Yet another innovative concept started off in the US, which I’d like to see replicated after the coming elections this weekend in Romania. And another proof that democracy is a two-way street, though we Romanians seldom believe this. Change.org teamed up with MySpace and are running a competition on best ideas for America that can turn into real policies. Anybody can propose an idea and people vote for it online (please notice the collaborative intelligence model). The reason: President-Elect Obama says he wants to hear ideas from all Americans, so we’re taking him up on his offer.
Here’s how it works: The competition allows anyone to post an idea of 250 words or less, discuss with others, and vote on the top ideas from around the country. The top 10 rated ideas will be presented to a representative of the Obama Administration around Inauguration Day at an event in Washington, DC. We’ll then also announce a formal nonprofit sponsor for each idea and play a supporting role as each organization launches a national campaign to mobilize the millions of people on Change.org, MySpace, and partner organizations to turn each idea into real policy.
Although this sounds cheerful, I have to remind you that Tony Blair’s government had such an experiment and it resulted in a spectacular failure. The British motorist club has petitioned with about 1 million users to decrease petrol taxes and tolls. Popular policies are not always very good and I think the good thing about the American democracy is that it is a representative one, leaving the representatives alone with the tough decisions and short-term consequences of public policy.
while i agree with you that popular policies are not always the best policies, i still believe MPs and elected officials in general should be closer in contact with their constituency. they can either do that through initiatives similar to the ones advanced by change.org or through various other means. what i trully reject – apart from apathetic people not voting at all, of course – are people who believe the only way they can have a say in politics and society by and large is by voting every four years (and then of course complaining about all the stupid things elected officials do). democracy is a two-way street that cannot function absent permanent communication.