SLelections vs. true Democracy

SLelection fever seems to have the blog sphere and by extension SL in its grasp. Blogs are buzzing with swollen rhetoric and candidates are crawling from under every rock. Idle promises are made and it even looks like the first smear campaigns are on their way. Contrary to popular belief and even after some heartfelt pleas I for one will NOT be running for office. Not only am I far too lazy, I will not do so because I think the whole idea is flawed. I hear candidates ranting and raving about democracy while they actually want you, the voter, to install a dictatorship. What else can you call a system where one person, being the governor, holds all the power? In addition, the way this story unfolds, this proposed SLelection is not about ideas; it's about personalities, inflated egos and exaggerated media attention, not unlike a lot of RL elections in fact. Why would we accept the same flawed system in SL that is forced upon us in RL? At least this time around we have a choice.

I considered campaigning against SLelections if they were to be held or even start a guerilla group to overthrow the governor once elected, but since that would be a rather negative attitude I will propose a positive alternative.
Thinking about it and brushing up on my political history I concluded that in all western countries politics are governed by a conflict model, majority against minority. I fail to see how this can be considered truly democratic. The only true democratic model is a consensus model. Keeping this in mind I would like to see a "Counsel of the Wise" put in place. Now this is true democracy! This counsel could debate the issues at hand and organise referendums to hear the people's voice on the matter. If by any chance an actual decision would come out of this at least it will be well thought through and supported by most.

Of course the question of how to put together the counsel is a tricky matter. Since we all respect our elders my proposition would be to invite the 100 oldest active avatars to take a seat in this esteemed new institute. Since we can't really force them to take up their mandate they would have to be at liberty to appoint someone they feel worthy of taking their place. I'm sure the collective wisdom and experience of these 100 will bring a wind of change and prosperity to our beloved SL and could be a major force in forging the future of SL and its community. Let SL show RL the way to a better world.

I'm sure that you, my dear reader, will be convinced by now this really is the only way to go, so now we can put aside all the hype, end the propaganda, bury the personal crusades, stop the soapbox politics, turn off the printing presses and start looking for the 100 Chosen Ones.

Someone will have to lead and moderate this esteemed counsel. I'll humbly volunteer to preside it.*



* I'm convinced this is a conditio sine qua non. ;-)