Pirate Party Travis

I just came across Travis McCRea's web site. He is one of the top official Pirate Party members in North America. I like their platform and this is the first time I have seen anything other than the flag. One huge omission is a call for proportional representation. I have written many times the reason Euros have such great government is because the government by the people for the people instead of by the special interests for the special interests. The only way to do this is to make sure the votes count. You can have run offs, graduated voting or what I think is the proven solution proportional representation. I think its best because on the party slate you can get good people in your caucus that might not want to face the voters directly. Look at all the incompetents that are the Minister of a portfolio in Canada, its shocking, stupid and handcuffs Canada's ability to compete with better run countries.

Platforms

Every nation is different in it’s culture and what works best for one country may not work for another country, and yet we should always learn and grow by taking the best part of all cultures and incorporating them into our own.

Two general platforms I have to make any government better are

• Advocate for all government agencies to use free, open source software to reduce government expenditures on purchases and overall maintenance of the computer networks
• Increase spending on rural communications projects bringing higher speeds of internet at an affordable rate to people in rural communities. The UN Charter of rights, in my opinion, declares high speed internet accessibility a human right. Every person on Earth should have affordable access to a high speed internet connection.

In the United States my main goals are to

• Eliminate the “Military Based Economy” which I refer to as the “Sticks and Stones” economy, and replace it with a science based economy which puts significant amounts of tax dollars into scientific research, development, and and engineering.
• Reform prisons and the legal system which allows more Americans per capita to be arrested than any developed nation in the world. This would include taking tips from nations which have far less crime and far lower reoffender rates such as Sweden and Norway.
• Work with other minor parties to enact meaningful election reform and ballot access, so that Americans can vote for a party that represents their desires vs electing two parties who have largely become the same.
• Improve social good by investing in programs which benefit all society. This includes transportation and healthcare.

and my Canadian specific platforms are to

• End any attempt to put U.S. “security” forces within Canadian borders and encourage Canadian Customs and Border Services Agency to be more open about their search / seizure practices.
• Join the IWC as an anti-whaling nation and let the rest of the world know that we will not tollerate facades of “research” mask commercial whaling.
• Implement an inexpensive internet forum and polling website where all ofVancouver Centre’s constituents can continue to make their voices heardin Ottawa after the federal election

I also promise to uphold the Pirate Parties platforms too:

• Copyright: Reinforce and protect fair dealing, decriminalize non-commercial file sharing, allow content creators to dedicate material to the public domain, and reform crown copyright to ensure open access to Canadians
• Patent: Reduce terms to 5 years, require a higher standard of originality, and reallocate funds saved in health care due to patent reform to public pharmaceutical research
• Privacy: Enforce the same privacy laws on electronic communication as the traditional postal service, strengthen the powers of Privacy Commissioner, and fight bills and regulation that violate Canadians’ right to personal privacy
• Net Neutrality: Reform the CRTC to prevent abuses, fund undersea cables to Europe and Asia rather than relying on American bandwidth, and ensure unfettered access to telecom infrastructure for independent service providers
• Open Government: Create a combined approach of proactive release of information to the public while easing access by request, expedite freedom of information requests and reduce costs by sharing information digitally, lower or eliminate the cost of filing of FOI requests, strengthen the PSIC, and establish an anonymous online dropbox system
• Whistleblowers & Free Press: Introduce legislation to protect journalists and whistleblowers
• Charter Rights: Stand up against violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, especially freedom of expression and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure

There will be no surprises though. If a topic doesn’t fall under those topics, then the decision will go to the will of the people in the riding. There is no point, in our age of technology, to vote for one party that thinks they have the answers to everything, people in different areas think differently and before there was no one party that could make the largest amount of people happy while also keeping true to its core values. I feel that in the future this is how all parties will be: A couple core platforms and then calling upon the voter to decide the rest.