On Nov 3, 2011, at 9:17 AM, Fred Gohlke wrote: > re: "Why the lack of public participation?" > > Our elections lack public participation because the election methods extant > do not allow, much less encourage, public participation in the selection of > candidates for public office or public deliberation on public issues. > Instead, elections are party-based adversarial campaigns conducted by > politicians, a process that is inherently corruptive. > > To find the cause of the problem, we must go back at least as far as Plato, > who, when he said, "As to the people they have no understanding, and only > repeat what their rulers are pleased to tell them.", failed to recognize that > 'the people' included many wise and gifted individuals - like himself.
Not entirely. In his Republic, the rulers were the Guardians, wise folks like himself, who live in poverty and rule benevolently. Plato for Senate! > > We will not have public participation in our electoral process until our > electoral process is built on the knowledge that there are many individuals > among the people - among us - whose counsel will benefit the community. ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
