CARE Policy Accomplishments

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michelmanen
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CARE Policy Accomplishments

Post by michelmanen »

Hello All:

Diderot wrote:

[quote:3491scrr]Hey people - I just wanted to let you know that I have opened up the Simplicity Party forum for contributions by people, who are not members of the party.

We'd like to invite all citizens to visit our forum and post questions and suggestions and we will do our best to answer them.

We will also in the near future (tomorrow or the early weekend) announce the opportunity to meet and discuss with us in-world and publish a brief synopsis of our already quite extensive catalogue of constructive policy proposals Smile

Also we more than welcome new members. Everyone who would like to keep our government's simple and effective way of dealing with things should feel free to join! Please IM Diderot Mirabeau in world to be added to our group.[/quote:3491scrr]

[quote:3491scrr]Since as you know we favour a simplicity of procedure that is focused on effectively achieving a stated aim we have chosen to conduct most of our policy discussion in our forum - open to any member of our party and soon to be open for the community at large (you can say we have taken a leaf out of your notebook) - and only to stage resource consuming in-world meetings when they are the most effective in for example carrying out a vote or reaching out to the electorate. [/quote:3491scrr]

I am glad to see that CARE has had an immediate and decisive effect on the manner politics is conducted in the CDS. This is a step forward in accomplishing CARE Platform objectives 2.1 Democracy –the many not the few; and 2.2 Democracy –openness not secrecy.

Until now, the Simplicity Party was a closed faction, with membership restrcted to CDS Citzens, and one could become a member only by recommendation from an already existing member. As of now, any 2L member (CDS citizen or not) can join and participate in its deliberations, without need of godfathering and vetting procedures. In addition, their in-world meetings are being increased and opened up to the public at large.

I am happy to see that they have changed this and moved towards more openness, inclusivity, accountability and participation. This is one of the main reasons CARE was founded and we should congratulate our opponents for the brave step they have taken -to ensure that they will be a valid and legitimate Faction with which we can converse in the public arena.

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Re: CARE Policy Accomplishments

Post by Diderot Mirabeau »

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post in this forum. Please excuse the transgression if I'm not and let me know ASAP.

In response to the above:
The Simplicity Party is (obviously) and has always been open to any CDS citizen that wants to support the cause of a simple and effective government. This is not a question of policy. It is a question of being democratic.

Unfortunately, we cannot make our in-world group open without prior invitation since having members in it that are not citizens or who are members of more than one faction group is a violation of the Constitution. Again I see that you choose to interpret the Constitution very liberally in that regard to say the least.

By the way I look forward to seeing some other members of the CARE faction than you begin to post in your forum. Your discourse seems to have been rather dominated by a single person thus far - much like the inaugural meeting which judging by the transcript was predominantly monologue interspersed by clapping and a feeble round of Q and A's - unlike the meeting of the Simplicity Party, which featured genuine political discussion on substantial issues.

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Post by michelmanen »

Diderot,

You're more than welcome to contribute at any time.

Today was our first meeting. I also hope it will pick up from here. :) But forum posts are -as you well know - not always the best indicator of participation in public debate. Point taken, however... :)

MM

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Feedback from the CARE Evening Inugural Meeting, 4 Jan 2007

Post by michelmanen »

Hello All,

Tonight's meeting went very well also. The crowd was smaller (8-10 people) but the discussion afterwards quite interesting.

We had a DPU and a Simplicity Party member in attendance, so with this morning's CSDF observer, it means all other parties sent someone to see what we are doing.

Immediately after the meeting, the Simplicity Parrty member posted this on his faction forum:

[quote:1hp6iatp]Some people I met at the CARE meeting requested that the Simplicity Party hold more inworld meetings to discuss the election, our platform, and the issues facing our community.

This weekend and next weekend I am judging debate tournaments -- and my work schedule is intensive as I am drafting three appeals in the next two weeks -- but I think we should try to do it. At least two meetings a week -- one timed for Europe, one for North America -- until the election.

What say y'all?

Beathan[/quote:1hp6iatp]

I consider this a great success - we are truly changing the way the political process is conducted, and making it more open, inclusive, democratic, accountable and concerned with all our citizens' real needs and interests.

Thank you to all of you who attended and participated today and made both meetings a success - and I look forward to seeing you all involved in our policy workshops over the next few days.

Michel

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Re: CARE Policy Accomplishments

Post by Aliasi Stonebender »

[quote="michelmanen":fmn7qihg]
Until now, the Simplicity Party was a closed faction, with membership restrcted to CDS Citzens, and one could become a member only by recommendation from an already existing member. As of now, any 2L member (CDS citizen or not) can join and participate in its deliberations, without need of godfathering and vetting procedures. In addition, their in-world meetings are being increased and opened up to the public at large.
[/quote:fmn7qihg]

I am curious to see you try to paint standard procedure as negative. The political factions of the CDS are just that; it seems very curious to me that you would found a special-interest group for Second Life at large and claim it as a political party. I was not aware that any political party of any nation anywhere invited noncitizens to participate in their deliberations.

In fact, any member of the Simplicity Party was able to invite anyone who asked; I did this to prevent the more common sorts of group-griefing while allowing members use of functions that could be used to do such (announcements, votes).

I hasten to add I am not criticizing your procedure; it may be a good way to increase interest in the project as a whole. However, do keep in mind that it is not the number of people who are in your group that matter; it is the number of citizens who vote for you.

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Post by Aliasi Stonebender »

Hm. A comment from Diderot does make me curious.

[quote:3n1q8if7]
All faction members must be (CDS) citizens and must join a special SL group created for the sole purpose of running for seats in the RA. No citizen is required to be part of a faction and cannot be a member of more than one faction at the same time.
[/quote:3n1q8if7]

Am I to understand you are claiming the non-citizen members of your group do not violate the Constitution? I confess, with the many alterations of the Constitution I had assumed that - as a defender OF those alterations - you would be conversant with the current form, whereas I had to refresh my memory on the faction rules.

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Post by michelmanen »

Aliasi,

I was not trying to be negative. I in no way misrepresented the Simplicity Party's previous membership policy. I simply underlined a clear and undisputed fact: following our lead, the Simplicity Party has changed its membership policy and brought it in line with CARE's.

I consider that as proof that CARE has already had a substantive impact on the way the political process works in the CDS -making it more open, inclusive, citizen-friendly, respectful of non-citizens, and in the end, more democratic and accountable. I dont consider this development to be a small matter by any means, and I am glad we at CARE provided much-needed leadership on such vital issues and achieved practical results only a few hours after we published our Manifesto and held our Inaugural Meeting.

And while for electoral purposes I agree that only CDS citizens can vote in CDS elections, wisdom and experience and useful insights are not limited to CDS citizens. CARE stands to gain much from open membership and fresh, new, innovative, creative ideas and solutions to common problems. Clearly, the Simplicity Party now believes the same as we do. We congratulate it for this wise change of direction.

In addition, as I explained to Beathan at this evening's CARE meeting,
1. some non-citizen CARE observers may actually decide to join CDS and become citizens once they see our system in practice and come to value it- thus helping CDS grow; and
2. they may go back to their sims and help us spread our message of local governance and assist us in our devolution efforts- thus helping CDS political objectives it cannot accomplish on its own.

We at CARE see this as an entirely Win - Win- Win situation, since purely CDS electoral politics constitute only one aspect (albeit very important one) of CARE's objectives.

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Post by michelmanen »

Aliasi,

CARE's Charter explicity states as follows:

[quote:22ryl6m2] Membership: Participation in CARE is open to all CDS citizens (CARE Activists) and non-citizens (CARE Observers). All CARE members are entitled to take part in all CARE debates and activities. Participation in decision-making procedures (such as voting) pertaining specifically to CDS-related policies is open only to CARE Activists. [/quote:22ryl6m2]

Therefore, for CDS constitutional purposes, the CDS CARE Faction consists of CARE Activists only. In this manner, we comply with the letter of the law. In addtion, CARE has provided Gwyn only with the names of the CARE Activists (that is, CDS citizens) for the purpose of official CDS record-keeping of CDS' CARE Faction membership.

The CDS constitution does not apply to non-CDS citizens and does not explicitly state that non-CDS citizens cannot be CARE Observers -CARE being a 2L-registered group and therefore, both entirely valid uner 2L rules as well as entirely outside the jurisdiction of the CDS Constitution. CARE Observers are clearly not part of the CDS CARE Faction-whose aim is solely to field CARE candidates for RA electi0n purposes. This, and nothing more, is exactly what the CDS constitution requires.

It is therefore our considered legal opinion that we have indeed stayed within the letter of the CDS constitution, all while bringing about important innovations in line with our core principles of absolute inclusion, deep diversity, and the power of the best argument.

If you, as member of the Simplicity Party or as CDS Chancellor object to this, we will be prepared to defend the constitutionality of our policies in a CDS Court of law.

Michel Manen

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Post by Beathan »

Michel --

Why do you persist in misrepresenting the Simplicity Party's policies and history? Our history is not so long as to have much that is subject to misrepresentation and historical revisionism, and yet you seem happy to attempt it.

The Simplicity Party intended to have many ingame meetings. We have been busy during the holidays. Now we are less busy. My specific post mayhave been prompted byprivate IMs received as a CARE meeting, but it had nothing to do with -- and was not a response to --CARE policy.

Second, I do object to the unconstitutional structure of CARE. I have submitted this issue to the S.C. for determination -- as the S.C. is the arbiter of constitutional rules in the CDS. I know that CARE is counting on its control of the judiciary to protect it from constitutional scrutiny and other political forces in the CDS -- but the judiciary coup is not complete and, God willing, will never be. Therefore, we still have the right to look to the SC to protect us, our traditions, our citizenship rule, and our civil rights from your rather frightening experiement.

Beathan

Let's keep things simple enough to be fair, substantive enough to be effective, and insightful enough to be good.
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Post by michelmanen »

Be my guest. Do you intend to serve CARE with a copy of your card?

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CARE Openness&Inclusivity Rules irk Simplicity Party Mem

Post by michelmanen »

Hello All,

I have just been informed that the Simplicity Party Member in question in no way represents his Party, but has acted purely on his own behalf. Therefore, it is CARE policy to refrain from making any negative comments about the Simplicity Party in this context (and generally at all, save for a vigurous constructive criticism of its policies when warranted and within the accepted parameters of political debate in the public spehere).

MM

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Re: CARE Openness&Inclusivity Rules irk Simplicity Party

Post by Diderot Mirabeau »

Just for the record - the reason I am pursuing this matter is not to "harass" the positive agenda of the CARE-faction. It is rather to explain why the Simplicity Party has chosen not to pursue similar steps in our desire to reach out and include as broad a number of people as possible in formulating our policies.

The particular part of the Constitution that worries me relative to your policy of allowing non-citizens and alts in the group is this:
[quote="The Constitution, Article IV, Section 2 (The Faction Body)":1cibbaxn]
All faction members must be Neualtenburg citizens and must join a special SL group created for the sole purpose of running for seats in the RA. No citizen is required to be part of a faction and cannot be a member of more than one faction at the same time.[/quote:1cibbaxn]
I have interpreted the intent behind this sentence to mean that the group that you want to represent your faction at the elections may only contain actual members of your faction.

Coincidentally, the concept of "observer members" was used once before in Neufreistadt history to include people, who did not have a legal remit to be part of the group that somebody wanted them in. The person in question was Ulrika Zugzwang, who took the liberty of including her personal friend Kendra Bancroft as a member of the moderator group of the official "Neualtenburg forums" - simply as an observer of course. Said person subsequently went on to perform a coup against the rightful members of the SC - utilising her moderator status to oust the other members and claim ownership of the group together with Ulrika Zugzwang.

I am not intending to draw any kind of parallel between the two situations here. I just want to make it clear that one should be careful about using new terms to bypass what everyone else understands the Constitution to be since it is basically our shared sense of adhering to the Constitution that holds us together as a body politic.

In conclusion, I would therefore like to pose this question to the CARE faction in order that we may reach some clarification as to what the other parties may legitimately do:
Do you consider the CARE group as currently constituted to be the group as designated in Article IV, Section 2, i.e. "an SL group created for the sole purpose of running for seats in the RA?"

Thanks for taking the time to consider my question!

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RE: CARE Membership Rules

Post by michelmanen »

Diderot,

I appreciate the nature, import and constructive purpose of your comments.

CARE will provide a reply in due course.

Regards,

MM

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Re: RE: CARE Membership Rules

Post by Diderot Mirabeau »

Thanks for having the patience to deal with our "formalistic inquiries."

I look forward to be able to discuss more substantial issues of policy with you once your membership "gets off the ground" and will from now on concentrate on campaigning for the Simplicity Party in constructive and inclusive fashion following the good example of the CARE faction.

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RE: CARE Membership Rules

Post by michelmanen »

We look forward to that since we fully intend to run a clean and above-the-board campaign purely on the issues that matter to us all.

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