Personal Democracy Forum 2008
Session: The New Renaissance
Note by Mr. Jordan Raynor:
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: A RETURN TO COMMON SENSE: 7 BOLD WAYS TO REVITALIZE DEMOCRACY (7:30 am - 8:30 am)
Michael Waldman - Executive Director of Brennan Center for Justice and Author of A Reyurn to Common Sense
Convenience for people in 1865 is why we vote on Tuesday in November. Sabbath on Sunday and it had to be in November when it wasn't too cold.
The central issue of this book is a push towards UNIVERSAL VOTER REGISTRATION
Michael makes the case that universal voter registration across the U.S. is the answer to our voting problems.
Another issue he brought up was public campaign financing - 1st 5 times we had public campaign financing in Presidential election, the incumbent was beat. Public campaign financing works
In the city of New York, small contributions are matched 6 to 1 for small amounts. It forces candidates to hold fundraisers with the little guy. This is all meant to increase citizen participation in government
Another problem is the ELECTORAL COLLEGE - Bush beat Kerry by 2 million votes, but Kerry almost won because of the electoral college.
Michael argues a NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE - he argues that people will work to mobilize people more across the country
If we do not take the reforms in this book and apply them it will be a loss for America. We will all be focused on change for 2008 and it will be forgotten unless we do something.
"The cause of America is the cause of mankind." - Thomas Paine
Gerrymandering is another huge problem - Texas 2004 is a great example
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF
To him, the construction "personal democracy" is ACTUALLY the problem. There is NO PERSONAL DEMOCRACY. There is personal responsibility but personal democracy does not exist. The allusion of personal democracy has actually been a logical problem for us to achieve actual democracy.
This idea came out of the Renaissance. The Renaissance created the INDIVIDUAL. Every aspect of the Renaissance focused on the individual and the democracy that came out of the Renaissance focus on the individual - one man one vote, individual rights.
The Enlightenment was all about giving everyone individual personal democracy.
The less community we have, the less democracy we have because we are each out for our own agendas.
From the conception of the printing press all the way to today promote individual interest.
This brings about branding because branding appeals to the individual.
It is EVERYBODY WHO MATTERS. It's not the network, stupid, but the people, stupid.
The problem with top-down communications to motivate people is that it is de-socializing.
We still are hopeless when we talk about abstract ideas like Obama.
It is all about the individual in our society today!
The next Renaissance will be a GROUP RENAISSANCE (rebirth of the group or community).
It will not be out of allegiance to a central authority. It will not be the glorified individual. It will be the rebirth of the community.
Value would be created peripherally
The real glory in a decentralized democracy would be in the small things, the actual work and participation
We have missed the opportunity every time we have had a media Renaissance (when we got text, when we got the printing press)
The promise of the Renaissance was print
The printing press comes about in the 14th century and we did not get a civilization of writers. The elite were able to write
NOW, we have the internet and everyone is going to blog...right? Writing is not the thing that is being offered to us now. Writing is not what the internet is giving us...it is PROGRAMMING.
Writing is like voting - it's feedback and a great way to discuss things. In a true participatory democracy, we don't just write about what is going on, we participate in the process and actually do stuff to change our world.
The opportunity in "Age Obama" is to embrace the opportunity that democracy is an EVENT that we can use to finally start doing things for each other.
Michael Waldman - Executive Director of Brennan Center for Justice and Author of A Reyurn to Common Sense
Convenience for people in 1865 is why we vote on Tuesday in November. Sabbath on Sunday and it had to be in November when it wasn't too cold.
The central issue of this book is a push towards UNIVERSAL VOTER REGISTRATION
Michael makes the case that universal voter registration across the U.S. is the answer to our voting problems.
Another issue he brought up was public campaign financing - 1st 5 times we had public campaign financing in Presidential election, the incumbent was beat. Public campaign financing works
In the city of New York, small contributions are matched 6 to 1 for small amounts. It forces candidates to hold fundraisers with the little guy. This is all meant to increase citizen participation in government
Another problem is the ELECTORAL COLLEGE - Bush beat Kerry by 2 million votes, but Kerry almost won because of the electoral college.
Michael argues a NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE - he argues that people will work to mobilize people more across the country
If we do not take the reforms in this book and apply them it will be a loss for America. We will all be focused on change for 2008 and it will be forgotten unless we do something.
"The cause of America is the cause of mankind." - Thomas Paine
Gerrymandering is another huge problem - Texas 2004 is a great example
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF
To him, the construction "personal democracy" is ACTUALLY the problem. There is NO PERSONAL DEMOCRACY. There is personal responsibility but personal democracy does not exist. The allusion of personal democracy has actually been a logical problem for us to achieve actual democracy.
This idea came out of the Renaissance. The Renaissance created the INDIVIDUAL. Every aspect of the Renaissance focused on the individual and the democracy that came out of the Renaissance focus on the individual - one man one vote, individual rights.
The Enlightenment was all about giving everyone individual personal democracy.
The less community we have, the less democracy we have because we are each out for our own agendas.
From the conception of the printing press all the way to today promote individual interest.
This brings about branding because branding appeals to the individual.
It is EVERYBODY WHO MATTERS. It's not the network, stupid, but the people, stupid.
The problem with top-down communications to motivate people is that it is de-socializing.
We still are hopeless when we talk about abstract ideas like Obama.
It is all about the individual in our society today!
The next Renaissance will be a GROUP RENAISSANCE (rebirth of the group or community).
It will not be out of allegiance to a central authority. It will not be the glorified individual. It will be the rebirth of the community.
Value would be created peripherally
The real glory in a decentralized democracy would be in the small things, the actual work and participation
We have missed the opportunity every time we have had a media Renaissance (when we got text, when we got the printing press)
The promise of the Renaissance was print
The printing press comes about in the 14th century and we did not get a civilization of writers. The elite were able to write
NOW, we have the internet and everyone is going to blog...right? Writing is not the thing that is being offered to us now. Writing is not what the internet is giving us...it is PROGRAMMING.
Writing is like voting - it's feedback and a great way to discuss things. In a true participatory democracy, we don't just write about what is going on, we participate in the process and actually do stuff to change our world.
The opportunity in "Age Obama" is to embrace the opportunity that democracy is an EVENT that we can use to finally start doing things for each other.
