To the Founding Fathers,

We come with no easy blueprint for tomorrow's constitution. We mistrust those who think they
already have the answers when we are still trying to formulate the questions. But the time has
come for us to imagine completely novel alternatives, to discuss, dissent, debate, and design from
the ground up the democratic architecture of tomorrow. Not in a spirit of anger or dogmatism, not
in a sudden impulsive spasm, but through the widest consultation and peaceful public
participation, we need to join together to reconstitute America. Alvin and Heidi Toffler - from the
book "Creating a New Civilization"

In the Open Forum at MfD, the failure of our current two-party political system was brought up and the
question of "how do we fix it" emerged from the discussion. A contributor stated that the dilemma we
face today, in our current political arena, isn't really about "right" and "left" anymore. We now find
ourselves evolving beyond taking political sides and find ourselves searching more for what is "right"
and "wrong" outside of our current polarizing political structure. They go on to say, "This is about
understanding that true democracy lies in the dignity of people and not in the rhetoric of politics." In
my opinion, what is missing in our current form of democracy is, "The People"! Our democratic
structure has moved way beyond any form of participatory system into a highly repressive,
representative system which by it's nature, excludes the input of the people in the decision making
process. We get the scraps off the table after our masters have gorged themselves on the fruits of our
labor.

There was mention of the need for a third party and the possibility of massive numbers of people
falling in line in support of a party which would be based on issues pertinent to workers. A party
without the now existing conservative/liberal labels. I agree, a third party seems like it would help
balance the structure out, but a part of me thinks this is like an attempt to oil the existing machine in
order to make it perform better. This is a complicated issue for me and something in my brain's recesses
keeps telling me the existing machine just can't be fixed due to the amount of capital which the two
parties have accumulated and their willingness to use it to their benefit. I'm thinking the machine is
worn out, and is no longer economical in the emerging economical/political climate. A new part here,
an oil change there, and we still have the same 20th century motor which still belches out noxious
consumerist fumes. This machine is fueled by labor, and as such, the owners of the current machine
will always strive for cheaper fuel prices. The engine we have is not efficient and it burns labor like a
1968 Chevy 427 burns petrol. "We" are the fuel for the current machine and even though we do take an
active role in the operation of it, I'm not particularly fond of the part the people play in the running of
this machine. So by propping up the current system, and attempting to add on new parts, doesn't have
any effect as far as I'm concerned and the machine just keeps on chugging, coughing, sputtering, and
kicking out poison into the environment and making it an unfit and unequal place for the inhabitants of
the world. I just believe we will have to design a new, more efficient model which utilizes balance of
all the parts and doesn't have any loose screws, nuts, or bolts laying around after it's assembled.

I appreciate the futurists energy and their contributions. I have learned a great deal from these guys.
While it's true they base a great deal of their predictions on current trends and rightly so, I believe
making predictions based on current trends has a tendency of keeping one on the fence. I think our time
would be better spent if we moved away from predicting our future and moved on to creating one.
Reason tells us where we are going on the current path, now we have to turn into creationists in order
to make the transition as humane as possible for not just the people within our nations, but the entire
global population. Injustice doesn't discriminate and it's effect reaches all corners of our globe. It's not a
unique problem and it's cancerous blight has done great harm to all people of our planet. People across
the globe are communicating and discussing issues outside the walls and fences constructed by the
political nationalists whose double speak has kept our collective minds locked away for so long. It's my
opinion the people and their power of reason will one day be fully realized and the barriers, both
mental and physical, which have been constructed by an elite few, in an attempt to hold on to power,
will tumble and dissolve. This probably sounds like a nightmare to some, especially the isolationist
paleoconservatives such as Pat Buchanan.

But I have to give credit to Buchanan, as he is against the Patriot Act and he doesn't agree with the war
and the "new empire's" agendas. He's the so-called "true conservative" it's been said. But unlike him, I
believe the connections of communities around the world is what will save us and isolation will only
make the shift into the new paradigm that much more difficult and help create more pooling of power
in the hands of an elite few. Yeah, I'm a dreamer, but our realities are built on such dreams!

Just as an example of how boundaries are disappearing, let me share this with you. Right before
Christmas, Cindy Sheehan began a European tour meeting not only with the foreign ministers,
presidents, and other elite, but she has been visiting with the families of other children who have lost
their lives in the War on Terror. Language barriers are being overcome in what Sheehan calls, "A
Language of the Heart".

No matter if we all speak differently accented English, Spanish, or the heavy Glaswegian accent
of my Scottish sister in sorrow, Rose Gentle - whose gentle-giant son, Gordon, was killed by Blair
and Bush in Iraq in July of 2004 - our hearts all speak the same idiom of pain, and we sing the
same lament of futile loss.

Yes, pain and suffering are common grounds on which the people can meet. Not the ideal of meeting
places for sure, but out of this shared grief and suffering, fertile ground is emerging and new life is
sprouting. A language of the heart is not hard to imagine at all. It's the place where we see things for
what they really are. It's something we all share. Read this e-mail Sheehan received from a mother of
an Iraqi insurgent who was killed in the same battle Sheehan's son was killed.

In conclusion, this is an excerpt of an email I received from a mother in Iraq whose son Zaydoun
Mamoun Fadhil Al-Samarai, a Shi'a insurgent, was involved in the same battle in which Casey was
killed. Zaydoun was later killed.

We, my friend, in the march of pain could work together, each from where she is, toward putting
an end to the blood shed and toward peace and love to prevail, instead of war.

We could, my lady, work together toward peace and toward putting an end to the blood shed and
give all mothers a hope for happiness because we experience pain when we lost our sons.
Because, he who did not experience pain cannot understand happiness.
 I will be very happy when the war ends so we can celebrate in my town, Samara, which witnessed
the birth of my oldest son, Zaydoun, who I thought would mourn me when I die, but, unfortunately,
I mourned him one month before his wedding.
I am conveying his fiancé's greeting, who is still mourning him.

At the end, please accept my deepest sympathies, from a mother who lost her son to another
mother who lost her son.
I hope to be able to meet with you on the march for peace and love.

Yes, I believe dreamers will help design a better place, but what can be done, or what is being done
here in our little world to make the transition from one world into the next? I've always heard you need
to clean up your own yard before you criticize what your neighbors yard looks like! So where do we
start?

There have been many groups which have grown out of the availability of the Internet and the flow of
information which ensued. Some lean towards existing parties, others are bi-partisan, and some have
their base in the believe of an entirely new design. But the important thing is these people have seen the
shift and through communication are attempting to make the inevitable much better, easier, and more
participatory. I believe we can gain usable knowledge from any and perhaps all of these groups.
Perhaps there is a need for new terminology? Instead of "politics", maybe we could call it
"citizenology" or something of the sort? The word citizenship, according to Wikipedia, <i>often also
implies working towards the betterment of one's community through participation, volunteer work, and
efforts to improve life for all citizens.</i> So I suppose citizenology would be the study of how people,
through participation, can work to improve life for all people. People deal with their differences by
creating alliances, discussing, negotiating, and engaging people on issues which involve the self-
interest of like-minded people. We need less stratification due to vertically structured parties, and more
accordance through horizontal citizen engagement. The USCCR offers extensive links of on-line
resource groups and partnerships pertaining to civic education and democracy within communities.

Take this quote from America Speaks website which is part of the conservative based Pew Charitable
Trust. The quote portrays the growing bi-partisan concern of our current structures.

Most Americans today would agree that there is something deeply wrong with how our democracy
is working: citizens have largely lost their rightful role in public decision making. The American
public deserves more than the vote, they deserve a voice in what happens – an impact on decisions
that impact their lives, and a government responsive to their needs. However, the dramatic growth
and power of special interest groups have both constrained leaders and squeezed ordinary
citizens out of the process. As a result, many citizens feel alienated, and decision makers have lost
touch with their constituents’ true concerns.

The vote has evolved into merely a control of the masses through illusionary democratic principles and
our voices have been silenced by the representative form of democracy and a participatory democracy
is the only way to allow the people's voice to once again be heard. Let's look at another example of
people communicating in an effort to build a people oriented form of democracy. On the Civic
Practices Network website, the following paragraph states who they are and what they see as their
goals in the design of a new democratic structure.

We are community organizers, civic journalists, and youth activists. We are grassroots
environmentalists, business people and civil servants working collaboratively to create safe and
sustainable local economies. We are union and business innovators, dispute resolution
practitioners, participatory urban planners. We are teachers and librarians working to develop
civic skills at every level of our educational system. We are community health and social welfare
professionals working to empower families and develop community capacities for solving
problems in a diverse and complex society undergoing rapid change.

Of special interest to the designers of our future is the emergence of Electronic Democracy, and the
possibility of a new participatory based Internet Democracy, which could open new positions of
speech, empowering previously excluded groups and enabling new aspects of social life to become part
of the political process. Actually, through on-line participation, is it too "far out" to believe this form of
democracy could/will create a new meaning to the term "politics"? The political and social scientists
are drawn to the implications of the Internet in relation to the opportunities it offers society. They
continually attempt to identify whether this new technology will promote democracy and if so, how
will our political landscape change? The problem is, technology along with the peoples willingness to
explore and expand, is moving the issues so fast, by the time these experts put together a theory, the
advancements of the people driven technology has deemed their work archaic.

Many believe however that the Internet with all it's positive influence in building more democratic
communities, still remains susceptible to totalitarian governments and their control by monitoring the
people's thoughts, ideas, and activities. This definitely is worthy of discussion and there are ways of
circumventing these controls electronically, but the best way to fight this type of undemocratic control
is through cooperative community efforts to bring this totalitarianism into the public light and fight to
maintain an open and uncensored flow of communication. It's still about cooperation and
groups/communities of support.

The Internet has brought about a transparency which shows how our political system has failed it's
citizens. We can now witness a small group in our nation's capitals who are attempting to overthrow the
will of the people while ignoring the majority. The technology which we are immersed in shows us our
political processes are nothing more than a narrow tool of the elite. From propaganda and info-spin, we
are constantly bombarded with tripe whose sole purpose is an attempt to save a dying structure rather
than adapt to the shift and build a new democracy. One that actually is more democratic and
participatory in nature. The hogs are going to scream and squeal and believe me, the current structures
of power well intend to fight to the end. And I really don't know just how far the power mongers will
go to hang on to their throne and it could get very ugly. So it probably is better for us if we just expect
the worst. Let's just hope we can hold on to our flow of communication and keep our info-communities
alive and growing.
There's no doubt the changes will be seismic in nature as we evolve into this uncharted world. The
acceleration, which in no small part, is due to the introduction of the personal computer, will continue
on an escalated scale. Unlike the shifts of the past, this one will happen within decades rather than
generations and we will feel the world shift under our feet. The individuals and institutions who have a
vested interest in the dying age will do everything in their power to resist the change. But despite all
that these powerful few try, our political and economical systems must change as will the functions of
our educational systems, labor, corporations, and the definition of capital. There is a great deal of
speculation on what will take place and what our world will look like in the future. Consider these
thoughts from around the web on what the information age will bring.

Minority Power as well as majority rule will become obsolete as various forms of public policy
implementation such as proportional representation, community consensus, and systems of
conflict resolution will replace it.

We could see the emergence of semi-direct democracy as (representative democracy) invented by

the Founding Fathers which was appropriate for their time when 90% of the people were
illiterate, no longer fits within our society of information. And since direct democracy carries the
weight of "tyranny of the majority" which is obsolete, a moderate and reasonable middle ground
is semi-direct democracy. People through community efforts will demand the right by petition to
propose a bill, to modify a bill, to bind the vote of their legislator, to set up public hearings, to
establish a legislative committee, or to make a formal expression of priorities to the legislature
either for policy action or spending.

As the amount of information grows and as the pace of decision making necessarily accelerates, it
becomes functionally impossible for decision making to be dominated by central control and
power is spread through thousands of smaller activist groups and communities.

As the voting records, ratings, etc. will soon be readily available to everyone on the Internet,
slanted coverage, spinning by political parties and management of the news will be overcome by
the sheer volume of information available to everyone.

There are millions of ideas concerning what the information age will bring, from one end of the
spectrum to the other, but the important thing to remember is that we actually are in the middle of the
shift and the world as we know it is changing. This change is due to the amount of available
information. What the world will evolve into is no doubt questionable and our future isn't set in stone,
but it's how you and I use this available technology and information, and how we share it which will
help build our world the way we know it should be. Yes, there are millions of people who refuse to see
the old systems are decaying, but there are millions more who do share the idea that the people of the
earth do have common goals and a connectivity that reaches far beyond the political and economical
boundaries which have been thrust upon human beings to enforce the agendas of a select few.