Supplemental Issues - Feb 14

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johnkarls
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Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Supplemental Issues - Feb 14

Post by johnkarls »

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“Wiki”-Politica
Supplemental Issues



ADDITIONAL WIKI-POLITICA OPERATIONAL QUESTIONS

1. Should there be a Wiki-Politica person/group to whom pols can appeal if they believe their positions or actions have been mis-represented or mis-interpreted???

2. Should the Wiki-Politica database be frozen for several days before an election to prevent last-minute sabotage??? Is this unfair to the pols so long as the length of the “lock down” is known in advance???

3. How should positions on issues taken by a politician in a previous capacity be disclosed??? For example, for our Oct 11 meeting on Global Warming, we learned that BARACK OBAMA HAS BEEN PROMOTING COAL-FIRED ELECTRIC PLANTS ON BEHALF OF THE ILLINOIS COAL-MINING INDUSTRY. AND WE ALSO LEARNED THAT COAL IS BY FAR THE DIRTIEST ENERGY SOURCE FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF GREENHOUSE GASES (THINK GLOBAL WARMING), SULFUR EMISSIONS (THINK ACID RAIN), ETC., ETC. In concrete terms, should Barack Obama’s pro-coal/anti-environment position be disclosed without any further explanation??? Or should there be some sort of recognition that representing the entire U.S. as President could be different than representing Illinois as a U.S. Senator and might produce a “change of heart”???

4. Other



THIRD WIKI-POLITICA CAPABILITY: BILL-BY-BILL (OR ABSENCE THEREOF) INFORMATION REPORTING

It strikes me that there is at least one additional capability for sorting information that would be desirable for Wiki-Politica in addition to the capability for presenting information politician-by-politician and presenting information issue-by-issue (the Committees with jurisdiction over the issue, the membership of those committees, etc.).

The third capability would be to provide information on particular bills – OR THE LACK OF A BILL ON A PARTICULAR ISSUE AND WHY THERE IS NO BILL (THE USUAL ANSWER IS THAT THE COMMITTEE CHAIR HAS ACCEPTED A “CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION”).

1. Any Wiki-Politica member (just like Wiki-Pedia members vis-à-vis their articles) could initiate an inquiry to any Senate or House Committee Chair on why there is no legislative bill to do “X” – and post the answer (or the refusal to provide an answer). Presumably this will “light a fire” to introduce such a bill under any Senator/Congressperson who “feels the heat” with regard to “X”!!!

2. Once there is a bill, any Wiki-Politica member could initiate an inquiry to the Chair of the Senate or House Committee on why no hearings have been scheduled – thus shining a spot light on a refusal of a Committee Chair to act!!! (Normally, it only takes a single “campaign contribution” to a Committee Chair to produce a failure to schedule hearings and usually nobody notices such failures!!!)

3. Once there are hearings, any Wiki-Politica member could continue to shine a spot light during each step of the process and the individuals involved (e.g., why the House Speaker or the Senate Majority Leader has not scheduled debate or scheduled a floor vote; which Senators or Congresspersons are pro, con or undecided, etc.).

4. Other

Just like the old British Empire, it strikes me that such a bill-by-bill capability will increase exponentially the power of Wiki-Politica. Military historians have always marveled at how the England could maintain control of its vast empire with such a SMALL army and SMALL navy. The answer, of course, is that the small army and small navy were more than sufficient to crush any single colony – so no single colony dared do anything that would cause the army and navy to crush it!!! (What military historians should instead have wondered is why several British colonies didn’t band together to resist English rule and, as a result, achieve independence!!!)

Similarly –

1. Who knows how powerful Wiki-Politica might become in terms of its “sun shine” policy focusing public attention on the inner workings of Congress that only professional lobbyists have heretofore been able to manipulate???

2. Who knows the magnitude of “campaign contributions” that might be forthcoming to support supportive Senators/Congresspersons or finance the opponents of uncooperative ones in the next election??? After all, Presidential Candidates promising “change” in the last two election cycles (notably Howard Dean and Barack Obama) have been able to raise prodigious amounts from such sources, and this would merely be extending the effort to the Senators/Congresspersons who really determine whether “change” will ever happen!!!

3. Who knows whether the “campaign contributions” that might be forthcoming could operate in the same fashion as the relatively-small British Imperial Army and the relatively-small British Imperial Navy in intimidating Senators/Congresspersons to avoid provoking the wrath of ordinary citizens, each of whom can then preserve her/his resources for other objectives!!!



NEXT STEP

Do we have any volunteer(s) to spearhead the Wiki-Politica effort, at least temporarily???

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