrelated jurisdiction to come in and investigate. If a judge holds people in contempt for half their lives, there must be repercussions. If a DA withholds exculpatory evidence, there must be repercussions. If a police officer abuses his power, then the people he works with every day should not be the ones who give him a pass.
Let alternate jurisdictions oversee each other. That way they can leave without fear of reprisals. Otherwise the truth is being stolen from the people.
And at some point there must be criminal liability for abuse of power.
education (ok to leave some children behind).
health (self care, health care, genetics, stem cells...)
energy (simply burning fossil fuels is stupid)
space (for starters, industry & mining would be better done off planet)
values: throw in a large dose of personal responsibility.
These are the things that matter, policy that improves them is a win.
Everything else is noise.
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.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
Laws and regulations need feedback loops so that efficacy can be determined and acted upon. This means that the goal and rationale for laws and regulations needs to be explicitly stated and then the effects measured and reported.
The article is submitted by "anonymous reader" claiming to be the technology manager for the Justice Party, yet links to a web site that identifies the National Technology Manager by name.
Just one of those little daily oddities I notice.
Citizens United must be reversed. This will probably require a constitutional amendment.
Number One Priority (and of most benefit to small parties like yours): Replace first past the post voting for selecting our representatives (because we are a representative republic) with something more effective in terms of game theory. I think instant run-off would work best for the American people given our history and what we are most likely to understand and adopt readily.
What's the impact on tech policy?
At the most fundamental level, tech policy should be data driven, and there is no more fundamental data than that provided by the voters. If we implement a voting system which will optimize the decisions made by members of the republic - instead of discounting a majority of the input - we have the framework to begin implementing data-driven policy in every other aspect. Otherwise - first past the post mathematically favors two opposing policies neither of which the majority of voters truly approve (rather we pick the lesser-of-evils). With a superior voting system, the constituents can indirectly favor their own tech policy (and you might get a good statistician to do some nice post-hock voting analysis to separate out the variables and tell you exactly what the people want for tech).
If you're asking for some direct policy advice - I'll post that elsewhere
Exactly. Take your platform, and burn it to the ground.
I want politicians who, when faced with legislation they support or not, will release a statement saying why it's a good or bad idea. Not a buzzword-filled piece about patriotism and inherent rights, but how the particular legislation helps or hinders your particular goals.
I want politicians who will vote however they feel is right, rather than how their party tells them to.
I want politicians who will act in support of not just their own constituents, but for all the neighboring regions as well, especially in regard to business incentives.
I want politicians who honestly care more about making the world better than about the day-to-day drama of American politics.
I also want a pony.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Government people have the right to look at your data. But, after one year, the person whose privacy was violated needs to be informed of who looked at your data, from what government agency, and why. Lawsuits are permitted for abuse.
Alternatively, force prosecutors to be sworn in at trial, and hold them and their star witnesses to the same perjury standards they hold the defense. Also, if it turns out they withheld exculpatory evidence and get an innocent person convicted, they should be charged with obstruction of justice and have jail time equal to the time the innocent person spent in jail and/or forfeit their wages for the same number of years.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
All laws must consist of the following:
1) A clear purpose
2) What means are to be employed to achieve that purpose
3) A list of criteria can be independently evaluated to see if it was a success
4) A timeline for evaluating those criteria and repealing the law if it was not successful
I realize this won't work in all cases, but it should help in most.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
I would like to see a pro plankton platform.
Is this really how political parties get started? Shouldn't the platform come before the party? If you don't already know what needs to be done differently, then why are creating a new party? This makes it sound like you found a large, under-served demographic and decided to cash in on their passion. At best, this sounds really backwards; at worst, it sounds downright dubious. How about you tell us what your party stands for, and we'll tell you if we agree and where you could stand to change. At the very least, you should lurk more. I'm all for a viable third party, especially one that embraces the tech community, but surely you understand why this looks deceitful. It's like asking a girl in a chat room how old she is and she asks how old you want her to be.
It's all well and good to say you are for science and education.
But what does support for any of those things mean in terms of how you plan to help them?
Are you going to use government to prop up science through specific winner companies, or to promote private research with X-Prize like rewards that spur private research?
Are you going to support space by building government controlled space vehicles or attempt to reduce regulation around private space exploration to allow more risk for a greater range of discovery?
Basically, you as a party have to decide before anything else what role government has in our lives, as overseer or gardener.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Restore the vote by eliminating gerrymandering.
Restore the courts by eliminating plea bargains by prosecutors. (Defendants can still plead guilty and ask for mercy from the court, not from the prosecutors.)
Restore accountability in government by reducing government immunity from lawsuits. Those who enforce the law should not be immune from it. Police officers who lie under oath should be jailed. Destruction of evidence, including failure to collect exculpatory evidence, and the failure of prosecutors to reveal potentially exculpatory evidence as required by the Constitution, should also not be prevented by governmental immunity and should result in prison time for any detectives and prosecutors involved.
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
Note that multi-party systems can work fine elsewhere.
Yes, in elsewheres that have different balloting techniques.
I'm a great fan of Approval voting, myself. But there are numerous better methods than simple plurality.
So even though this'll get plenty of knee-jerk reactions for reasons that are inscrutable to me, I'd suggest direct representational voting, or some other way to stop gerrymandering being possible, or useful.
Gerrymandering is worse than merely an accidentally bad system-- it represents deliberate attempts to subvert democracy
The system was indubitably pretty neat back when
Or at least, was pretty good for a first try.
, but hasn't scaled well. Take the ingredient principles and build something that fits the current (and future, for say 50..100 years--investigating your voting system every century for effectiveness and possible revision isn't bad) situation better. In general, some system that doesn't happen to have a two-party-only implicit system property...
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
This is the government we're talking about.....there are all sorts of compliance laws. It needs to wide enough for a wheelchair, have hand railings, be at a shallow enough slope, be made to withstand at last 1000lbs, be sourced from an approved lumber mill, be transported by union workers, etc.
Basic income guarantee.
Electoral reform (preference voting)
Abolition of copyright.
Abolition of all victimless crimes (drug use, prostitution, all sumptuary laws)
Abolition of all national security exceptions to the Constitution (exceptions to the Constitution themselves endanger national scecurity)
Abolition of immunities. (prosecutorial, judicial, qualified)
Creation of a special prosecutor to prosecute abuses of power.
And lastly pass a law that explicitly states that every citizen has a right to a government that obeys the law. Every citizen should have standing to sue the government if it breaks any laws. Far too many egregious violations of the constitution are unstoppable because no one can prove they have standing.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Well, theoretically if you start teaching it in the schools at an early age, within a generation the majority of the populace will have went through the course, so you should have a lot fewer incidents like those you mention.
Another potential upside would be that, if the training were mandatory, perhaps future police officers would develop a higher accuracy rate than bad guys in action films.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Unfortunately, no political party position is complete without addressing money. You need to decide whether to tax your way out of this hole, or cut your way out. (or both, but aggressively, not half heartedly)
First plank? Cut the deficit all the way to negative. ASAP. That means now, not planning on it several decades out. Real reform hurts, but it will hurt more if we don't address the problem. Can you imagine the US declaring bankruptcy? That's where we're headed. (or the equvalent, anyway) And that's not just the federal government. Many of the states are insolvent right now too. Even some of the big ones (California).
Real deficit cuts are not decreasing the planned growth of deficits! Grab both the Rs and Ds and slap them with this during campaigning.
Second, start spending the money we've got wisely. We're like a leaky sieve. For instance, there's a constant drumbeat of "we've got to support the schools and teachers!" In reality? Almost all the money get's lost between tax payers and the classrooms. Setting more money aside for schools almost never results in increased learning. But cuts? Those go straight to the gullet.
Third, stop the hidden tax. Inflation. The FED and other financial entities have been focused on a constant, steady inflation to "protect" the economy from the boogeyman of deflationary-spirals. The reality is: deflation is a symptom of the spirals, but isn't the primary cause. Healthy economies absorb deflation nicely. The real reason for constant inflation is to cause the stock market to be the safest place for people to store their cash. It's a money grab for the rich, and a way for the Federal government to shrink the value of the national debt.
I won't join Slashcott. OTOH, If Beta goes live, I just won't be back until it's fixed. Sorry Dice.
Your party platform contains scary restrictions on freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom of commerce. Your platform is full of hidden subsidies to banks, "homeowners", medical insurance, and other powerful political interest groups. Before you add more nonsense to your platform, why don't you fix that first?
I would like you to base your policies around some coherent principles so that I can know if you are worth investigating further. When you make a post like you have just made, it sounds like you are just trying to taylor your policies to getting votes from a particular constituency. Your post does not deserve to be on Slashdot. If you had stated some core principals and how they apply to the use of technology in society, that would have been something worth reading, although it would still not be your place to advertise it here.
If you are serious about politics I would suggest you act with more decency, and stop polluting news sites with articles that are not news, but rather promoting your own agenda.
Farm subsidies distort food prices. The tariffs would prevent a change in the overall import/export ratio due to unfair competition.
It is important to have a functional agricultural sector, I agree. But the system in this country essentially causes certain crops to sell at artificial prices by way of your tax dollars. If corn subsidies did not exist, farmers could not sell their corn at a loss, and corn prices would increase to corn's true cost. This disrupts the perverse calories/dollar for meat and corn syrup which currently distort our consumption.
A free market is a more efficient market, given enough producers and consumers. Any money spent on farm subsidies could instead be spent on food subsidies, or returned to the taxpayer. (Personally, I favor the former, but the latter is attractive to some)
As to the smokers, that may be true but the point is I still have to pay for their medical costs...
NO
YOU
DON'T
I smoke, and because I do, I pay a higher health insurance premium than a non-smoker with similar health stats. Stop spreading that damnable myth.
Conversely, fat people really do burden the healthcare system unnecessarily, and they are not required to pay an increased premium. You want to bitch, bitch about that.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Financial reform. If what the banks did in 2008 wasn't illegal, it should have been. Glass-Steagal needs to come back. The tax burden on corporations (and people) needs to increase the larger they become. Money is unelected political power. It subverts democracy and encourages oligarchy. Offshore money parking needs to be illegal as well. If you want your money in the Isle of Mann, feel free to move there.
The USA's military is 7 times larger than the next largest military. We spend 18 percent of the budget on military expenditures. I'm all for reducing "entitlements" starting with the Army, Navy and Marines.
More money should go to research in AI and energy generation. The first problem is unrecognized by the mainstream press (What a shock), but the first country that develops useful, scalable, human-like AI rules the world. Seriously. The next big problem is energy. Like it or not, significant postive net energy from oil is going away. We need a replacement.
Controversial as this is, I'd give anyone with a medical, engineering or other technical degree earned in the USA a green card and two tax free years. We need the world's smart people here, not in India.
End rant.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
If you are a Justice Party then you should be about true justice.
So let's do this:
1. Strict government adherence to the set Law, the Constitution.
2. No deviation from the Law for the government, for the politicians.
3. All laws must apply in exactly the same manner to all individuals.
4. No discrimination against individuals based on any personal circumstances, you can't have justice if you don't apply the law in exactly the same way to all people.
5. No retroactive laws under any circumstances.
6. In order to pass any legislation, it must FIRST pass against ALL the tests of the existing Law, unit test your legislation against all Laws so to speak.
7. Never allow your sentiments to override your Laws.
8. Have a Law based party, anybody that violates the Law must be immediately removed from his or her position of power.
9. Strict separation of power between branches, so do not allow the Executive branch actually come up with the Law as it happens right now on daily basis, where some bureaucrat that is given authority to run something also decides on the details of the actual Law that is supposed to govern his actions.
10. All your actions must pass the muster of all the Laws right in front of the eyes of the public, I am talking about complete transparency on every decision.
So those are your commandments if you are talking about real justice.
But let me take a wild guess, you are not talking about real justice, you are talking about discrimination and outcomes that you want to base on your preferences. When you say "Justice" what you really mean is discrimination against individuals based on their personal circumstances for the purpose of achieving your goals, whatever they are (so called 'just society', which is simply another socialist party).
I don't believe my list of 10 suggestions will make it into your platform.
You can't handle the truth.
I sort of like a variation, ALL laws except the constitution come up for review, 10-30 years. If it can't be voted positive by simple majority, then it gets repealed. If you want to fix the constitution, then go through the amendment process.
That is all.
I am committed to voting for any candidate who will do away with the anachronistic concept of Daylight Savings Time. I am a morning person--let there be light.
According to their web site, their "Vision" is more or less American communism, the left-wing "we're all in it together, so yours is mine" theme:
Social Justice: Every person's civil and human rights are protected; everyone has the opportunity to obtain an excellent education from early childhood through college or trade school; affordable and high-quality healthcare is available for everyone; government is not controlled by wealthy corporations and individuals, but is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Economic Justice: All people are provided with opportunities for prosperity; poverty is eliminated; the “middle class” is thriving; and our economy is appropriately regulated so that all members of society are treated fairly.
Environmental Justice: The earth's inhabitants are safe from catastrophic, human-caused climate disruption; nature is protected and preserved through sustainable practices; and our air, water, and food supplies are clean and healthy.
But their "Core Values" list includes:
Justice: Behave with fairness and compassion, and be accountable for one’s actions;
Respect: Treat all people, including those with different views, philosophies, and circumstances, with respect;
Rule of Law: Uphold the equal application of the rule of law.;
Rationality: Reach decisions consistent with facts and reason;
Farsightedness: Consider not only the immediate, but also the long term, consequences of our actions;
How do you provide "poverty is eliminated" when some people don't care to work? By robbing the people who do work, of course. So much for Justice, rule of law, and respect. ... high-quality healthcare is available for everyone". Again, if someone produces $18,000 / year and is going to get $20,000 worth of healthcare, and $20,00 for college, who are you taking that $40,000 from? Someone whom you're not treating with "justice", "respect", etc.
Vision: "college
Does that plan, which has been an utter failure anytime anyone has tried anything like that, sound like "Rationality" or "Farsightedness"?
Clearly they don't know what they believe, haven't thought that through. (I assume they're not lying about most of it, and just haven't thought enough to realize that pretty much all of their "Core Values" are the opposites of their "Vision".
Hello gl4ss :)
I'm OK with you beating up the website. Little background. The visual design was MUCH MUCH worse in 2012 if you can believe that. What you see is a 'default' template on our cloud-based CMS. Yeah, not so great. I admit it. I'm working on moving us to an Open Source CMS/framework. The party has a good amount of political people, but lacks people in web/IT/Dev etc. By the way, I am not paid and putting in 3 hours a day and all weekends. I do this because I don't want to sit in my chair and simply say, 'our politics suck.' I'm trying to do good, eh. There are a few tech people in the party but we could sure use many more! We hope to get our docs into GIT and use other open source tools to push OPEN GOV.
You might see ads. But truly, not my intention my friend. I have visited /. since I ran a site that promoted open source development. There are some insightful people in this community. Though sometimes it seems many have moved on. Anyways, the idea is to get input on topics that I haven't listed out for our platform committee to consider. That is a bad thing? I suppose if we were one of the two major parties we would spend some PAC money and spend a million on a paid focus group.
Please see our website. There is a vision, mission and core values. They certainly could be tweaked and in time I expect them to be smoothed over. I highly recommend you go to the site of our founder, Rocky Anderson (voterocky.org). Watch the many videos on his website. It has much more content to educate you on what we are trying to build.
The platform we had in 2011~12 is offline. We are using some tools to have our membership submit ideas and improvements. This Slashdot post is an attempt to reach out beyond our members for input. I think that is a good thing.
On the pledge and some of the other articles. Some are a bit dated and haven't been updated since the election. We need more people to help with editing I think.
>and if the technology manager bothers to read this:
I'm here my friend. :) I won't bother to address the rest as it looks like you melted off.
-- Cheers mate, Justice Party
This is basically a slashvertisement for their political party, and they want to get more people involved, and "rally for the cause".
We're deeply entrenched into the two party system, and you're only kidding yourself if you think it will change any time soon. I think AC is simply pointing that out.
Thinking exactly that as I curiously clicked to go to their site, I noticed a sentence in there that is pushing for a direction I already don't care for, and what AC said came to mind. Without reading more into it, I am fairly certain at this point that this "party" they are forming is all about social justice. Social justice is based upon the idea that any time you succeed in favor of somebody else, that is a wrong that must be righted. What follows is a rant on social justice, and you might like my anecdote which favors the little guy:
Succeeding in favor of somebody else can range from being hired for a high paying job so the other guy needs to find somewhere else to work, or winning a race where you got the cash prize and the second place guy got nothing.
I like the idea that we are all equal by default and we should all have a fair chance, but the reality is that we aren't all equal. Last week I was on a team in a competition where we had to wire colored cables to a patch panel and some switches in a short amount of time, and the team that came in first won $1,000, whereas the other teams came out with nothing. I have keratoconus so it takes me a second to properly identify small numbers (though I can do it, eventually) and one of my other teammates is colorblind. All three of us wear glasses. These problems set us back, but we were offered no handicap favors.
We won, making us one out of 15 or so teams who competed. Statistically, we were probably the only team with debilitating eyesight issues, but we probably won because we did something smarter (I don't really know as I never met any of the competition.) Social justice says that what we did was inherently unfair because we became rich(er) at the expense of somebody else. Because we did something better, we have committed an injustice.
Social justice is bullshit. There, I said it. Like AC said, I'll go my way on this one. Though like you said, I also hope they go away. To me a society where everybody is exactly the same would be a dystopia. Maybe I'm biased because I have talents that people are willing to pay for (outside of that contest, too) but I still don't like the idea of it.
Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK