Thursday, March 16, 2006
Statement of Intent
The Purpose
To create a forum where people from all over the web can debate policies, suggest ideas, and generally speak freely about what direction they would like the UK to move in.
Background
The Moai and The Nameless Tory are, on paper, at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Typical greetings to each other include “Communist scum” from The Nameless Tory and “Capitalist Pig Dog” from the Moai. And yet, recently, two odd things have happened. Firstly, both have come to feel that no party in the UK represents them. And secondly, when they sit down and debate political issues properly and intelligently, there is a lot they agree on.
Further to these realisations comes a critique of modern politics in the UK. This nation has politicians who are solely focussed on the next election, which makes them afraid to say anything controversial or unpopular, or pursue a policy that will come to fruition outside of the life time of a parliament. And the fact is the country needs people who are willing to take a risk, say something controversial, and look beyond a five year term in power.
Since our elected politicians won’t do it, someone else must. Which is why the United Kingdom Democratic Forum (UKDF) has been created.
How it works
The Moai and The Nameless Tory will discuss key areas of policy, and then publish a topic on the UKDF with a few thoughts. Then – for a stated period of time – the debate is open to anyone who wants to comment (as long as the comments are not offensive – controversial and imaginative ideas are fine.) When the debate is closed, the Moai and The Nameless Tory will pull together the disparate strands, thoughts and threads and then agree on a coherent policy. This will then be published as the policy for the UKDF.
The Future
So, why contribute?
Well, debate in itself is a worthy aim – to express ideals, to have them challenged, to adapt/defend them is an intellectual challenge. But hopefully the UKDF will be more than an online debating society. If decent policies are created, the UKDF can look at ways of bringing them to the attention of a wider audience. The UKDF can seek to change the way people think and potentially change the agendas of our political parties. But it can only do that if it has the ideas and the backing of a wide spectrum of people.
This much is clear – the political ideas of this nation’s politicians are at best holding the nation in limbo, and at worst letting the country slip backwards. This forum is an attempt to find new ideas to stop that.
To create a forum where people from all over the web can debate policies, suggest ideas, and generally speak freely about what direction they would like the UK to move in.
Background
The Moai and The Nameless Tory are, on paper, at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Typical greetings to each other include “Communist scum” from The Nameless Tory and “Capitalist Pig Dog” from the Moai. And yet, recently, two odd things have happened. Firstly, both have come to feel that no party in the UK represents them. And secondly, when they sit down and debate political issues properly and intelligently, there is a lot they agree on.
Further to these realisations comes a critique of modern politics in the UK. This nation has politicians who are solely focussed on the next election, which makes them afraid to say anything controversial or unpopular, or pursue a policy that will come to fruition outside of the life time of a parliament. And the fact is the country needs people who are willing to take a risk, say something controversial, and look beyond a five year term in power.
Since our elected politicians won’t do it, someone else must. Which is why the United Kingdom Democratic Forum (UKDF) has been created.
How it works
The Moai and The Nameless Tory will discuss key areas of policy, and then publish a topic on the UKDF with a few thoughts. Then – for a stated period of time – the debate is open to anyone who wants to comment (as long as the comments are not offensive – controversial and imaginative ideas are fine.) When the debate is closed, the Moai and The Nameless Tory will pull together the disparate strands, thoughts and threads and then agree on a coherent policy. This will then be published as the policy for the UKDF.
The Future
So, why contribute?
Well, debate in itself is a worthy aim – to express ideals, to have them challenged, to adapt/defend them is an intellectual challenge. But hopefully the UKDF will be more than an online debating society. If decent policies are created, the UKDF can look at ways of bringing them to the attention of a wider audience. The UKDF can seek to change the way people think and potentially change the agendas of our political parties. But it can only do that if it has the ideas and the backing of a wide spectrum of people.
This much is clear – the political ideas of this nation’s politicians are at best holding the nation in limbo, and at worst letting the country slip backwards. This forum is an attempt to find new ideas to stop that.
# posted by The Nameless Libertarian @ 12:55 PM 
