Tuesday, November 17, 2009
We Have The Power To Decide.
| So the 2009 General Election on U4Prez is over. The winner has been chosen but not without the usual drama and accusations being thrown around. The arguments in the day since the GE was 'officially' decided have now turned away from the candidates and towards the powers that be behind the scenes at U4Prez. Regardless of whom the usual suspects on the site wish to blame for this or accuse of that one thing has been lost in the rush to the soap box. We have the power to decide what U4Prez is, will and can be. When I first came to the site in February of 2007 there were fewer candidates and political issues were the topic of discussion day in and day out. Kempite, Hawk, Jseagraves, Catbus, Hak, Erock, New Deal, Rightway, MDuminiak, Buckeye Kid, etc. were active members and the political debates were what drove the site. No one had to tell us to. We just did it because we all had a passion for it that brought us to the site. The race for President was secondary. The debate and the issues drove the site. Many of the things we see now on U4Prez were born in that era. The Liberty Caucus, the first caucus on U4Prez, was actually a profile made up of members of the GOP, Democrat and Independent parties whom tackled issues and talked them over to come up with legislation that would then be brought out to the scrutiny of the rest of the candidates. Many other issue based caucuses formed soon after and U4Prez seemed to be the place to be. Gurr allowed pretty much unfettered debate on the issues and let the candidates work their brains to help in the development of the site. Again, he never told us to. We just did it. Somewhere along the way, that focus was lost. Some say it began when Faustus took the money and didn't return. Some say it was when revelations about the validity of the voting came about. I don't blame Gurr for pulling the money from the election. The election and the money is what began the site down the path it has been on. All of a sudden winning became the focus and debate became secondary. When winning became the main focus and the 4 votes per IP address became public we began to see many fake profiles popping up and the vote manipulation we see now. The voting became the primary function of the site and the debate secondary. Here is the issue with that: Debate cannot be manipulated. Either you can argue your point or you can't. Another 3 votes wont help you in a abortion debate with Friday or a women's rights debate with KT or a constitutional debate with MDuminiak. You have to rely on your own merits to get by. The votes, as we are all very aware, can easily be manipulated allowing certain candidates to reach a level they would never be able to without the system. Now do we understand why new members don't stick around for long? The site states "start a virtual campaign for President". That is why we all were drawn here in the first place. We set up a profile, laid out our positions and debated them day in and day out. We had press releases and caucuses. We had moderated debates and radio shows. It was never about the votes back then, it was about the entertainment of the campaign and the political debate that came with it. I have heard the arguments the last 2 days that until Gurr cares enough to make changes that the site will die. I believe that to be a cop out stance to take. All Gurr has ever done is give us a forum. WE made of it what we wanted to and he let us. It is all he has always done. Nothing changed from Gurr's end, it changed from OUR end. We have the power to decide what the site becomes. We can continue to manipulate the voting system and piss and moan about why no one will fix it or we can focus on the entertainment aspect of a campaign and the debates that come out of that. WE used to have that. WE let it evolve into what we have now. Yes Eric and Matt have shown that if they want to invest the time that they can, to an extent, control the vote manipulation. I hope to see them continue it during the 2010 primaries. but that is up to them. It is Gurr's money and his empolyee's time. We don't control that. What we do control however is whether or not we choose to manipulate the system. What we do control is the direction of the site from a vote based mess to a debate driven politics site that happens to have an election at the end. WE have the power to direct U4Prez. We are the ones who decide if we choose to debate issues or whine about the system. The system never changed. We did. And we alone hold the power to change back. |
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