OPEN LETTER TO CHANGE.ORG

Dear Change.org,

I recently received an e-mail from you announcing the launch of
"Ideas for Change in America 2010," a campaign that seeks to "empower
citizens to identify and build momentum behind the country's best
ideas for addressing the major challenges we face." This noble and
worthy effort uses direct democracy to encourage the online audience
to submit and vote for ideas.

Here is a snapshot of the campaign from http://www.change.org/ideas
as of 4:30 pm on 2/4/2010:

. Second Most Popular Idea Overall: Legalize Recreational Use of
Marijuana (920 votes)

. Most Popular Category: Criminal Justice

. Top 10 Ideas within the Criminal Justice category: Legalize
Recreational Use of Marijuana; Legalize the Medicinal and
Recreational Use of Marijuana; Rehabilitation, not incarceration;
Legalize and tax marijuana; Remove Marijuana From Schedule I of the
Controlled Substances Act; Legalize Marijuana; Reduce criminal
recidivism; End the war on drugs; End Marijuana Prohibition; and Make
Marijuana Legal.

"Marijuana" owned 7 of the top 10 Ideas in the above category with
combined vote tallies over 2,500 and counting. Of the 44 Ideas
submitted in Criminal Justice that had more than 20 votes, 31 (70%)
pertained in some way to marijuana. These 31 also accounted for 80%
of the total votes in that category. Add Ideas to generally change
drug policy, and these percentages topped 90%.

No other single idea captures more overall votes or consumes more of
a single category than "Marijuana."

Is the "online audience" trying to tell you something?

Consider the following:

On Wednesday, January 27, 2010, CitizenTube streamed the State of the
Union address live on its YouTube site and allowed viewers to submit
and vote on questions to ask President Obama. "Marijuana
Legalization" outdistanced all other questions by a margin of more
than 2 to 1. President Obama never had the opportunity to answer
this most popular question - YouTube never asked it.
http://www.youtube.com/CitizenTube#p/c/EB843ABAF59735FD

In December 2009, JP Morgan Chase & Co. organized a competition to
award grants to 100 charitable organizations that received the most
votes on Chase's Facebook fan page. Two drug-policy focused groups -
Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the Marijuana Policy Project -
were among the top vote getters, but Chase disqualified them from the
final tally without explanation.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n1131/a07.html

Shortly after the 2008 presidential election, the Obama
Administration established "Open for Questions" on
http://www.change.gov, which morphed into
http://www.whitehouse.gov/openforquestions. Three rounds of voting
by over 200,000 people, who submitted over 150,000 questions and cast
over 7 million votes, found "Legalizing Marijuana" in first place
within each of the top five categories. At his March 26, 2009 press
conference, President Obama addressed this phenomenal response by
quipping, "I don't know what this says about the online audience,"
before dismissing the idea.

Do you see a pattern?

As a Change.org member, I'm dismayed that "Marijuana" (medical,
recreational, or hemp) garners only a fraction of the coverage that a
topic with its level of popularity should otherwise expect. Even
though "Marijuana" has received 80% of the votes in your Criminal
Justice category, few stories concerning it have appeared on Criminal
Justice news or as Featured Ideas. "Legalize Marijuana" is your third
most popular petition with 16,000 signers. Isn't that home page material?

Change.org appears to endorse a free and fair voting process as
reflected in the "Governmental Reform and Transparency" category. It
rightly decries bias against people of color, gays, and the
homeless. It embraces human rights. Yet, these noble ideals become
diminished by brushing aside the most popular issue.

I'm pleased that corporations, non-profits, and governments are
leveraging the power of the Internet's online audience to engage in
direct democracy. In a democratic society, the will of the people
should be the driving force. Generally that will is made real by the
most votes.

However, when the results are not fairly reported and implemented,
campaigns like Ideas for Change and those of YouTube, Chase Bank, and
the Obama Administration do little to foster public participation in
the democratic process and much to further the public's cynicism of it.

Speaking on behalf of the "online audience," I wish for my voice to
be heard - for it to sing as loudly as my worthy counterparts. I'm
tired of being ignored, as if I'll just disappear when I'm not noticed.

Here's an Idea! Please accurately report and implement the results
for the 2010 Ideas for Change in America. Promote all Ideas equally.
Treat submitted Ideas with the respect they deserve, even the one
that wins the competition, hands down.

Please note that this Idea is #154 in the Government Reform and
Transparency Category. http://drugsense.org/url/NgppFWQ4

Sincerely,

Mary Jane

Top Ideas for Change in America: http://www.change.org/ideas?order=top

Change.org's Criminal Justice category:
http://www.change.org/ideas/browse/criminal_justice

Submit your Idea for Change in America: http://www.change.org/ideas/post_idea

FAQ about Ideas for Change in America: http://www.change.org/ideas/faq