Reply #1471: Well, perhaps the purpose for this community needs to be redefined now.

[Dover]

Perhaps the DU community can take a leading rather than reactive role in shaping a new landscape,
becoming pro-creative. The areas of DU that get bogged down in the muck are the reactive 'rooms'.
The forums that are focused on sharing information ( everything from cooking to diy to photography) are the strengths of this community now, imo. We all WANT to contribute, educate, share experiences and explore new possibilities.

So rather than a community that reacts to the media/news and focuses often too narrowly on an old political model that is certainly in a state of deterioration toward a more natural diversity that blurs the old lines, what about a community that explores new paradigms and both the necessary deconstruction and construction for getting there. I can imagine a forum that explores energy, issues, one that explores new ways to grow and distribute food, one that explores new types of transportation, new ways to govern, civic planning, etc. ETC. In fact they already exist in some form, but they don't have a unified purpose or direction.
So perhaps these forums would become working groups with a constuctive and meaningful purpose that would include government issues but not exclusively. A more holistic approach.

I know the temptation is to impose greater authority to hold everything together, but maybe your radical actions can be otherwise applied. Besides, the iron fist has never worked for long because you can't hold back the necessity and inevitability of change. But if you can anticipate the direction of change.... That authoritarian solution is so old school and predictable and always requires a scapegoat and greater polarization. Another way to view things is that perhaps chaos and signs of deterioration offer a font of creative energy that simply needs new direction and paradigm shifts. Unused talents can be mined. At least that sounds like much more fun, more challenging and a constructive use of the 'community' which is DU. Come on Skinner (and admins). Me thinks your own talents for creating community and a place for substantive contributions have not nearly been mined as of yet. Don't rely on an existing set of parameters delivered by politics or the media. Where do YOU want to take this community?