For those of you who followed recent discussions about possibilities for online think tanks, and for those of you who didn't, I'm excited to say that, thanks to CGCS user Bootleg, a demo for a think tank site is up and running. YAY! Here's the mission statement.
Mission Statement
“Site Name” is an online think tank that enables progressives, liberals, and moderates to collectively author shared principles, ideals, and goals; to clarify different perspectives that arise; and to develop a critical understanding of conservative views, policies, and strategies.
In contrast to an online forum, “Site Name” is product-oriented: for each think tank project, members continually edit and update a collectively-authored statement on a shared “wiki” page.
In contrast to a traditional think tank, “Site Name” has an online grassroots basis, encourages participation from a relatively broad range of perspectives, and seeks to create consensus democratically through collective authorship.
The aim of “Site Name” is to create a shared political paradigm of principles and goals and to build consensus and coalitions around strong core values and ideals.
Please join and start and/or edit some projects. You are probably going to feel very timid when you go there because you will be shaping the website itself as well as its main contents. Please do not be timid! Please be bold! I cannot stress that enough. The whole idea is that what you do can be updated and edited in the future with the help of others. So don't be afraid to get the ball rolling.
Whether or not we get this think tank project off the ground is entirely up to us, and all it takes is our participation. So please participate. Creare boldly. Edit Boldly. Get the ball rolling.
You need to join to add content and edit pages. When you register an email will be sent to you with your initial password, then you can change it.
Click the tab that says "wiki" to see the current project areas. All wiki pages have an "edit" tab which allows you to edit the page. You can get help at the Help Page, you can experiment with wiki editing in the Sandbox, and you can get more help under WikiSyntax on the Sandbox page.
The demo is not on a dedicated server - it's on a personal pc over a residential DSL line. The computer it's on has numerous other tasks to perform which will slow the site down and occasionally take it offline. Please be patient.
If this looks like it is going to fly we can move it to a dedicated server, register a domain name, etc.
Welcome Page: http://www.broadbandcooperative.com/zope/ThinkTank
Projects Front Page: http://www.broadbandcooperative.com/zope/T.../wiki/FrontPage
The site name for the demo is Rootstalk but the possibilities are still under consideration via the SiteName link.
Full Version: Participate in a New Online Think Tank
Kudos to the web designer but some readers may be unaware that the above project is bastardized rip-off of the original Think Tank proposal I first posted on Nov 17 here: target='_blank'>
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...?showtopic=4946 Work on the original proposal stopped because some were too threatened by a project that might find the Democratic Party failing because it lacks any vision for the nation. They'd rather gloss over the deep faults in the Party and look for some better way to sell a defective product than reinvent it from the bottom up.
Here was my original proposal:
BREAKING THE IDEOLOGICAL STRAIGHTJACKET, TURNING CGCS INTO AN ON-LINE THINK TANK
_ulTRAX_ Nov 17 2004, 10:39 AM Post #1
I hate to start off with what some may see as a negative post. I consider confronting the defects in the Democratic Party as the number one priority in setting the nation on a sane course. Reform will never come from the Right.
What should the role of this forum be? A place to rant or discuss events/ideas? A place to network? Or should CGCS should aim higher? I believe it should aim high.... to use grassroots energy to reshape American politics, the political system, and the Democratic Party. CGCS needs to explore the potential of becoming an on-line Progressive Think Tank not just a forum... a place where ideas can be generated efficiently and not just lost in the shuffle of posts.
There's two main problems I see. The first is we need to stop thinking as Democrats but to crystallize those ideas we WISH the Democratic Party would repersent. Forget politics for a second. It's just a trap that dooms one to more of the same. It makes one place political expediency over political principle. Soon principles are lost entirely. In the process a constituency for those principles is lost because it was never developed.
The central question we MUST ask ourselves is politics aside, what ideas are worthy of fighting for even if there's little to show for it in the next 5-10 years? If we can't answer that question then there's no hope of reforming the Democratic Party. Which leads me to how that mindset is so entrenched it's evident in the very structure of this forum. It reflects the ideological straightjacket of the Democratic Party rather than the full spectrum of Progressive thought. The Democratic Party will never reinvent itself if it's working in a hall of mirrors.
The second problem I see is the frantic pace at these forums prevents ideas from ever being fully developed. There's constant reinventing of the wheel and no "product" ever results.
To address the first problem I believe the topics of this forum must be revamped. Its very structure encourages discussion along traditional lines while ignoring the issues that REALLY shape our lives: constitutional reform, federalism, property rights, corporate rights, wealth distribution, taxation, markets, democracy, morality, US role in the world, etc. These are issues too important for the Democratic Party to ignore.... yet it does. Most other issues are merely subsets of the above.
Secondly, I propose adding a mechanism that can provide continuity in brainstorming. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page It's a community encyclopedia. Anyone can edit it or return it to a previous state. It seems chaotic but it does work. Check out some of the articles. I think such a feature here in each forum could help in developing more focused strategies, talking points, ads, whatever. Those collected thoughts could be used for a new Progressive Manifesto... a Common Sense for the 21st Century.
Some will live in denial that the Democratic Party is just fine it's the nation that's stupid. Some will be content to blame an intellectually bankrupt DNC/DLC for the string of recent electoral losses. Some can blame a dysfunctional 2 party system or cling to a conspiracy theory that the election was stolen.
But this is the stark choice: unless places like CGCS step up to the plate and help in developing a compelling Progressive message that sells well to the average American, then 10-20-30 years from now the Progressive movement will STILL be on the retreat, relegated to tweaking a dysfunctional political and corporate system created by history and the Right instead of trying to reform it.
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...?showtopic=4946 Work on the original proposal stopped because some were too threatened by a project that might find the Democratic Party failing because it lacks any vision for the nation. They'd rather gloss over the deep faults in the Party and look for some better way to sell a defective product than reinvent it from the bottom up.
Here was my original proposal:
BREAKING THE IDEOLOGICAL STRAIGHTJACKET, TURNING CGCS INTO AN ON-LINE THINK TANK
_ulTRAX_ Nov 17 2004, 10:39 AM Post #1
I hate to start off with what some may see as a negative post. I consider confronting the defects in the Democratic Party as the number one priority in setting the nation on a sane course. Reform will never come from the Right.
What should the role of this forum be? A place to rant or discuss events/ideas? A place to network? Or should CGCS should aim higher? I believe it should aim high.... to use grassroots energy to reshape American politics, the political system, and the Democratic Party. CGCS needs to explore the potential of becoming an on-line Progressive Think Tank not just a forum... a place where ideas can be generated efficiently and not just lost in the shuffle of posts.
There's two main problems I see. The first is we need to stop thinking as Democrats but to crystallize those ideas we WISH the Democratic Party would repersent. Forget politics for a second. It's just a trap that dooms one to more of the same. It makes one place political expediency over political principle. Soon principles are lost entirely. In the process a constituency for those principles is lost because it was never developed.
The central question we MUST ask ourselves is politics aside, what ideas are worthy of fighting for even if there's little to show for it in the next 5-10 years? If we can't answer that question then there's no hope of reforming the Democratic Party. Which leads me to how that mindset is so entrenched it's evident in the very structure of this forum. It reflects the ideological straightjacket of the Democratic Party rather than the full spectrum of Progressive thought. The Democratic Party will never reinvent itself if it's working in a hall of mirrors.
The second problem I see is the frantic pace at these forums prevents ideas from ever being fully developed. There's constant reinventing of the wheel and no "product" ever results.
To address the first problem I believe the topics of this forum must be revamped. Its very structure encourages discussion along traditional lines while ignoring the issues that REALLY shape our lives: constitutional reform, federalism, property rights, corporate rights, wealth distribution, taxation, markets, democracy, morality, US role in the world, etc. These are issues too important for the Democratic Party to ignore.... yet it does. Most other issues are merely subsets of the above.
Secondly, I propose adding a mechanism that can provide continuity in brainstorming. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page It's a community encyclopedia. Anyone can edit it or return it to a previous state. It seems chaotic but it does work. Check out some of the articles. I think such a feature here in each forum could help in developing more focused strategies, talking points, ads, whatever. Those collected thoughts could be used for a new Progressive Manifesto... a Common Sense for the 21st Century.
Some will live in denial that the Democratic Party is just fine it's the nation that's stupid. Some will be content to blame an intellectually bankrupt DNC/DLC for the string of recent electoral losses. Some can blame a dysfunctional 2 party system or cling to a conspiracy theory that the election was stolen.
But this is the stark choice: unless places like CGCS step up to the plate and help in developing a compelling Progressive message that sells well to the average American, then 10-20-30 years from now the Progressive movement will STILL be on the retreat, relegated to tweaking a dysfunctional political and corporate system created by history and the Right instead of trying to reform it.
QUOTE(_ulTRAX_ @ Dec 20 2004, 05:17 AM)
Kudos to the web designer but some readers may be unaware that the above project is bastardized rip-off of the original Think Tank proposal I first posted on Nov 17 here: target='_blank'>
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...?showtopic=4946 Work on the original proposal stopped because some were too threatened by a project that might find the Democratic Party failing because it lacks any vision for the nation. They'd rather gloss over the deep faults in the Party and look for some better way to sell a defective product than reinvent it from the bottom up.
Some will live in denial that the Democratic Party is just fine it's the nation that's stupid. Some will be content to blame an intellectually bankrupt DNC/DLC for the string of recent electoral losses. Some can blame a dysfunctional 2 party system or cling to a conspiracy theory that the election was stolen.
But this is the stark choice: unless places like CGCS step up to the plate and help in developing a compelling Progressive message that sells well to the average American, then 10-20-30 years from now the Progressive movement will STILL be on the retreat, relegated to tweaking a dysfunctional political and corporate system created by history and the Right instead of trying to reform it.
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...?showtopic=4946 Work on the original proposal stopped because some were too threatened by a project that might find the Democratic Party failing because it lacks any vision for the nation. They'd rather gloss over the deep faults in the Party and look for some better way to sell a defective product than reinvent it from the bottom up.
Some will live in denial that the Democratic Party is just fine it's the nation that's stupid. Some will be content to blame an intellectually bankrupt DNC/DLC for the string of recent electoral losses. Some can blame a dysfunctional 2 party system or cling to a conspiracy theory that the election was stolen.
But this is the stark choice: unless places like CGCS step up to the plate and help in developing a compelling Progressive message that sells well to the average American, then 10-20-30 years from now the Progressive movement will STILL be on the retreat, relegated to tweaking a dysfunctional political and corporate system created by history and the Right instead of trying to reform it.
the main thing being for me - rootstalk already exists.
personally, i' like it a lot if you'd join.
QUOTE(gabriellemy @ Dec 20 2004, 09:52 AM)
the main thing being for me - rootstalk already exists.
personally, i' like it a lot if you'd join.
personally, i' like it a lot if you'd join.
Thanks for the kind invitation. But as I've said in my original proposal and repeatedly in the following discussions that I have no intention of glossing over the deep faults and lack of vision in the Democratic Party. In your selective quote you left a core goal of the proposal:
QUOTE
"....... we need to stop thinking as Democrats but to crystallize those ideas we WISH the Democratic Party would represent. Forget politics for a second. It's just a trap that dooms one to more of the same. It makes one place political expediency over political principle. Soon principles are lost entirely. In the process a constituency for those principles is lost because it was never developed.
What does it mean to "create a shared political paradigm of principles and goals and to build consensus and coalitions around strong core values and ideals"? It means working within the existing dysfunctional mindset of American politics instead of trying to revisit core values and without political considerations find those best idea upon which to build a coherent paradigm as a foundation for policies proposals. By ignoring the best ideas/ideals in favor of shared ideas, the project will never work towards a Progressive vision of where we'd like America to be in 50 years. Without that vision, no discussions about it will take place. Without discussion, no constituency will ever develop. Without a constituency there will be no pressure to move in that direction. Without political pressure, in 50 years nothing will change. If the Democrats are ever to compete against the Right, they have to reinvent themselves. They have to find some ideals they passionately believe in. Currently the Democratic Party has no vision. The intellectual bankruptcy is so pervasive they can't even face the fact that they are AWOL on democracy itself.
Obviously I can not be part of the sabotaging of my own proposal by those locked in the very mindset the project intended to challenge.
there is no need to replay this debate again.
i believe each of the two ideas/models/missions for an online think tank should be pursued, and they need to be pursued separately.
anyone interested in pursuing ulrax's think tank proposal with ultrax should do so.
if you're interested in ultrax's original proposal for an online think tank and subsequent discussion and debate, see these threads:
target='_blank'>
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...?showtopic=4946
target='_blank'>
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...?showtopic=5818
target='_blank'>
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...?showtopic=6474
target='_blank'>
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...wtopic=6671&hl=
target='_blank'>
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...?showtopic=6848
i believe each of the two ideas/models/missions for an online think tank should be pursued, and they need to be pursued separately.
anyone interested in pursuing ulrax's think tank proposal with ultrax should do so.
if you're interested in ultrax's original proposal for an online think tank and subsequent discussion and debate, see these threads:
target='_blank'>
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...?showtopic=4946
target='_blank'>
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...?showtopic=5818
target='_blank'>
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...?showtopic=6474
target='_blank'>
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...wtopic=6671&hl=
target='_blank'>
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...?showtopic=6848
QUOTE(BNW @ Dec 20 2004, 05:03 PM)
there is no need to replay this debate again.
And I would have stayed out of it until I saw that one of the powers that be took sides in this debate and pinned your post. Since I deeply believe in the original concept, I'm just making unsuspecting readers aware that the original proposal has been bastardized into oblivion.
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