[Foundation-l] Wikimedia Board Elections

[Jussi-Ville Heiskanen]

On 9/16/06, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
> Jimmy Wales wrote:
> >
> > There are other candidates, some good, but at least some of them are
> > entirely unacceptable because they have proven themselves repeatedly
> > unable to work well with the community.
> >
>
> Where you state that some are "entirely unacceptable", you forget that
> democracy is about the electorate choosing it's champions. It is said
> that an electorate gets the representation that it deserves. It is for
> the people that are elected and who are not elected to work together.
> When this is entirely unacceptable, the notion of people being elected
> and being able and allowed to make a difference in that role will not be
> fulfilled. It will be a mockery of democracy.
>

When you say that "It is for the people that are elected and who are
not elected to work together.", it perfectly underlines the point
Jimbo is making above. Some people *can* work together, others cannot;
and the electorate would *indeed* be wise, as Jimbo suggests above, if
they *do* elect people who *can* work together nicely with other
people. It is true that the voters have sovereign right to how they
choose to use their votes, but if they are *wise* they will vote in a
way that will ensure that their choises *do* lead to what both you and
Jimbo feel the representatives *must* do, to repeat again, to work
together with others. It is not irrelevant to evaluate how different
candidates would be able to do this, it is essential.


-- 
--
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, AKA. Cimon Avaro

Candidate for Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation in the
September 2006 elections.