excellent thoughts. i totally agree cindy. i'll start with this:
the formation of a democracy was not needed to manage the affairs of a sim cluster. a bunch of people got together, thought it would be cool, for whatever reasons were important to them, and decided that it was important enough to organize stuff. so they did.
the ra, as any government body, has been chosen to be the body in cds, to organize and manage the stuff that cds finds important enough to ensure they get done.
like land management, it's not left to the whims and good will of some good samaritans. or, were the founding fathers of cds just lazy and wanted to pass the buck of management to someone else? possibly. i doubt it.
cds just expanded with the merger with AA. it involves legal and financial non-profit issues that very few are very familiar with.
many people, especially in the last ra, talked a lot about what insurmountable legal issues these were to be able to work with cds.
many people, especially in the last ra, spoke of what an unbearable financial burden AA would be on cds.
many people, especially in the last ra, spoke of how happily they would support efforts made to overcome these obstacles and create a stronger, happier, democratic union, were it only possible.
many people, especially in the last ra, love extolling the unending font of creativity and skills with which the cds is blessed, in their platforms, manifestos, speeches, and forum posts, especially around election time.
as a citizen, in the last term of ra, i proposed with the creation of this commission, that the ra take the issue of discovering the legal realities, the revenue potential, and the development of creative, culturally relevant programming seriously, and thus make serious efforts to over come perceived barriers and get to the real work of being what cds is. which i believe is a being a place for the creation of interesting projects and sharing them with the greater community, the cds itself being one of them.
sure, i can take the suggested strategy, go play researcher and see if anyone else wants to play too. and then, maybe in a few months, when people have decided to give it enough spare minutes here and there, we might bother to come to ra and see if they think we found anything kinda cool, and they can see if they have time to recognize it and find something to vote on with it, and then we can all wait and see if anyone else wants to play project developer, and hope a cast of, at least slightly less than apathetic, volunteers want to play too.
what i was hoping for, when i first presented this idea, was that cds ra make the statement "yes, understanding our legal position, accounting requirements, and fund raising eligibility, in an effort to find advantage from and for our new union, is important to us." and then delegate and oversee the process of making it happen as soon as possible.
as fate would have it, and thanks to the miracle of modern democracy, i am ra.
now, does my proposal as stated need work to be more effective? yes. little things like that don't seem to stop others from making official proposals for far less relevant matters. does no one even want to take it, tell me it's a good idea, but i'm the wrong guy for the job, and do something with it?
i'm disappointed in myself for not creating an engaging enough proposal.
i am slightly more disappointed with the lack of initiative the ra has taken on this issue so far over the last 12 months.
i am extremely disappointed with apparent apathy and avoidance it is being treated with now.
cds just had a huge gift dropped in it's lap, on several levels, and it's been treated, to a great extent, like a flaming bag of dog crap.
i will continue taking some initiative. i will, with others, be crafting this proposal to work in conjunction with other important efforts to be proposed, to take the merger, our evolution as a community model, and long-term creative and cultural relevance, seriously. I will then follow up with the related as necessary.
i understand full well, from personal experience and observation, that the ra isn't responsible or expected to get things done. but it should at least be where things get started.
if anyone would like to participate in this effort, the door is always open, coffee's always hot, and there's plenty of room in the thread.
The RA can't think up EVERY good idea nor run every brainstorming session. We need good ideas (and thought-provoking presentations) from citizens who care.
