An Electronic Direct Democracy (EDD) Manifesto

[jonas]

This an excerpt from a letter from jf.frenette at onlineparty.ca , the Online Party of Canada:

Now, I believe that is exactly what we need: an informal international treaty or manifesto which would connect all electronic direct democracy (EDD) or online parties around the world. We collaborate together on writing up a set of basic principles for organizing an EDD party which each organization can "sign" with their logo.

I started a document this morning based elaborating on major points: 1) right to vote, 2) voter anonymity, 3) political neutrality, at the onset, 4) right to propose law, 5) representatives accountability, 6) voting by proxy (delegates -- liquid democracy) and - the most controversial but in my opinion most crucial - 7) other official party members voting. I can explain later.

A draft of the manifesto is availible at google docs:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oKjmNbXgouJNdr_fxkd0i-hp4DbWeTALnp7K2-MoEE0/edit?hl=en&authkey=CKyT1rIK

[jonas]

Fortsättning. Säg till om du vill deltaga i diskussionen

First, it was with great pleasure that I had the opportunity to speak with most of you over the past few weeks and I think it is safe to conclude that: 1) we all believe that electronic direct democracy has the potential to change our respective political systems and improve the world we live in; 2) however, we DO NOT all agree on the specific details of this movement... and this should be expected.

Some of us believe that running registered political parties in elections is the best route; others believe that independent candidates, NOT parties, should be recognized by an international association to audit them; others believe that we should wake people up, independently of political parties, to understand the importance of democracy and politics; others suggest introducing Switzerland-style referendum systems; others debate that direct democracy may be appropriate at the local level but NOT at a national level, etc.

Even amongst those of us who believe political parties is the best way to introduce direct democracy into the representative democracy system, we still cannot agree on the details: whether voting should be public or anonymous, whether or not to allow voting by proxy, how to sort issues for voting, etc.

As Per Norbäck suggested: "We have a lot of experiments to do before we find the best working concept. I think it is a good idea that our concepts differ in details. Then we can compare results and get inspired from each other. Trial and error! The political systems differs in our countries, and we have to adopt to them."

That being said, it might be too early to adopt an EDD Manifesto that we can all agree upon; however, if we start by only accepting the fundamental principle of political neutrality -- it is the people (voters) who should dictate policy, not the other way around -- I think we will soon realize that this element binds us all and makes this movement significantly different from any other political philosophy in the history of mankind.

For those of you still interested in debating the details of this global project, I invite you to share your thoughts on this shared document (see link below):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VJzEsi1ugMt0nAej9UmsV_2K0iZVEjbDci_AVzv7VEI/edit?hl=en&authkey=CLSYwbgE

It would be great if we could host a conference in person or at least a teleconference call across our timezones but until then, see you online.

Thank you for your time,

[jonas]

The latest versions is now updated on the participedia wiki page for Electronic Direct Democracy.

I would like to start a vote on:

Shall Aktiv Demokrati be a signatory party fot the EDD manifesto?

[gilroitto]

Start it

[jonas]

Aktiv Demokrati har nu skrivit under E2D Manifesto:
http://www.participedia.net/wiki/Electronic_Direct_Democracy_-_EDD#Signatory_Parties

[gilroitto]

Riktigt roligt! \o/