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U.S. Senate Candidate Announces Internet Democracy



Steven Moyer, an independent candidate for the open U.S. Senate seat in Vermont, announced on Thursday a new web site featuring an online searchable version of the statewide voter registration checklist. Moyer, who is a software engineer specializing in online databases and networks, is using his professional skills to advance his campaign.



The Vermont Democracy Network is the first grass roots citizen democracy initiative in the nation based on the voter registration checklist. It is designed to increase voter participation in the democratic process by making it easier for voters to connect and communicate with each other, form coalitions and publicly endorse specific ideas. Moyer plans to add features to the network which will let voters create and endorse proposals, indicating their agreement on a line-by-line basis with the statements in the proposals.



Democracy needs to happen at the personal level stated Moyer. I think we'sve lost the personal touch in politics. Modern politics is mostly about money for expensive advertising productions. Moyer is opposed to allowing the mass media and political consultants to dominate the political agenda. He wants to reverse the decline in meaningful civil engagement by giving citizens more power to establish the content of our political discussion.



The state of Vermont was pivotal in the existence of the United States and a State which reflects conscience of the nation. We need to take back the country from the corporations, the mass media and the two major parties. We need to give Congress a conscience again. Moyer said. We should all be focused on what'ss best for everyone, rather than just our own interests.



We need to seek consensus at every level of the legislative process, said Moyer. There are many good ideas out there. The Vermont Democracy Network will give any registered voter in Vermont the ability to endorse good ideas and raise public awareness. Moyer criticizes the current legislative process as too attached to corporate interests. We need to listen to the people. Many politicians and media organizations have forgotten that the people are the masters of our democracy. They have made money the master of our democracy.



Moyer obtained the statewide voter registration checklist from the Secretary of State'ss Division of Elections. The Vermont Democracy Network is a non-commercial free web site. Full access is restricted to registered voters of Vermont. I'sm hoping that more people will register to vote in order to gain access to the network. His plan requires voters to send a self-addressed stamped envelope in order to receive their account activation code.



There are basically two paths to a better democracy, explained Moyer. We can either elect better representatives or we can take personal and collective responsibility to discover, create and promote better ideas. The Citizen Democracy concept is a natural fit for Vermont with its long history of town meetings where citizens make proposals and their neighbors vote on them.

Vermont has a population of about 600,000 with about 400,000 registered voters. The difference between Moyer'ss network and others on the internet is that his is based on the official list of registered voters.



The voter registration checklist is the foundation of this Internet Democracy. It'ss the logical place to begin building an online voting system. I'sm going to keep developing and promoting this network until the election in November, said Moyer. I believe the future of politics belongs to networks rather than parties. Political parties are the dinosaurs of our day. He plans to give the software and data to the State of Vermont after the election. Regardless of the outcome of the election, the people of Vermont will have a better democracy because I ran.

Moyer'ss first focus is to gather email addresses of Vermonters so that members of the network can communicate through email. The email addresses will be kept private.



Each member will receive at most one email per day summarizing requests for contact, new proposals, and personal messages. Only the first dozen words of each message will be visible in the summary message. Members will click on a hypertext link to read the entire message or to endorse a proposal. I'sm sensitive to the concerns people have about the amount of email they will receive, noted Moyer. One message a day is necessary in order to make the concept work.



Moyer says his system will encourage more citizen participation in the political process, resulting in new coalitions, alliances and issue-oriented political groups.

It also will help political candidates get their messages out to the people without requiring large amounts of money for TV and radio advertising. Many people are too busy to attend political meetings. Moyer anticipates that more people will participate in our political discussion if they can do so using email and the world wide web in a system limited to registered voters who are identified by their real name and address. Moyer envisions that these standard identities will increase trust and authenticity. It means more when you use your true identity.



My goal is to get ten percent of Vermonters to join the network. Imagine if you could send a good idea to 40,000 people at the push of a button. Good ideas would evolve quickly and politicians would be forced to address them, explained Moyer. He added that it costs $50,000-$100,000 to send a single piece of mail to all registered voters in Vermont. My two major opponents, Bernie Sanders and Richard Tarrant, are expected to spend $5 million each on their campaigns, mostly for advertising. The Internet Democracy will make it possible for more people to run for public office because you won'st need buckets of money to get your message across to the people. Political speech should be free.



The Vermont Democracy Network is located at http://vermont.stevemoyer.us and non-Vermonters or unregistered Vermonters can receive a guest account to access the database on a limited basis. Full access to the network will be restricted to registered voters who confirm their address via U.S. mail.



Moyer thinks that most Americans have grown weary of the two-party system. They both seem to be out of fresh ideas, Moyer said. What we need is principled leadership and an open system for discerning good ideas. Politicians shouldn'st be expected to have all the answers. They should be judged by the content of their character and the quality of their judgment.



If nothing else, the network will introduce good ideas into the minds of the people and our legislators in Montpelier and Washington, DC, asserted Moyer. I'sve got lots of ideas and I want to present them in a forum where they can be discussed and improved upon by others.



Moyer plans to use the network as a guide for his actions in the Senate and offer it to other States so that the whole country can get more involved in producing good leadership and consensual solutions.



Steve Moyer for U.S. Senate ( http://stevemoyer.us )

Contact info: 802-583-2163 or 202-370-6653

RR1 Box 60, Warren, VT 05674






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