The Open Party

While watching a copy of Charlie Wilson's War (brought to me by the good folks at the Pirate Bay) I wondered if it were possible for a young man to simply drive a couple car loads o' Negroes down to the voting booth and steal an election, just by telling them the other guy had killed your dog. It's a nice racist tale about how ig'nunt them collard folks can be, but today's voting population -- as disparately finite as they can be, both amongst colored folk and The Man -- think the Democrats are gonna give it all away, and the Republicans are gonna keep it for themselves.

As far as the system being rigged: I do declare that we've done it to ourselves (Or more plainly put, they've branded the two concepts and sold it to us hook, line, and sinker). The consider a third alternative is to fear the depths of Fascism or Communism, or any other ism cooked up by intellectuals that don't know a damn thing about how life really works. But you do. And that's what really counts. When it comes to hot button issues like abortion and border security, they tell us what our options are and then sort them out between the two parties. At least that's what we're told.

In reality we end up with an idealist who works on the part of the Corporations -- not matter which party they come from. Conservatives and Liberals alike will admit that the system is being rigged by big money lobbyists that buy the fat bastards anything they want to pass their legislations. It's called Corruption, and we all know it is eating our Government from within. But what we don't all know about is 'Open Source' (aside from what we've heard of Linux or Firefox, that developers can download the code and use it for free).

The 'Open Source' methodology is more than a philosophy for programmers. 'Open Source' implies a system that enables everyone to contribute. The practice of opening your system and allowing others to participate affects more than software code. For example, Wikipedia is a type of 'Open Source' which pertains to information, and allows anyone to read and revise any article, assuming you have permission from the community at large. Digg.com is another aspect of 'Open Source' that allows the user -- not to download and edit the code, but to contribute their own stories, effectively editing the front page as a community.

Imagine the practice of Open Source being applied to our Government. Instead of going to the polls every few years to vote for another criminal to steal your money, you do away with the middle man and directly represent yourself. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call Democracy. Not Representative Democracy. (That is what we call a Republic.) Real Democracy. Now that we've reached the 21st Century the concepts created by our Roman Forefathers is within our reach! But first, we must replace our Republic with a Democracy by supporting the Open Party.

At the moment, the Open Party is simply an idea held by hundreds, if not thousands of people around the globe. Attempting to explain the idea leads us back to the same hot button issues: "What do you think about border patrol? Are you gonna raise my taxes?" The process of explaining how each and every American can participate directly in their city finances or other governing principles simply bores anyone to tears. But that's all part of the process. You have an idea -- simultaneously, as it happens, with hundreds of other people you've never met -- and eventually, figure out how to tell it.

Would you?