Blogs and Elections

Phil Wolff writes about “the blogger’s platform” for the US elections / California governor recall. I was thinking that maybe we can do something similar for the Indian elections we are going to see in the course of the next year.

The blogger platform: Elevate blogging from narrative to activism, from lifestyle to politics, from netizen to citizen.

Platform points:

1. A weblog for every elected official before the 2004 election.
– Improve transparency
– Conversation with constituencies more than lobbyists
– Improve the collective memory of our term-limited legislators

2. A weblog for every student and teacher by 2005.
– Investing in our future workforce
– Assumes access in every classroom
– Better parental involvement

3. A weblog for every Californian by 2006.
– Economic development in a knowledge, service, and collaboration economy
– Shorten the time to create jobs and find work

4. Censor-free Internet access in every public library.
– Democracy needs freedom to read

5. Enterprise blognets for state and local government.
– Government services turbocharged by collaboration and communication
– Government workers in more intimate communication with their customers

In short, participatory democracy between elections.

India needs its citizens to participate in the emerging democracy. We are responsible for our own future. Blogs and Wikis can be an extremely useful way to get the discussion on issues into the open.