Let's see if I can do this in less than 60,000 characters, lol...

After looking at and reading the two threads concerning party platforms, and the reactions and comments to them, I thought that perhaps what we might do is develop a Chelsean Party Platform. Although we are a diverse group with various opinions and interpretations of what our government should be and how it should act, I think we have a collective intelligence capable of finding common ground on many, many things...

Now, there has to be a method to this madness. Therefore, what I would like to do is propose certain ideas that I feel we can all agree on, and see if we can all say "Yea". I do not want to get into the "hows" and "whys" at first, we can fight about them later. If we can get a unanimous "yea" to a certain idea, then it becomes part of the platform and then we vote on another idea. After we have agreed upon a complete platform, then we can debate the "hows" and "whys" of each idea.

The key to all of this is participation, and not just by those of us that post here in the political forum. Everyone, as many of the 60 some odd members that we have, needs to participate. That means we need to drag pat4, PING, Labour, tattoolover, barnrob, lisavern, ruff, et. al., back here just to give us their yea or nay. And I don't expect to be the only one to propose planks to the platform. But in order to make this thing work, we need to start with one and give everyone enough time to vote on it. I'm thinking one a week. So, if you come up with an idea for one of the planks of the platform, PM me. I promise that not one idea will be discarded. All will be voted on.

Now, this is going to be a lengthy process. I don't want anyone to get discouraged. As crazy as this might seem, I have confidence that we can do this. I'm going to post a reply with my first proposed plank of the Chelsean Party platform, and a simple "yea" of "nay" from each one of you is all that is required. Next Sunday morning, we'll see how the votes stand, and move on to the next plank.

Anybody game?

The federal government shall operate on a balanced budget, and any surpluses shall be returned to the people. Deficits shall not be incurred except in times of war or in case of national emergency.

I'll be your first yea!

Balance is a relative term...and without specifics... I have to say nay.

P.S....Rocx.. I have more posts than you, not to mention I have not even used any of my Chelsea bucks....Why do you have more Chelsea bucks than me?

In theory I say yea but like Hydro stated specifics are required.

Okay, maybe I should have been a bit more specific, but I'm really trying to keep things simple at first. We can go into details later.

What I'm suggesting is basically an end to deficit spending and further growth of our national debt. The government spends no more than it takes in through whatever revenue sources are available. And perhaps what should be done is that all surpluses should go towards paying down the national debt until the nation breaks even.

Again, we can hammer out the details later.

And Hydro, I really don't know why I've got more Chelsea bucks than you. Could be that I'm a better capitalist than you, lol. More likely, however, is that Pixel has her hands in your cookie jar...

I stand firm on nay.

And Pixel had her hands in a lot more than my cookie jar...

Well, this idea got derailed quicker than I thought it would, lol...

While there is no way you could possibly convince me that continuing to spend more money than is brought in is good policy, Hydro, I'll be fascinated with your defense of it.

Mind you, I'm on the road for the next couple of days, so I won't be able to provide any kind of lengthy rebuttal. At least immediately...

And I think we now have enough information as to where Pixel's hands have been.

I will vote yea. It is a beautiful idea. BUT, beauty can be deceiving.