[pp.int.general] Our ideology

[Mikko Särelä]

On Wed, 29 Jul 2009, Philip Hunt wrote:
> Do we have an ideology regarding other issues? We don't at present. I
> don't think that PPI should have an ideology on these issues, because
> we'd never all agree on one, and we'd instead waste a lot of time
> arguing about it.

I would like to propose a small widening of the scope of the Pirate 
Parties right here and right now. I propose that, in time, we take 
openness and transparency of government and governance as part of our 
explicit core ideology. I believe that it already is part of our common 
thinking.

When I say openness, I don't mean just the empty talk that is part of the 
parcel of most western parties. What I mean, is using the Internet to 
build agoras suitable for mass democracy of our times. Build tools in the 
Internet, where citizens can easily participate in regulatory process 
from the beginning; from the moment an official starts working on it all 
the way. A system, in which the actions of lobbyists are on the open and 
as level playing field with concerned citizens as possible. 

The exact implementations of such principle are still mostly an open 
question and even we cannot expect to get such (relatively complex) 
software development right the first time. So we can derive another: use 
open software in the government to 1. make experimentation with new ideas 
easier 2. to not lock government in with a monopoly producer (and many 
other reasons).

-- 
Mikko Särelä
"It is through exchange that difference becomes a blessing, not a
curse", Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain