Reconstitution through Repeace
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"'
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 bipartisan, and some have their base in the belief of an entirely new design. But the important thing is these people have seen the shift taking place, 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, often also implies working towards the betterment of community through participation, volunteer work, and efforts to improve life for all citizens. 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.