I woke up this morning incredibly frustrated. The fact that I am not a state delegate as I had hoped to be is a surprisingly small part of the reason for my frustration. The majority of my frustration is with the way the caucus meeting was held and conducted. I’ll skip the details for today but if you want to get an idea read Tyler Riggs’ caucus experience – it’s remarkably similar to mine.
If you had asked me yesterday I would have told you that professional or career politicians were at the root of our political problems at all levels of government. As of this morning I’m convinced that political novices are either aiding and abetting them or else giving them a run for their money regarding how much damage they can do to the cause of good government.
As much as I love becoming informed and discussing political issues, the experience from last night had me briefly flirting with the idea that I might abandon the field and leave the mess to some other sucker. Instead I got up this morning (because I could not go back to sleep) while my county party leaders were almost certainly still awake and trying to record the information (such as the names of attendees) from the caucuses. As I wrestled with my frustration I determined that I would not let this pass. Starting today I will pursue a crusade for freedom in which we will reform the way such grassroots participation as precinct caucus meetings take place. We will turn them into events that people in the community are comfortable attending and make politics a subject of widespread public discussion as it should be rather than being, with religion, one of the taboo subjects that are not discussed in polite company.
I am under no illusion that this will be easy but I will start with the Bountiful 18 precinct. I will start today and within two years, by the time of the 2012 caucuses, the harried and frantic atmosphere will be replaced with one of thoughtful and spirited, but civil debate conducted in an efficient and trustworthy manner.
Join me in my quest or start your own quest in your own precinct. I’ll be documenting my efforts, ideas, successes, and failures here.
Or you could read “Democracy: The God That Failed,” and realize that you’re wasting your time.
Save me the time – what alternative does the book offer?
I would propose we scrap precinct caucus meetings and move to primaries. Too many delegates were elected without them revealing who they support.
That gets at the heart of the difference between a republic and a democracy. In a democracy delegates have no place. In a republic such as we live in we are not supposed to elect delegates based simply on who they support (some truly have not decided yet) but on how much we trust their judgement and their commitment to do the job and fulfill the duties of a delegate.
Replace the lust to dominate with the entrepreneurial desire to create … through the market, not through power.
That’s a nice statement but it lacks any actionable direction. How exactly do we replace the lust to dominate—especially if it is someone else who has said lust to dominate?
Direct action, nonviolent struggle.
I’m not telling you that it will be easy.
http://www.aeinstein.org/organizationsa4f8.html
But the lust to dominate betrays intellectual laziness.
http://www.isil.org/resources/philosophy-of-liberty-english.swf
I like the “philosophy of liberty” video – always have. Back to the nonviolent struggle and the AEinstein website – I see platitudes, but still no actual direction about what direct action and what nonviolent struggle. I certainly see nothing to suggest that the nonviolent direct action that I am formulating is not in line with whatever they are advocating.
You need to decide in what direction to go and what methods to use.
Here’s one list:
http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations103a.html
That’s a good list of 198 concrete actions – some of which I will undoubtedly employ. I am still unsure of how they would be applied to helping replace a lust to dominate among society or certain individuals or
Classes within society.
I guess my real confusion is why you started off by suggesting that I am wasting my time, especially in light of your statement that I need to decide on a direction – I thought that’s what I was doing.
What is the objective you are trying to achieve by getting elected as a state delegate?
First, this crusade has nothing to do with getting elected as a delegate. It is all about making the caucus experience more comfortable and effective.
Second, my purpose in wantingto become a delegate is to help ensure that candidates are chosen who have the best chance of preventing the looming trainwrecks brought on by the poor choices of our government already (where possible) or to minimize the impact of those choices with good disaster recovery skills and to prevent more future trainwrecks by making more responsible choices going forward. My goal is to support our system of government, not to abandon or undermine it.
If your goal is to make the caucus experience more comfortable and effective, and to support the incumbent system of government, then I return to my initial observation … that you’re wasting your time.
Choosing power over market, choosing politics over direct action, expecting that your intentions will emerge intact after progressing through a caucus-primary-election-legislative process is like trying to push a string.
And until you come to learn that legislated aggression is also aggression, and thus immoral, I wish you blessings along your path.
P.S.: In my view, this blog belongs on the Right-Leaning section of the Utah Bloghive, not the Vague Center.
I tried the apolitical approach and learned that without the efforts of those who are willing to wade into the
muddy river that is our political system the efforts youbare promoting turn out to be nothing more than waiting for the system to collapse in on itself. The market approach cannot function appropriately until there are those in politics willing to move the political powers that be out of he way and allow the market to operate freely.
It is like pushing a string but it’s better than standing aside and watching others push the string in the wrong direction.
As for where his blog fits in the bloghive – I agree that it is Right-leaning but it was in the vague center when I was added to the Bloghive.