Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: notesfiles - hp internal release 1.2; site hp-kirk.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!hp-pcd!nathanm From: nathanm@hp-pcd.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: A Modest Proposal Message-ID: <12800015@hp-pcd.UUCP> Date: Fri, 3-Feb-84 16:00:00 EST Article-I.D.: hp-pcd.12800015 Posted: Fri Feb 3 16:00:00 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 9-Feb-84 07:45:09 EST Organization: Hewlett-Packard - Corvallis, OR Lines: 38 Nf-ID: #N:hp-kirk:12800015:000:1483 Nf-From: hp-kirk!nathanm Feb 3 13:00:00 1984 Listen. Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time. Now that I've captured your bewilderment, consider this: National politics is a cesspool in which the large chunks rise to the top. Walter Mondale is promising to take us from the post- industrial age into the industrial age. Ronald Reagan is riding the crest of a recovery he didn't create. National elections are circuses in which candidates plan non-events so the media can give the public the impression that something significant is happening. When it comes right down to it, it doesn't really matter who's in charge. If this worldview strikes close to home, read on. It's time for the disaffected among us to do something. The usenet has enormous potential as a political force. Aside from access to the net, we have nothing in common, so choosing an existing candidate to support is clearly out of the question. What we need to do is create our own candidate. For the primaries. For the election. For America. I'm not sure where to start... this idea is still in the germinal stages. I might suggest something ridiculous like electing an astronaut, but that wouldn't be original. We need to define our candidate from scratch. Our candidate needs a name, a sex, a personality, a platform, a slogan (how about "Who's in charge here?") and, of course, a following. Let's put our creative minds to work and assemble a presidential candidate for 1984. Hi-ho. ---- Nathan Meyers {allegra!harpo,hplabs}!hp-pcd!nathanm