Many of us have been following the voting on Change.org. For those of you unfamiliar, Change.Org has been running a competition to bring the best ideas in the country forward with the intent to present them to the incoming administration and to help support their implementation. (Note, this site is NOT affiliated with the Obama site at change.gov.)
The process started with a request for ideas in 21 categories, such as "Fair Trade", "Global Warming", and "Health". As ideas were submitted, users commented on the ideas and voted for the best ones. Voting in that round closed on December 31, 2008 after 7,000 ideas had been submitted and 250,000 votes cast. The top three ideas in each category moved on to the second round of voting which began on Monday, January 5, 2009 and continues to January 15, 2009.
The top ten ideas from Round 2 will be presented to the administration on January 16th at an event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Other assistance is planned to help the proponents of winning ideas advocate for their vision
I’ve reviewed all of the ideas which reached the final round. In going over the various proposals, I came up with a couple of rules of thumb to help guide my selection and, so far, have selected six proposals to support.
My first, and most important, guideline was that successful proposals should have a scope that matches the problems they address. I’m not a big fan of symbolic gestures. As a country, we’ve "sent messages" for decades with little to show for it. Several of the proposals that made it into the final round are good ideas, but would address such a small portion of a major problem that they didn’t seem bold enough to make the top ten.
My second principle was that the proposal can’t just describe a desirable end state without giving some ideas about how that goal can be achieved. One leading proposal is to "Make the Grid Green in Ten Years" with nothing to back it up. I preferred proposals which stepped up to acknowledge the work necessary to achieve the goal.
I also tended to choose proposals which I believe President-Elect Obama could get behind, but which were not specific campaign promises. I don’t think we need a major outreach effort to tell him to do the things he’s promised to do, anyway. Nor did I think it was useful to promote ideas that he is guaranteed to dismiss out of hand. Sorry to say, the proposals to temporize or end the failed war on drugs fit into this category for me.
Finally, of course, I had to be convinced the idea had actual merit. As the great George Carlin said, "My list, my rules."
With that, here is my list of recommendations:
Combat terrorism by building schools to counteract madrassas
Rebuild and Repower America with a Green Stimulus Package
Replace Free Trade with Fair Trade
(Disclosure. I am not the author of this proposal, but we are related. If this idea makes the final ten, Thanksgivings will be insufferable.)
Free Single-Payer Health Care
Repeal the Patriot Act
Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Crimes of the Bush Administration
Every user gets a maximum of ten votes. I’ve selected six. I haven't yet decided whether or how to cast my remaining four votes. I’d appreciate your comments and suggestions.