I'd like to thank those that coordinated the voting and participated in this
civic exercise. Congratulations to
Mr.Erikson and Ms.Kelly on their new posts. And tank you both for volunteering
your time.
In the coming year I'd like to ask the membership and our representatives to
consider the following issues.
1. Fewer rules regarding open exchanges between members of this forum.
(Thinking outside of the box here are a couple of ideas)
a) ANY topic time (A specific period in which any topic can be discussed)
perhaps this would be two evenings a month.
b) Less censorship. The people will speak; you and I will learn something new.
2. An attempt by leadership to notify and re-engage those that have been
suspended or sanctioned (having served their sentences of exile).
a) Bob Johnson
b) Tom Swift
3. An active effort to promote DIVERSE points of view. Move from a DFL
dominated forum to one that is fully engaging many political ideologies.
4. More transparency when it comes to decision making effecting membership.
(Remember when Bob Johnson was suspended, he wanted the leadership to post how
they arrived at the sanctions, they refused to make this process public even at
his behest)
(This would help eliminate some of the feeling that decisions are made somewhat
arbitrarily)
5. Let's engage much more on the issues of race and equality, equity and
institutional racism.
Lastly, I ask each and everyone of you to consider putting forward your own
ideas for making this forum more engaging, more transparent and more
democratic than it has been.
After all, these should be some of the basic goals of any public civic exchange
or debate. Yes even debate.
Warmest regards,
Martin Owings