Think Before You Write

It's your ConCon. What do you want to do with it? Learn - Discuss - Decide

Posted by Peter Kay on May 17, 2008 at 10:04am

Previous Post | Next Post View Blog Posts

I’m glad to see that lots of folks are sharing their ideas. If I had a choice between having a lot of discussion that I didn’t particularly agree with vs. having very little discussion that I completely agree with, I’d take the former.

When I read some of the comments that some people leave, I wonder if their authors carefully considered their position before they wrote it. Some of the "proposals" are incredibly controversial and wouldn't have a snowballs chance on Kilauea to even be considered. I think that perhaps when people put out statements like these they may be thinking this is an Empire and they are the Emperor. The reality is that this is a Democracy. This means that you need to gain popular support for your issues amongst the voters.

Think about that before you put out your statement. Think like a ConCon delegate running for office and putting forth your ideas. Think about how many people would support your idea, and then most importantly, think about how many people will be against your idea. If you’re coming up with an idea that only a small group will support, but many more will vehemently oppose, all you’ve done is stirred up a hornet’s nest and you risk losing support for even the more popular positions you might put forth.

I think controversial proposals that will minimally impact Hawaii have the potential to overwhelm the ConCon. Let’s not let that happen. Let’s identify a few key areas nearly that everyone agrees need constitutional fixing instead of getting distracted with inflammatory issues.

Tags: advice, debate, issues, think

Comment by digitaleye on May 17, 2008 at 10:34am: Where does the list of noncontroversial "proposals" so I can vote on them?

and now for something completely different, and oh so positive...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo

Comment by digitaleye on May 17, 2008 at 10:35am: and now for something completely different, and oh so positive hyperlinked ;( ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo

Comment by digitaleye on May 17, 2008 at 10:57am: Is there a way for "members" to contribute to assist in procuring PSA slots on Oceanic Time Warner's (OTW) monopoly cable channels to promote this site &/or citizen involvement in a Constitutional Convention?. OTW charges approx 80 bucks for a 30 second PSA, depending on the time of dday, and they give nonprofits 2 slots for the price of 1.

I assume by now you have placed your Introduction to ConCon video on all PEG channels statewide, so when you have the schedule, perhaps you can post in a prominent place online, &/or create a PSA with the schedule to put on OTW's non PEG channels?

Comment by Rick M. on May 17, 2008 at 11:41am: Peter - not talking about "Controversial" topics is disingenuous. Of course these topics are going to be proposed at the Constitutional Convention. And it is important to get them out here and under discussion.

Comment by Peter Kay on May 17, 2008 at 12:56pm: Rick M, I never said its disingenuous. I'm just saying that we should identify areas that most people agree on that need to be addressed. Help me here. When I'm going to be on the radio with Rick and he asks me, "so what's the hottest topic on the Web site?", I'd like to report that people are debating substantive issues that matter to a great majority of citizens.

So far many of the topics that some have posted have provided great fuel to fire the anti-ConCon forces and unfortunately those folks are not coming online to debate it, they will just use their considerable influence to promote a NO vote.

And I don't think you want that.

Comment by Peter Kay on May 17, 2008 at 12:57pm: @digitaleye: good question! Would you please contact Jay Fidell with that point about PSA/PEG?

Comment by Rick M. on May 17, 2008 at 5:16pm: Again - What are your SPECIFIC noncontroversial proposals that you want us to talk about?

Comment by Della Au Belatti on May 17, 2008 at 10:52pm: Thank you Peter for trying to gently nudge us into discussion areas that have not been touched upon yet. Although these areas are still fraught with controversy, I think we could benefit from some thoughtful discussions about the STRUCTURE of our state government.

A ConCon, I think, will be/should be an opportunity to look at the basic structure of government. While here in Hawaii the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is a unique part of our state government, there are certainly other areas that could use examination. For example, what about the relationship between the State and county governments? I think it would be great to have people, especially other elected city officials, comment on the challenges and issues in this area.

Or how about the way the Legislature conducts itself? So far, there has been some discussion on the ways in which elected State legislators may be term limited or recalled. But what about the way the Legislature could operate more efficiently, with more transparency, and with more attention to ethical behavior?

I'm sure there are many more areas that should/can be the subject of more open dialogue - especially as this is the time when the case needs to be made to a MAJORITY of this state as to how we would benefit from a ConCon as a thorough and comprehensive look at our Constitution, and not simply an opportunity for special interests with a particular axe to grind to dominate the conversation.

Comment by Peter Kay on May 18, 2008 at 11:05pm: Rick M.

I don't want to steer this conversation to any particular topic. I'm not the master here.

What I do want to do is lead the group to:

1. Start a thoughtful discussion on the biggest problems we see with out government today.

and once we have pretty strong consensus on this, move to:

2. Identify the key underlying causes for those problems.

and after we feel pretty good about those,

3. Determine if constitutional changes can address significant parts of the causes.

So right now, I honestly think its too premature to start putting forth proposed Constitutional changes, primarily because it's like doing a Fire, Aim, Ready type of thing, and because (so far) the proposed changes are simple yet far reaching, I think we can set a better example for thoughtful discussion and debate.

I understand your desire to get something going and also sympathize with your frustrations at how things are run today. I propose we get clarity on big problems first, then their causes, and finally it possible, their constitutional solutions.

Comment by Rick M. on May 19, 2008 at 11:19am: OK. So now we have (in another thread) Suggestions for changing the STRUCTURE of government.

But at least one of these suggestions was brought up on the ballot and voted down. How come we need a ConCon for these things if the voters already made their opinion known?

I think government structure is a snoozer. No one cares. Let's tackle the real issues which are the road blocks to a more business-friendly environment.

1. Remove the section enabling the EIS legislation.

2. Remove the section allowing government employees to unionize

3. Insert a section guaranteeing Right to Work

4. Rewrite the water section to give water control to the landowners so that people like taro farmers (oh yeah, they REALLY help the economy) can't sue to keep water out of the hands of developers.

We're looking for solutions to help the economy. Who cares if we have a bicameral or whatever house. Who even knows what the heck that means!!!! No matter what you change the STRUCTURE to, you'll still be electing the same politicians that got us in this mess to begin with.

Focus on issues that will make a difference to our lives!