Re: A question about protocol

[David Collier-Brown <davecb@Canada.Sun.COM>]

Jeff Williams wrote:
>   First of all if anyone want's to weigh in with there opinion they
> can, right here!  Second I believe that this list has a representitive
> sample.  Third, this is part of our hard fought for democratic process.
> 
> Comment:  Do you vote in the national and state elections where you
> live?

  This list is a self-selected group of affected persons, mostly
from the operational or commercial worlds.  
  In no sense is such a group a representative sample.

  What it is is an **exemplar** of the positions which might
reasonably be taken by persons affected by the changes.  As such,
it's opinion is worth quite a lot, but only if all communities are
contributing and listened to.

  This is one of the reasons why broad consensus is important: a mere
plurality of such a group confers no moral authority (and instead
might well be regareded as an immoral clique...)
  And since the IAHC's only true authority lies in moral suasion, this
is significant.

  By the way: where I live we have both town meetings and elections.
The town meetings technically work by council votes, but actually
are run on exactly the same basis as this committee, so that the
council won't lose votes the next time they stand for election.

--dave (who lives in the democracy next door) c-b