Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site pyuxa.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!pyuxww!pyuxa!wetcw From: wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: John DiNardo and Participative Democracy Message-ID: <786@pyuxa.UUCP> Date: Wed, 6-Jun-84 08:29:17 EDT Article-I.D.: pyuxa.786 Posted: Wed Jun 6 08:29:17 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 7-Jun-84 07:40:33 EDT References: <374@teldata.UUCP> Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J. Lines: 28 [] I too find John's ideal world community a bit overwhelming. How does he propose to educate the nearly 2.5 billion souls who cannot read or write enough to know what the issues are? How does everyone register their vote? Am I to assume we would have to use paper ballots? A terminal in every hut does sound a bit extreme. I would suggest that John take some time and spend a couple of weeks in a place like Bed-Sty in New York or West LA or a K-Mart parking lot and talk to people about the issues he is concerned about. Find out just how many people have the same concerns he has. Better yet, just to get an idea of how informed the populace is, find an average streetcorner ( not in a college town) and ask the burning question of 100 passers-by "Who is the Vice President of the United States." I think that John will be very much surprised at the answers he gets. As I pointed out before concerning this issue, participative Democracy is up to the individual. You can't force someone to join your parade if they are not interested. If you do, it is no longer participative, its totalitarianism. By the way John, did you vote in your local primary this spring? Are you active in your area political arena? Come back to reality John, this debate has been around for several thousand years and it always runs into the same brick wall, human indifference and ignorance. T. C. Wheeler