Promoting Democratic Governance in SL

Moderator: SC Moderators

Locked
Gxeremio Dimsum
Veteran debater
Veteran debater
Posts: 205
Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2006 6:37 pm

Promoting Democratic Governance in SL

Post by Gxeremio Dimsum »

Just want to get the ball rolling on a discussion about spreading democracy within SL. I will have more to say soon, but let me clarify a few of my thoughts that I think could be worked into the Simplicity platform.

WHY: Democracy is the best way to understand and act on the will of the governed. It is the best answer to hyper-capitalism on the one hand, or tyranny on the other hand. The CDS is in the best position to prove, promote, and support democracy across the grid, based on its experience and collected expertise. Supporting the creation of different types of government will encourage experimentation and innovation, and the best ideas and techniques can rise to the top more quickly.

WHERE: The easiest and most effective place to promote democracy is among likeminded sim-based communities. But should democratic governance exist only on privately owned islands? At the moment, it seem that unfortunately it is only really possible there. However, the Simplicity Party wants to explore ways to promote democratic governance on the mainland as well.

HOW: The CDS should organize an ongoing discussion among interested parties which would explore what new democratic communities might need to start and to thrive. Some of these needs might include:
- The ability to pay tier for their sim or land.
- Publicity to draw in new citizens and businesses.
- Publicity for events and notable happenings in the sim.
- Help with setting up branches of the government.
- Appeal to a larger body in case of special need or unusual circumstances.
- Good faith agreements that make their laws and systems more meaningful outisde of their sim(s).
- Architectural/logistical help.
- Land management / covenant system.
- Shared voice with LL .
- Better Business Bureaux.
- Budgeting assistance.
As part of this discussion, the CDS should create guides, gather experts willing to work as consultants, and consider how else it might help new democratic communities.

WHEN: The CDS should begin the discussions during the upcoming RA term and by the end of the term have materials prepared to help others. As other communities develop, the CDS should become an equal partner with those communities in creating a UN-like organization to further the work began.

Diderot Mirabeau
Master Word Wielder
Master Word Wielder
Posts: 453
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 6:28 am

Re: Promoting Democratic Governance in SL

Post by Diderot Mirabeau »

[quote="Gxeremio Dimsum":2pfxavld]HOW: The CDS should organize an ongoing discussion among interested parties which would explore what new democratic communities might need to start and to thrive. Some of these needs might include:
- The ability to pay tier for their sim or land.
- Publicity to draw in new citizens and businesses.
- Publicity for events and notable happenings in the sim.
- Help with setting up branches of the government.
- Appeal to a larger body in case of special need or unusual circumstances.
- Good faith agreements that make their laws and systems more meaningful outisde of their sim(s).
- Architectural/logistical help.
- Land management / covenant system.
- Shared voice with LL .
- Better Business Bureaux.
- Budgeting assistance.
As part of this discussion, the CDS should create guides, gather experts willing to work as consultants, and consider how else it might help new democratic communities.

WHEN: The CDS should begin the discussions during the upcoming RA term and by the end of the term have materials prepared to help others. As other communities develop, the CDS should become an equal partner with those communities in creating a UN-like organization to further the work began.[/quote:2pfxavld]
Gxeremio thanks for your well thought out proposal, which I support fully except I think we can do more than hold a discussion. As you have noticed the 'discussions' of the Judiciary have led us nowhere and just served to take the RA and the rest of the constituency as hostages in a lengthy parade of 'watch me' debating that has not led to any constructive output because the parties are so entrenched in their arguing that they have forgotten how to work constructively toward a common compromise.

I would hate to see your bold vision end up as metaphorical flesh for the debating sharks and would prefer if we could instill a more action-oriented agenda in our level of ambition for what we want to achieve in the coming term.

Specifically, I think the necessary debate should take place under the umbrella of our party and that we should submit to the RA a ready-made proposal for what to do to establish a working foreign service.

Our thinking in this area needs to go beyond the simple tourist marketing exercises of establishing 'embassies' on infohubs or 512 sqm of first land (they are really just promotional tourist offices and have nothing at all to do with what an embassy ought to do - namely foreign policy) and I think your proposal does just that.

I would suggest that we work from your proposal to establish a roadmap on what it needs to take us to various levels of a working foreign service. We don't need debating sharks to disagree over 3 months about what a new democratic community might need from us. Let us instead focus on what we can offer such budding communities (1) already now, (2) with a minimum of organisational and promotional work, (3) in a little while after some planning, focused effort and resource expenditure, (4) in a longer while once the effort has been institutionalised and established with its own budget and people in leading capacities and (5) When the ideal of the CDS foreign service is dominating SL pervasively.

In other words let this thread focus on how to answer Gxeremio's individual bullet points respective to the various ambition levels outlined in the above.

Locked

Return to “The Simplicity Party”