[EM] language/framing quibble

[Dave Ketchum]

Your quote sounds like part of a thought I would have expressed - be nice 
if you tied it back to:  Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:43:34 -0500

My real question then was what label you would be willing to use for what 
many of us call "campaigning", since you seem to use a different meaning 
for that word.

On Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:23:56 -0500 Fred Gohlke wrote:
> Good Morning, David
> 
> re: "Suppose I take an interest in becoming mayor of Owego.
> 
>      This will require my neighbors learning this, and something
>      of what I might do as mayor."
> 
> The essence of democracy is not what you want, it is what the people of 
> Owego want.

If the people of Owego are to get into the business of deciding what they 
want, they better get more into understanding this task than many of them 
realize.  Their mayor will inherit attending to:
      Normal interaction with county and state governments - this much 
should be guessable.
      Village charter - perhaps a dozen NY villages have this complication.
      Evergreen Cemetery - not every village has responsibility for owning 
an active cemetery (churches are more likely sponsors of such).
      Fire department - another detail that would be independent in many 
villages.
      Fire protection outside the village - something that needs doing well 
since it is an obvious task here.
      County courthouse is in a park in the village.  Surprise - village 
manages the park since they only gave the county enough space to hold the 
building.
> 
> The only way we can find out who the people of Owego want to be their 
> mayor is to ask them.  Our present electoral methods do not ask the 
> people who they want, they tell the people what choices they have. 
> Campaigning is not asking, it is telling.

Again, what word can we get together on as to offering?
> 
> The failure of our political system is that it is not an asking 
> mechanism, it is a telling mechanism.  In spite of the advances in 
> transportation, communication and data processing over the past 200-odd 
> years, we have not yet devised a means of asking the people to make 
> their own political decisions.  We have the means, but not the method.
> 
> My purpose is to devise a practical method of asking the people of Owego 
> who they want as their mayor.

My first step, perhaps with help of some friends, would be to get a 
petition signed by enough voters to qualify myself as a candidate.  I would 
call the next step campaigning in preparation for voting.
      In the last election the mayor wanted reelection - and lost due to 
what the people thought of his work.

New York perhaps deserves more copying.  Here a person can run for governor 
via petition.  Then 50,000 votes will give this new party a line on the 
ballot for 4 years (continues so long as party candidate gets at least 
50,000 votes for governor each time).  Party committees will get elected at 
Primary election by those who sign up as party members.
> 
> Fred Gohlke
-- 
  davek at clarityconnect.com    people.clarityconnect.com/webpages3/davek
  Dave Ketchum   108 Halstead Ave, Owego, NY  13827-1708   607-687-5026
            Do to no one what you would not want done to you.
                  If you want peace, work for justice.