Here’s a document I wrote, looking for ways to help Jill get elected. I found 3 useful online tools, and propose creating a tool of our own, for use on websites and Facebook. I wrote it with multiple audiences in mind, so just skip over the parts with which you’re already familiar. I don’t mean to preach to the choir. I also posted this to the FB page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/Jill2016SocialMedia/
The "proposal" mentioned in the title is to create an online survey, perhaps with http://www.questionpro.com/create-facebook-surveys.html for Facebook use, and https://www.google.com/forms/ on other Jill websites. These will be my first attempts at creating online surveys, and I may be asking for help from Coders for Jill.
National presidential debates, now publicly funded, are run by the Commission on Presidential Debates (http://debates.org/). They used to be run by the League of Women Voters, who were very inclusive of candidates from “minor” parties. The Republican-Democrat duopoly was unhappy with this arrangement, and invented the Commission to eliminate the competition from consideration, while attempting to present an appearance of impartiality.
The League of Women Voters saw through this farce, and withdrew their support for the Commission.
There are two primary, synergistic methods used by the Commission to maintain duopoly control. One is a requirement that participating candidates reach a “preference poll” rating of 15%, from an average of 5 different polls. The other method is the nature of the polls themselves.
All 5 polls ask the same question in their surveys: “If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?”
There are two things wrong with these polls: first, in presenting a “now-or-never” scenario, with nearly all “news” coverage focused on the “two major-party candidates” and virtually no information about the other SIX, one’s “choice” is stripped down to which of the “major-party candidates” to pick, precisely the intent of the question.
In this election, voters are thus forced to choose between two candidates, when there are eight registered, eligible candidates, among them two with significant percents of preference even under the current intentionally-skewed polls. In a race like this one, where those two candidates have the highest disapproval ratings in history, voters are choosing which to vote AGAINST, out of fear that the other one will win.
I suggest, as have many others, that these candidates were actually chosen for their unlikeability, to ensure this outcome. Both of these candidates are, in different ways, controlled by the same moneyed powers that own the six global media conglomerates and the military-industrial complex which owns them. Whoever wins, it will be a choice under which they will prosper, and under which the rest of us will suffer. The blame for the suffering will always fall on the puppets, never on their masters behind the curtain.
We need more than a new poll, we need a survey, which would ask several questions. It won’t be done for us, so we need to do it ourselves. (After all, it’s in our hands.) I suggest the following (non-survey text is in italics):
Question 1: "After evaluating all the presidential candidates, which one most closely matches your views and aspirations (disregarding any guess about their chances of being elected)?" Please take the quiz at isidewith.com to easily find your own best match, being sure to rank each answer. Best results are had by clicking the “more stances” button to see all available answers.
(A permanent substitute for having voters take this survey is to pass a law instituting ranked-choice, or “instant-runoff,” voting. In the meantime, this survey will fulfill part of this function.)
For example, based on the questionnaire at isidewith.com, my ranked-choice voting would be: #1, Jill Stein at 98%; #2, Hillary Clinton at 62%; #3, Gary Johnson at 58%; #4, Darrell Castle (Constitution Party) at 41%, and #5, Donald Trump at 16%. For accuracy, it’s necessary to access all the site’s options and give each answer a rank, from least to most importance, and to select “other stances” or even write in your own answer when the prefab ones don’t exactly match your “stance.” When I took the quiz a second time, without ranking the answers or choosing “other stances,” I got an erroneous “second-choice” match to Hillary at 95%. (No way, Jose.) I believe Jill took this quiz and got a similar “false match” percentage for Hillary (my recollection from an interview video). She should try again, using all the options. I’ll wager she’ll get a similar result to mine.
Question 2: ”Will you vote for your best-match candidate, or vote against the major-party candidate you fear or dislike the most, by voting for the other major-party candidate?” (Check one of two boxes.)
Question 3: “If you could know, before the election is held, that your preferred candidate has an excellent chance of winning (and would not make the election of your most-feared candidate more likely), would that knowledge empower you to vote for your preference, rather than against one of the major-party candidates?”
Question 4: “If your preferred candidate is Jill Stein, will you take a pledge to vote for her if there are enough other pledges before the election to assure her victory?” (Insert link to the Pledge website, http://jdrachel.com/2016/07/21/the-ill-vote-for-jill-if-you-will-pledge-campaign/)
Question 5: “If the Pledge does not remove your fear of “wasting your vote” and making the victory of your most-feared candidate more likely, will you consider another method to ensure that this will not happen?” (Yes or no answer.)
If your answer to Question 5 is Yes, here is a website which will alleviate your fear: http://www.burnmyvote.org/ Please go there and see how it works.
Question 6: Having completed the first 5 questions and visiting the appropriate websites, if you did not check the first box (vote for your best-match candidate), would you now change your choice?
Question 7: “If you answered Yes to Question 6, given the domestic and international crises we face together, would you share the information in this poll with your friends, family and neighbors, personally campaign for Jill Stein, and defend the Green agenda against those of her opponents?" (Answers could be 3 checkboxes.)
(End of survey)
Since there is no such survey currently in existence, I propose that we create it, post it and promote it. In my view, we need a government that will represent the interests of the 99%, not the kleptocrats--one that has workable plans to deal with those domestic and international crises as the life-threatening emergencies that they are.
We now have a government that's a mixture of Red and Blue, a purple duopoly; not a royal shade of purple, more like the color of a bruise.
I'm seeing Green, in a bright future. The alternative is an ugly purple that fades to black.
I proceeded to search for free survey sites (“create your own survey”), and got these results:
1) https://www.surveymonkey.com/
2) https://freeonlinesurveys.com Major clients, “over 1 million satisfied users”
3) https://www.google.com/forms/about/ Looks comprehensive, but…it’s Google.
4) Create online surveys and questionnaires | OwnSurvey.com
5) Create Facebook Surveys For Free With QuestionPro!
There are dozens more, but these were at the upper end of a DuckDuckGo search.
I will proceed to create a test survey, starting with numbers 3 and 5. Meanwhile, input from others, more experienced at such things than I, is greatly welcomed. Wouldn’t it be great to use such a tool on the various Green and Jill Stein websites and Facebook pages?