Pirate Party UK crowdsources its policies on Reddit


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With its standing up for the rights of individuals in the digital world, The Pirate Party is far from a traditional political movement. If you needed proof, just look at what its UK arm is doing – crowdsourcing its policies on Reddit in a project called Steal This Manifesto.

The Policy 2011 page on Reddit is designed to let the public suggest policy ideas for the party to consider for the year ahead. As with any Reddit page, users can vote ideas up and down. It’s a very 21st Century way of pooling ideas, and while it’s unlikely that more established parties would go down the same route, the lively and savvy Reddit audience is probably a good fit for the Pirate Party.

Following on from the recent success of the Pirate Party in Berlin, other groups in the movement around the world are looking to replicate this by getting elected to positions of power.

In our recent interview with Pirate Party UK leader Loz Kaye, we discussed the difficulty that the Pirate Party has with establishing a clear policy line on issues beyond things like Internet piracy and copyright law. What should the Pirate Party believe when it comes to education or law and order? This open approach could help identify popular policies among members.

The Reddit-based project runs until 3 November 2011.

Source: The Next Web

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Even if they fail at crafting general policy and getting anything implemented, at least they are trying to crowdsource rather than remembering who lined their pockets for their votes.

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Since when is "crowdsourcing" a good thing? Populist politics is the quickest way towards self-interested idiotic policies. I prefer my policies to be drafted up by people who actually know what they're talking about rather than the ordinary idiot on the street. For example, do we really want Joe Sixpack coming up with environmental policies, or would we rather have environmental scientists who actually understand the issue drafting these up??

But of course the pirate party has proven time and time again that it pull any stunt to try to get into power. Next up: Pirate Party hires strippers and hands out free booze at rallies....

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Since when is "crowdsourcing" a good thing? Populist politics is the quickest way towards self-interested idiotic policies. I prefer my policies to be drafted up by people who actually know what they're talking about rather than the ordinary idiot on the street. For example, do we really want Joe Sixpack coming up with environmental policies, or would we rather have environmental scientists who actually understand the issue drafting these up??

But of course the pirate party has proven time and time again that it pull any stunt to try to get into power. Next up: Pirate Party hires strippers and hands out free booze at rallies....

QFT.

Here in Switzerland, if enough people* agree with you, you can suggest a law and have it voted by the people. Which results in stupid laws like the one banning minarets (yes, it's in our Constitution...)

*enough people being pretty small, 150k IIRC.

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