Choices of Democracy is a neutral, non partisan platform for forums and debates. Content is posted to this site for the purpose of sharing and responding to information. The editorial position of this site is to take no position, but to maintain neutrality and non-partisanship for people, groups and organizations working to create a venue for engagement, for debate, for democracy. http://www.choicesofdemocracy.org/blog/ en-us Webligo BlogHoster Choices of Democracy: Iraq launched today with the following premise:Place a referendum before the Iraqi people and ask them directly whether they want the Coalition of Peace Keeping forces in their country to stay or leave. Then respect and support their wishes.Visit here and share your thoughts and suggestions. http://www.choicesofdemocracy.org/blog/587/ VFW VA 2006 ElectionAudio ForumsSelect Question to hear Response Respondent:George Allen 1. What is your position on establishing a budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs as a separate and independent budget from all other government budgets?2. How would you ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs receives sufficient funding to consistently provide for the Health Care and Benefits of our nations military and retirees?3. Women are an important part of our military. What do you think should be the role of women serving in combat?4. How would you ensure that Congress authorizes and fully funds legislation that allows all disabled military retirees (regardless of percentage of disability) to receive their full military retirement  pay and disability compensation without offset?5. Our Active Duty, Reserves and National Guard are assigned to duties throughout the world.  Many units have been required to do multiple assignments in hazardous areas. What would you do to ease the current burdens on our troops?6. Veteran's service organizations provide veterans, their dependents and survivors aid in the preparation and prosecution of claims for benefits free of charge. Few, if any, require the assistance of a lawyer. What is your position on permitting private for profit attorneys to practice at the initial claim level in the VA regional offices and be paid from the earned benefits of the men and women who served our country?Respondent:Jim WebbNO RESPONSERespondent:Gail ParkerNO RESPONSE  http://www.choicesofdemocracy.org/blog/514/ The NAACP Virginia Conference of Branches and their members are extending this open invitation to all the Virginia Senate and Virginia House Candidates to participate in the NAACP VA2006 ElectionAudio Forums These neutral, non-partisan, not-for-profit forums are part of  an ongoing effort to engage our membership, our deployed military community and our state's voters in the democratic process . The Virginia Conference of Branches will be asking questions of the Candidates on behalf of our membership over the course of the 2006 Elections.  Candidates are asked to take the oppurtunity to personally reply via phone to the following questions. 1. Do you agree with the Supreme Court's landmark decision in the case of Grutter vs. Bollinger, University of Michigan Law School et al, (Grutter concludes that diversity is a compelling interest in higher education and that race is one factor that can be taken into account to achieve a diverse studen body)?  Please discuss.2. Do you support an immediate increase in the minimum wage?  If so, by how much and over what period of time;  If not, is it foreseable that you could support an increase at any point during your term in office?3. Would you support reinstating the draft system?  If not, what would you propose to ensure enlisted troops are recruited at equal numbers across all socio-economic levels?4. Do you believe it is appropriate for persons convicted of a felony offense to have their voting right reinstated after they have completed their sentence and are no longer on probation and parole?5.  Although anti-racial profiling legislation now exists, minorities continue to be detained and arrested at higher levels than their white counterparts, what responsibiliteis, if any do you believe the Federal Government has to eliminate this gap? Candidates need never be in the same place at the same time to participate. Candidates responses will be posted in the order they are received with no editing. Candidates will be provided with a phone number and personal access code. Candidates can record their responses from anywhere home, office, car, the campaign trail. Candidates will be provided 90 seconds for their responses. Candidates will have an oppurtunity to review and record their responses as many times as they wish. Candidates content will be donated to the public domain through the Internet Archive after the Election. For more information or to request your phone number and pin to participate, e-mail choicesofdemocracy@gmail.com or call (336) 273-4371 Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to your support.  http://www.choicesofdemocracy.org/blog/503/ This story was originally published on  Policlicks.com LLC's Site.Policlicks.com LLC's  spin off platform Choices of Democracy has gone up with questions to candidates from VFW Departments in the following states - North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Alabama. The candidates are being provided a venue to directly connect with the VFW membership and the voters at large.These Interactive Forums are part of an on going effort, now in its 4th Election cycle, to engage more voter participation, by bringing more candidate direct information, presented in a non-partisan manner to the process of electing our representation.Policlicks is in discussions at this time with the Internet Archive and VSocial to bring these debates and forums to you from the Presidential to the school board level from coast to coast for the 2008 Election.Policlicks partnered with the Department of North Carolina Veterans of Foreign Wars in October 2002. Its charge was to conduct neutral, non-partisan debates and forums for the candidates running for office in the state, strengthen Miltary Family Communications and to develop the Department's 21 st Century internet based organizational internal and external protocols.In the same month, in an event that was hosted by VFW Post 2087 and live blogged by Ed Cone we produced and launched the first inter-active political video debate in history.Two County Commisioner candidates, Jeff Thigpen and Jonathan Wagstaff ,squared off in separate places at different times in front of a webcam taped to the top of a PC monitor for the benefit of the voters of Guilford County, NC. Their recorded answers played through the election and where seen by thousands.In 2003, to protect the value of the debate and forum platforms to the democractic process, we created Choices of Democracy as a non-profit endeavor.The videos shown below are from the Policlicks library and show the power of the application of the internet in the political process. We are working on uploading and donating all of our historical content to the public domain through the Internet Archive.The following, is the first Issue Advocacy video we made. Produced for the Preddy Memorial Foundation and narrated by Congressman Howard Coble, a lifetime member of Major George E. Preddy VFW Post 2087, it advocates to add the name of Preddy to Pope Airforce Base to create the new name Pope-Peddy Air Force Base. This initiative was launched to honor the memory of Preddy who was the top p-51 Mustang Ace of all time.This effort is still very much alive, so after viewing and if you feel inspired, the Preddy Foundation asks and encourages you to take a moment, sign the petition and forward the video on.The second video featuring Tara Sue Grubb (Clark) was produced just prior to the 2002 Election. Tara Sue was provided by Dave Winer the distiction of being the first Congressional Candidate to use a weblog as a political campaign tool but it was her understanding of the value of the tool that has set the benchmarks. Her video demostrates how very aware she was of the changes that the internet was bringing to "old school politics"Tara Sue moved on after the election and became CEO of our company, bringing her creative leadership to bear leading our company through it's crucial infancy stages, until turning over the reigns for our next stage of development to Dan Romauld in 2005.She now serves as the Executive Director of the Veterans Foundation of North Carolina.The internet provides the ability for candidates to directly connect with the voters. Those that fail to avail themselves of the opportunity may very well find it difficult to get elected in the 21st century.We encourge all candidates who have received an invitation to respond to this important voter education project. http://www.choicesofdemocracy.org/blog/424/ The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance or International IDEA was established to promote sustainable democracy worldwide. Membership is comprised of states, with international non-governmental organisations as associate members. Under its founding statutes, the Institute is mandated to engage in a wide variety of activities designed to advance democracy and to improve the quality of democratic governance, nationally and internationally. The Institute promotes a long-term perspective on the building and consolidation of democratic institutions and the fostering of a democratic culture. The Institute works to improve electoral processes. It helps to develop and disseminate rules and guidelines which promote transparency and accountability, professionalism, efficiency and impartiality in the conduct of elections. In the fulfillment of these objectives, the Institute develops global networks in the electoral sphere and organises seminars, workshops and training on electoral management designed to disseminate best practice. International IDEA seeks to strengthen national and local capacities to develop the full range of instruments and institutions needed for democratic government. It provides options on various forms of democratic institutions and processes rather than prescribing any particular model. As part of this process, it facilitates dialogue between local actors and publishes assessments on the prospects for democratic development in individual countries. The Institute is a forum for exchange of ideas and experiences between scholars, policy makers and practitioners involved in all aspects of democratic governance. It is a meeting place for a broad spectrum of individuals and organisations involved in democracy promotion and assistance. Through its programmes of research, information and outreach, International IDEA aims to increase knowledge in the pursuit of democratic excellence. http://www.choicesofdemocracy.org/blog/395/ The Center is dedicated to the task of making new ideas and information available for the purpose of democratizing undemocratic systems--and for improving democratic processes that are still only partially realized. Democracy itself is not the final end. Rather, democracy is a means to the end of enhancing human life. It is a method by which the human community can care for itself, its environment, and its future evolution. Democracy is a step toward the infinite, toward the greater realization of values and abilities within ourselves that human beings have often associated with God. We could say that democracy is love writ large and continually expanding. But love by itself is not sufficient. It must be organized by means that are consistent with the nature of loving--with intelligence, compassion, fairness, freedom, purpose...and inclusiveness. http://www.choicesofdemocracy.org/blog/394/ Democracy & the U.S. National Interest As the primary channel for U.S. foreign assistance in the developing world, USAID has taken a leading role in promoting and consolidating democracy worldwide. Expanding democracy improves individual opportunity for prosperity and improved well-being, thus contributing to the more traditional goals of the Agency. The strategic long-term domestic and foreign policy objectives of the United States are best served by enlarging the community of democratic nations worldwide. Establishing democratic institutions, free and open markets, an informed and educated populace, a vibrant civil society, and a relationship between state and society that encourages pluralism, participation, and peaceful conflict resolution -- all of these contribute to the goal of establishing sustainable democracies. USAID Democracy & Governance Goals The Agency focuses its efforts to promote democracy and good governance on four distinct, but related, goals: Strengthening the Rule of Law and Respect for Human RightsPromoting More Genuine and Competitive Elections & Political ProcessesIncreased Development of a Politically Active Civil SocietyMore Transparent and Accountable Governance Progress in all four areas is necessary to achieve sustainable democracy. USAID Definition of Democracy Programs Democracy and governance programs are technical assistance and other support to strengthen capacity of reform-minded governments, non-governmental actors, and/or citizens in order to develop and support democratic states and institutions that are responsive and accountable to citizens. These efforts also include promoting democratic transitions in countries that are not reform-minded. Democracy programs promote the rule of law and human rights, transparent and fair elections coupled with a competitive political process, a free and independent media, stronger civil society and greater citizen participation in government, and governance structures that are efficient, responsive and accountable. http://www.choicesofdemocracy.org/blog/393/ Democracy forever teases us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements. - Agnes Repplier http://www.choicesofdemocracy.org/blog/392/ The Center for Civic Education is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational corporation dedicated to fostering the development of informed, responsible participation in civic life by citizens committed to values and principles fundamental to American constitutional democracy. The Center specializes in civic/citizenship education, law-related education, and international educational exchange programs for developing democracies. Programs focus on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights; American political traditions and institutions at the federal, state, and local levels; constitutionalism; civic participation; and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. Today, the Center administers a wide range of critically acclaimed curricular, teacher-training, and community-based programs. The principal goals of the Center's programs are to help students develop (1) an increased understanding of the institutions of American constitutional democracy and the fundamental principles and values upon which they are founded, (2) the skills necessary to participate as effective and responsible citizens, and (3) the willingness to use democratic procedures for making decisions and managing conflict. The following statement by Thomas Jefferson expresses the Center's rationale and goals. "I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion." The Center's headquarters are in Calabasas, California with an office in Washington, D.C. Since its origin in 1969, Center materials have been used in all fifty states and the District of Columbia, the trust territories, and a long list of foreign countries, including Argentina, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, the Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Poland, Romania, and Russia. http://www.choicesofdemocracy.org/blog/391/ Each of us is democracyDemocracy comes to life when we do its workDemocracy wanes when we set its burdens asideWhen people do the work of democracy, the future can be better than the past. Take it. There’s no charge, it’s yours. It has been since you drew your first breath. It’s your birthright; a universal hope you share with all people. But democracy is just an idea. It only comes to life when we do it. So take it. If you want democracy to be worth taking, you must be willing to pay a price. It means doing the hard, often frustrating, deeply rewarding work of citizenship. It means working with people we don’t know, who get us out of our comfort zone, with whom we disagree. You see, we all are democracy, with our diversity of viewpoints, cultures and backgrounds. Democracy is the work of the people, of you and me. If we stop doing the work, the value of the idea vanishes, politics becomes narrow and nasty, and the door of tyranny opens. What is democracy? It changes forever the moment we touch it. Ask it to serve and it begins to fade, take up its burdens and it is refreshed. Democracy is like jazz, always new, always changing, the negotiation of a million different interests. The Center for Democracy and Citizenship has a vision of the public work and politics needed to create a common world. We have deep faith in the capacities of all people to do the work. http://www.choicesofdemocracy.org/blog/390/