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Support Us URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n090/a10.html

Newshawk: DrugSense Mission Statement http://mapinc.org/url/jzi9cJZ9

Votes: 3

Webpage: http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm

Pubdate: Fri, 5 Feb 2010

Source: DrugSense Weekly (DSW)

Section: Feature Article

Website: http://www.drugsense.org

Author: Mary Jane Borden

Note: Mary Jane Borden is writer, artist, drug policy reform activist, and regular voter from Westerville, Ohio. She serves as Business Manager/Fundraising Specialist for DrugSense and as the Editor of Drug War Facts http://www.drugwarfacts.org OPEN LETTER TO CHANGE.ORG



Dear Change.org,



I recently received an e-mail from you announcing the launch of "Ideas for Change in America 2010," a campaign that seeks to "empower citizens to identify and build momentum behind the country's best ideas for addressing the major challenges we face." This noble and worthy effort uses direct democracy to encourage the online audience to submit and vote for ideas.



Here is a snapshot of the campaign from http://www.change.org/ideas as of 4:30 pm on 2/4/2010:



. Second Most Popular Idea Overall: Legalize Recreational Use of Marijuana ( 920 votes )



. Most Popular Category: Criminal Justice



. Top 10 Ideas within the Criminal Justice category: Legalize Recreational Use of Marijuana; Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana; Rehabilitation, not incarceration; Legalize and tax marijuana; Remove Marijuana From Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act; Legalize Marijuana; Reduce criminal recidivism; End the war on drugs; End Marijuana Prohibition; and Make Marijuana Legal.



"Marijuana" owned 7 of the top 10 Ideas in the above category with combined vote tallies over 2,500 and counting. Of the 44 Ideas submitted in Criminal Justice that had more than 20 votes, 31 ( 70% ) pertained in some way to marijuana. These 31 also accounted for 80% of the total votes in that category. Add Ideas to generally change drug policy, and these percentages topped 90%.



No other single idea captures more overall votes or consumes more of a single category than "Marijuana."



Is the "online audience" trying to tell you something?



Consider the following:



On Wednesday, January 27, 2010, CitizenTube streamed the State of the Union address live on its YouTube site and allowed viewers to submit and vote on questions to ask President Obama. "Marijuana Legalization" outdistanced all other questions by a margin of more than 2 to 1. President Obama never had the opportunity to answer this most popular question - YouTube never asked it. http://www.youtube.com/CitizenTube#p/c/EB843ABAF59735FD



In December 2009, JP Morgan Chase & Co. organized a competition to award grants to 100 charitable organizations that received the most votes on Chase's Facebook fan page. Two drug-policy focused groups - Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the Marijuana Policy Project - were among the top vote getters, but Chase disqualified them from the final tally without explanation. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n1131/a07.html



Shortly after the 2008 presidential election, the Obama Administration established "Open for Questions" on http://www.change.gov, which morphed into http://www.whitehouse.gov/openforquestions. Three rounds of voting by over 200,000 people, who submitted over 150,000 questions and cast over 7 million votes, found "Legalizing Marijuana" in first place within each of the top five categories. At his March 26, 2009 press conference, President Obama addressed this phenomenal response by quipping, "I don't know what this says about the online audience," before dismissing the idea.



Do you see a pattern?



As a Change.org member, I'm dismayed that "Marijuana" ( medical, recreational, or hemp ) garners only a fraction of the coverage that a topic with its level of popularity should otherwise expect. Even though "Marijuana" has received 80% of the votes in your Criminal Justice category, few stories concerning it have appeared on Criminal Justice news or as Featured Ideas. "Legalize Marijuana" is your third most popular petition with 16,000 signers. Isn't that home page material?



Change.org appears to endorse a free and fair voting process as reflected in the "Governmental Reform and Transparency" category. It rightly decries bias against people of color, gays, and the homeless. It embraces human rights. Yet, these noble ideals become diminished by brushing aside the most popular issue.



I'm pleased that corporations, non-profits, and governments are leveraging the power of the Internet's online audience to engage in direct democracy. In a democratic society, the will of the people should be the driving force. Generally that will is made real by the most votes.



However, when the results are not fairly reported and implemented, campaigns like Ideas for Change and those of YouTube, Chase Bank, and the Obama Administration do little to foster public participation in the democratic process and much to further the public's cynicism of it.



Speaking on behalf of the "online audience," I wish for my voice to be heard - for it to sing as loudly as my worthy counterparts. I'm tired of being ignored, as if I'll just disappear when I'm not noticed.



Here's an Idea! Please accurately report and implement the results for the 2010 Ideas for Change in America. Promote all Ideas equally. Treat submitted Ideas with the respect they deserve, even the one that wins the competition, hands down.



Please note that this Idea is #154 in the Government Reform and Transparency Category. http://drugsense.org/url/NgppFWQ4



Sincerely,



Mary Jane



Top Ideas for Change in America: http://www.change.org/ideas?order=top



Change.org's Criminal Justice category: http://www.change.org/ideas/browse/criminal_justice



Submit your Idea for Change in America: http://www.change.org/ideas/post_idea



FAQ about Ideas for Change in America: http://www.change.org/ideas/faq

MAP posted-by: Richard Lake



