Do you trust yourself with power over your own life?
I'm a big believer in the combined wisdom of people and I deeply trust in democracy. I think it's the best way for a large group of people to each individually contribute to the solving of problems, creation of good things and the maintenance of our peace and freedom. We're truly lucky to be Australians, with our strong legacy of democracy. It's worth fighting for.
It is imperiled by corruption, distraction and lethargy. Democracy requires it's citizens to pay more attention, be more informed and engaged and it is that which is being exploited by anti-democratic forces. This has led to our politics being too small and banal to meet the challenges facing us.
As has happened throughout history, it takes ordinary people to shift into the political sphere in great numbers, so as to change the direction of their government. I am inspired by the pro-democracy Chartists of 19th century England, and would like to emulate their tactics as described below.
We benefited directly from their efforts, and it would be a shame to waste what they- and the countless democrats throughout history- have fought so hard for. So I call upon all Australians to become involved in shaping the fundamental laws of our country- we're the only ones who can.
Let's work on this together.
My plan is a simple one; we use the best online tools and offline processes to draft a charter of the improvements we want in our governing system- some rules, customs, laws and expectations we have to update the bedrock of our government- things our politicians are unlikely to talk about but which must be considered.
I ask you to help me write this, and then I will hold a convention to ratify a final version of the charter. Once set, we will gather as many supporters as we can to sign their support for it, which we will then present to our leaders, culminating in it's delivery to parliament house in Canberra, where we will go in force to encourage it's adoption.
Meaningful and democratic online voting and polling.
Along the way, we'll create a modern, democratic organisation which will operate an online decision making/discussion/organising platform- using the excellent technologies of DemocracyOS (www.democracyos.org) and Loomio (www.loomio.org) to do so. These will be used to help determine what goes into the charter, how we promote the charter and to allow ongoing discussion between supporters regarding the charter itself, and other political issues.
You can learn more about DemocracyOS in this TED talk, and about Loomio here in a talk given at the 2014 Personal Democracy Forum.
What I will deliver if you support me.
In the three month time frame I am raising money for my goals will be the following:
- Hold a Convention to determine an agreed upon version of the Charter, and to formulate a plan for it's adoption. Attendees of the Charter convention will be able to connect both at the event and remotely online
- Establish vibrant and self-sustaining Chartist groups in each state and territory.
- Secure ongoing funding for the project.
- Deliver a 10,000 strong petition calling for their endorsement of the charter to NSW parliament, thereby forcing them to debate it.
- Depending on time frame decided at the convention, we'll present our charter in force to Canberra parliament.
How I plan to do this.
I will personally do the following, and encourage supporters to do the same:- Hold daily outreach; talking about the project on the street, at
markets, rallies and various meetings. - Go on radio
- Create articles for print and
online media. - Hold weekly supporter meetings; one in person in Sydney, and another online for national supporters.
