What question would you like to ask Howard Dean?

[patrice]

aside from technical things like database characteristics and websites etc., which might bore some of us, what kind of question would you ask Howard Dean if you could?

[dbt]

1. What's the party going to do about Vote Fraud?

[patrice]

2. Grassroots Community Committees hand count paper ballots.

According to clear and agreed upon procedures describing committee roles and functions, calendars, and voting criteria etc.

[Nimrod]

3. What's the plan?

No talking points, no assurances that everything possible is being done, no "banding together", none of that. Hell, just give me Step One. I don't care if half of it bores me to tears and I can't understand the other half. Just give me Step One in as gruesome and technical detail as possible.

Pep talks are wonderful, don't get me wrong. But before I'm going to be able to let go of my general opinions even the tiniest bit, I need something more substantial than "Cheer up!".

[patrice]

9. I'm not sure, but I think you're supposed to decide what step one is, and

two etc. and see who else thinks so also, so you can step together, the feelings amongst the Dean folks that I have been with from the start of the MeetUps is that canvassing is the most important thing grassroots needs to do to support more grassroots development, to find people who have similar motives and can collaborate.

[TyeDye75]

4. How come you kick so much ass?

I mean seriously dude you rule

How do you do it?

[FreedomAngel82]

5. I think it would

be fun to do a little survey of his favorite things. :)

[patrice]

10. Yes, he needs more of a personality for many people. n/t

[TwentyFive]

6. What about new tax policies?

I think the Democrats take it in the pants every election for being the "tax increase" party.

Everybody hates the IRS...especially swing voters. The Democrats need to get out in front of the tax issue....propose something radical like eliminating income taxes and replacing it with a combination of wealth & inheritance taxes...plus some kind of consumption tax on foreign goods -or- goods that hurt the environment (plastics tax or paper tax?)

Red states like FL, AZ, CO, NM, are socially liberal...and vote Democratic...if they thought we had NEW IDEAS on funding gov't programs.

[patrice]

11. I agree strongly. Take it away from the Repugnicans. n/t

[XemaSab]

7. What is your plan

For helping the democratic office holders and candidates to frame the issues? What about democrats who have already taken the red pill and tried to become repub-lite? How are you going to get these people to realize that arguing pro death penalty/war/war on drugs/tough on crime (to give an example) just triggers the "strict father" frame and bolsters your opponent? And that we need to get our own frames out there?

[patrice]

12. I think the party should support naturalistic data collection that is the

source of the frames, data collected from us, emails, letters, e-message boards, town halls, committees, research groups, radio discussions, community based discussions of problems and solutions etc. ( a la Paolo Freire ), as a source of qualitative data/meaning and process in communities.

grassroots databases, created, used and maintained by goal directed grassroots organizations can be a source of frames for issues. It's similar to the Republican focus group, but more self-directed and basic.

I think you are very right; no pro-death penalty/war/war on drugs/tough on crime (i.e. mandatory sentencing guidelines) need apply. It IS a time for drawing some lines, and I WILL NOT work with phony Pro-Lifers, ONLY real Pro-lifers, whom I would look forward to working with if there really were any such person, which it doesn't appear that there are very many because look how popular Bush's War of CHOICE is.

[rndmprsn]

8. specifically, how are we going to counter the rethug attack machine and...

what steps are you going to take to help build up progressive media?

[patrice]

14. Technical media entrepeneurs are probably very aware of the possibles

here. I can think of a not so small local multi-media house that is very pro Howard Dean.

Broadband has made many opportunities possible. It needs content. You probably know this.

So . . . steps, or a progressive model perhaps, for providing support to counter attacks upon the Noise Machine. I wonder what one might suggest if no such thing is handy at the moment; how to start such a process model? How specifically can such a tool be made to respond directly - *and widely* - to the hooligans at the wheel in Bush's administration. I think we need a "army" of people who go out in whatever context their are comfortable in, the internet for many of us, and propagate our language by building appropriate relationships, by means of the technology, to reach a lot of people. I guess it would be the e-corps, whose specific objective is to counter what the media whores are saying.

[ernstbass]

13. Would you please rethink your oppostion to medical marajuana