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Well written is right and past due.
-------Original
Message-------
From: Cher
Date: 2/8/2010 2:39:33
PM
Subject: NON: Fw:
[affiliates] US: Web: Open Letter to Change.org Excellent letter to Change.org
Newshawk: DrugSense Mission Statement http://mapinc.org/url/jzi9cJZ9
Pubdate: Fri, 5 Feb 2010
Source: DrugSense Weekly (DSW)
Section: Feature Article
Webpage: http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm
Website: http://www.drugsense.org
Author: Mary Jane Borden
Note: Mary Jane Borden is writer, artist, drug policy reform
activist, and
regular voter from Westerville, Ohio. She serves as
Business
Manager/Fundraising Specialist for DrugSense and as the Editor
of Drug War
OPEN LETTER TO CHANGE.ORG
Dear Change.org,
I recently received an e-mail from you announcing the launch
of "Ideas for
Change in America 2010," a campaign that seeks to "empower
citizens to
identify and build momentum behind the country's best ideas
for addressing
the major challenges we face." This noble and worthy effort
uses direct
democracy to encourage the online audience to submit and vote
for ideas.
Here is a snapshot of the campaign from http://www.change.org/ideas as
of
4:30 pm on 2/4/2010: . Second Most Popular Idea Overall:
Legalize
Recreational Use of Marijuana
(920 votes)
. Most Popular Category: Criminal Justice
. Top 10 Ideas within the Criminal Justice category: Legalize
Recreational
Use of Marijuana; Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use
of
Marijuana; Rehabilitation, not incarceration; Legalize and tax
marijuana;
Remove Marijuana From Schedule I of the Controlled Substances
Act;
Legalize Marijuana; Reduce criminal recidivism; End the war on
drugs; End
Marijuana Prohibition; and Make Marijuana Legal.
"Marijuana" owned 7 of the top 10 Ideas in the above category
with
combined vote tallies over 2,500 and counting. Of
the 44 Ideas submitted
in Criminal Justice that had more than 20 votes, 31 (70%)
pertained in
some way to marijuana. These 31 also accounted for 80% of the
total votes
in that category. Add Ideas to generally change drug policy,
and these
percentages topped 90%.
No other single idea captures more overall votes or consumes
more of a
single category than "Marijuana."
Is the "online audience" trying to tell you something?
Consider the following:
On Wednesday, January 27, 2010, CitizenTube streamed the State
of the
Union address live on its YouTube site and allowed viewers to
submit and
vote on questions to ask President Obama. "Marijuana
Legalization"
outdistanced all other questions by a margin of more than 2 to
1.
President Obama never had the opportunity to answer this most
popular
question - YouTube never asked it.
In December 2009, JP Morgan Chase & Co. organized a
competition to award
grants to 100 charitable organizations that received the most
votes on
Chase's Facebook fan page. Two drug-policy focused groups -
Students for
Sensible Drug Policy and the Marijuana Policy Project - were
among the top
vote getters, but Chase disqualified them from the final tally
without
explanation. http://wwwmapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n1131/a07.html
Shortly after the 2008 presidential election, the Obama
Administration
established "Open for Questions" on http://www.change.gov, which
morphed
into http://www.whitehouse..gov/openforquestions. Three
rounds of voting
by over 200,000 people, who submitted over 150,000 questions
and cast over
7 million votes, found "Legalizing Marijuana" in first place
within each
of the top five categories. At his March 26, 2009 press
conference,
President Obama addressed this phenomenal response by
quipping, "I don't
know what this says about the online audience," before
dismissing the
idea.
Do you see a pattern?
As a Change.org member, I'm dismayed that "Marijuana"
(medical,
recreational, or hemp) garners only a fraction of the coverage
that a
topic with its level of popularity should otherwise expect.
Even though
"Marijuana" has received 80% of the votes in your Criminal
Justice
category, few stories concerning it have appeared on Criminal
Justice news
or as Featured Ideas. "Legalize Marijuana" is your third most
popular
petition with 16,000 signers. Isn't that home page
material?
Change.org appears to endorse a free and fair voting process
as reflected
in the "Governmental Reform and Transparency" category. It
rightly decries
bias against people of color, gays, and the
homeless. It embraces human
rights. Yet, these noble ideals become diminished by brushing
aside the
most popular issue.
I'm pleased that corporations, non-profits, and governments
are leveraging
the power of the Internet's online audience to engage in
direct democracy.
In a democratic society, the will of the people should be the
driving
force. Generally that will is made real by the most
votes.
However, when the results are not fairly reported and
implemented,
campaigns like Ideas for Change and those of YouTube, Chase
Bank, and the
Obama Administration do little to foster public participation
in the
democratic process and much to further the public's cynicism
of it.
Speaking on behalf of the "online audience," I wish for my
voice to be
heard - for it to sing as loudly as my worthy counterparts.
I'm tired of
being ignored, as if I'll just disappear when I'm not
noticed.
Here's an Idea! Please accurately report and implement the
results for the
2010 Ideas for Change in America. Promote all Ideas equally.
Treat
submitted Ideas with the respect they deserve, even the one
that wins the
competition, hands down.
Please note that this Idea is #154 in the Government Reform
and
Transparency Category. http://drugsense.org/url/NgppFWQ4
Sincerely,
>> Mary Jane
>>
>> Top Ideas for Change in America: http://www.change.org/ideas?order=top
>>
>> Change.org's Criminal Justice category:
>>
>> Submit your Idea for Change in America:
>>
>> FAQ about Ideas for Change in America: http://www.change.org/ideas/faq
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