I took this class three years ago, and I've actually followed through on a brain-wave partially started here (see BottomUpIdea).

Like many of you, I've been upset with our government for being unable to come together in a reasonable way to solve problems, and disturbed by the extent to which money and special interests determine public policy outcomes.

During the height of the Occupy protests in October, I thought what they needed was a web platform for policy debate and engagement with / assessment of political candidates. This is what I've created with The 99 Percent Votes (the99percentvotes.com or, as a shortened url, the99vote.com). It allows you to submit public policy ideas, discuss, vote, and identify like-minded candidates. See How It Works. I think this system can change "politics as usual" and update government for the 21st century. It's designed to work at local, state, national, and international levels across a full range of policy categories and subcategories.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at greg@the99percentvotes.com. I've also set up a Site Development section for people to report bugs and suggest ideas for further development. And I will check in on this thread and participate in any discussion.

I hope you find it fun and useful. Let's make government work bottom-up rather than top-down!

Thanks, Greg

-- GregOrr - 04 May 2012