Welcome to Gaia! ::

Since originally coming back the other day returning has been a more and more pressing subject on my mind. I can't stress enough how much I believe in the concept of this guild, and how much I admire you all for helping shape this great idea of ours.

Simply put, I've got the fever back in me, and as such I'll attmpt whenever possible to post over the upcoming months. Good to be back smile .

There's the news, and now the idea:
I've taken quite a shine to political affairs in college (more so than i already had in any case). Combined with my idealism and the belief that we as humans have the power to shape our own destiny for the better I stumbled across a radical and interesting idea while watching the Daily Show and laughing to myself over how quickly politicians are trying to get their names out for the presidential race.

Now, this is an odd and probably crazy and unworkable idea, and if it is please tell me so:

What if, at the age of 20, I were to announce my candidacy for President of the United States in the 2022 election? The sheer novelty of it all but garuntees an enourmous amount of publicity...

Now, people would inevitably ask, what merits can I possibly bring to office? Or how could someone only 20 years old possibly know all that is required to be President? Would he be educated enough? This is where the bulk of my idea comes in... I admit that, at the moment, I'm not qualified. What I do is actually use the learning process as a publicity tool itself. The idea I had here was a video diary. In much the same way that Lonelygirl15 became known to the world, I could keep a video diary (which is conveniently wonderful for public access on websites like Youtube...) where I actually go out, read books, interview people and explore controversial issues. Keep a totally up-front campaign, "This is what I'm doing right now and this is how I feel about it."

This serves two major purposes. Firstly, to get my name out early. I would be running as a third party candidate, and the two party system we have established is ridiculously hard to break through. Continued and repeated exposure of a good message might be able to gain sway. Secondly, by having it on the web and available to many people, such video diaries exploring political issues will help to educate people on the politics of the day. If nothing else helping to raise political awareness which can really do nothing but help our cause in the long run.

Now, this idea has many pros and cons to it, something I want to refine long before I begin to take this any more seriously than I am now.

Cons:

Can public interest be maintained for that long? Probably not. For the first few years or so I imagine it would be an interesting whirlwind, but with 15 years until go time many people simply aren't going to hang on for that long.

People can and would interpret it as a cheap ploy to get publicity. Which, in all honesty, it somewhat is. I am in essence starting my campaign 15 years before the election. Only Nadar's had that kind of exposure, and only because he runs every time.

Pros:

The kind of marketting campaign like the one I proposed would inexorably reach a very young (as far as voters are concerned) audience. What this means is that I would be targetting and educating future voters at the almost perfect time to do so, near or right about when they'll start voting.

Even if I lose, as stated by raising political awareness in the US we help to accomplish one of our long-term goals anyway.

?s:

I'm sure there's a lot I've missed, and one that I've yet to mention is such an act's effect on this guild. If I were to attempt something like this, I would want it to be as closely related to Novos as possible, and currently we're not capable of that. There are a ot of new faces since I've been here last, and (forgive my absence) I haven't seen it in any of the stand-by threads so I'll ask, do any of you know about web-design? A party domain still remains a priority, and with the amount of publicity an act like this would generate we'll need much more than a little guild on an international anime forum. This also brings us back to the issue of, where are we on issues? I see a lot of discussion taking place on several controversial ones, which is fantastic. Thankfully, the vide diary bit alleviates some of this pressure, as I would essentially be walking through people on how I develop my plotical stances with such blogs.

Now, I really need/want advice about this. I'll be asking a few of my professors later on (much later on maybe...) for advice and their opinions as well, but what do y'all think? Have I missed anything staggeringly important?

Good to be back. I may not be here much, but what I have I will do my best to make count.

Aeri-chan! -GLOMP-

Good to give y'all something to hear again! Changing the world is something I'll never give up on; that I promise. There's too much room for good in the world not to try and put some there. And thank you.

Well, as for how campaigning is done, there are two ways I currently know of: private-funded and public-funded. However, campaigning itself is such a far way off since the election in question isn't for another 15 years. The goal of the meantime is publicity.

Also, the goal of the video-diary could be better explained by presenting the following summary of each and every one:

1 - A big concern today is the issue of _____X_____
2 - Right now, I don't know that much about issue _____X_____
3 - Let's do some research
4 - Let's hear what people are saying (maybe even, let's talk to important people about this)
5 - At the end of all that, with all I know now, here's where I stand on issue ____X____.

I imagine most will span multiple entries per issue since these things are rarely black and white.

Videos in this fashion accomplish 3 goals:
1. They would help me understand issues of the day. The more I know, the more honest I can be.
2. They let people know where I am on issues. Very important since I would be running on a third party platform.
3. They educate people about the issues in question. Instead of me simply saying "This is what I believe.", I show people the process that led to that belief.

I'm not so much looking for interviews here as a sort of a "walkthrough of my candidacy". If the process is a success, interviews would happen naturally.

Well, the interesting thing about starting this 15 years previous is that I don't have to start it 15 years previous. If 15 is indeed too large of a number, then we can simply say, "Put this on the backburner and let's get some more planning done." For the basis of the idea to remain the same though it would probably have to occur within a maximum of 5 years or so.

That's the plan.

As the others have said in varying ways, welcome back.

I admit that the idea you posted sounds intriguing, but I have a few concerns. First and foremost: has there been a president in recent years that has not held a former political office? Would many people vote for someone who hasn't had a chance to demonstrate themselves? I think that you should consider a stepping stone at some level. Perhaps you could still post your intent to run for president in '22, and use that campaign trail to get a victory at another level, but choosing to campaign for any office other than president several years early wouldn't get the media attention we need.

Taking a step down from my previous web site ideas, I now have a site for us at http://www.freewebs.com/novosweb/.

This site is easy to configure, without the hasle of worrying about page layout. It is on a free web hosting service, so there are adds, which is practically unavoidable given the present lack of funds. I'm planning on expanding it with additional pages as there is the need.

If you want to help, just PM me. Suggestions are appreciated.

It seems to me that people follow a story more closely if the information was released as it happened, rather than a controlled release of that information.

Well, that's not to say I wouldn't be trying (although with graduate school it won't quite work out to be 13 years...), but it's no obstacle should it not fall through.

For the record, I agree full-heartedly that the information needs to be released as it occours. Open Honesty is a damn good policy.

I'm glad someone else realizes the place is still going...but just barely...

Yeah, I know what you mean. I thought the place would pick up when summer started, but nope.