User:JohnTheYooper/Michigan
Michigan architecture
The Michigan Pirate Party (name pending) is not off the table but has been subject to crippling issues in motivation and volunteering. There are a few aspects required for this to exist, but mostly just a couple of people who agree on a vision to see it exist. This page reflects my own vision of what a Michigan Pirate Party would look like and do.
Mission
Its main practical objectives would be these.
- Provide pirate wheel advocacy in Michigan politics
- Promote third party reforms such as ranked choice voting and fusion voting
- A focus on explicit pirate principles in particular, without bogging down too far in left-right debate or specific issues outside of immediate pirate scope. Other organizations would be suitable for these purposes, see the non-exclusivity principle.
- Promoting digital literacy, resources, and projects conducive to the pirate interest, such as inherent opposition to the spread of Flock cameras, or burying deep nonsense like the attempted VPN ban.
From broad conventional review, pirate politics visibly appears 'left libertarian' and I would not deny this. However it is not necessarily incompatible to compromise with people who conventionally lean 'center/right' especially if there is agreement on select issues. In some ways it is libertarian, yet treats corporate domination as a similar threat as government expansion and seeks to achieve more of a balance. This would be an informal core to the pitch of pirate politics. Live your life, but reject all attempts to dominate whether the attempt comes from a business suit or military uniform. There would likely be major disagreements on some matters, if the core pirate interest is compatible then there should be cooperation on the matters that can be worked with.
By my reckoning there are some other things this should achieve.
- Non exclusivity: If you want to come and go, be an at large participant, be part of multiple parties, welcome. If you're a Pirate, you belong.
- Support alternative communications to Discord without necessarily being limited to IRC and email.
- Consider a static site built with something like jeckyll or hugo or eleventy, forgoing bulky frameworks like wordpress unless required.
- Able to support other candidates and movements, particularly where they do things well or better.
These are the founding aspects I would like to see for a Michigan Pirate Party.
Website
The site would have the following features:
- An FAQ, written to 'give it straight' about the pirate movement with inspiration from the national
- A platform, largely driven by the national, with potential special addition of right to repair initiative
- News, updates, sharing of events of Michigan note.
- Contact, more in depth about as one page.
- Relevant political causes to look into, links on how to engage, 'issues of highlight' aside from news entries ^.
Social Media
So this is a point where I'd be terrible because I hate Facebook et al and would only be willing to sustain presence on Mastadon and maybe Bluesky and not a lot else. If some other founding member wants to work on the others that could be cool. Some presence is required so it is apparent we exist.
Communication
Leverage national architecture with #michigan on discord and a bridged michigan channel on more libre software such as Matrix, Stoat or Fluxer, perhaps something like xmpp. Self hosted infra would be nice but likely lean impractical. An email would be available.
Needed volunteering
There must be several people willing to be 'on the record' as members. This doesn't have to be public PII disclosure however. More in the vein of first name, last name, how do we reach you, stored in private, with the alias you desire being your member alias in communication channels. The information would be held by a founding officer. I could be such an officer but would rather have some kind of aide for representation. My schedule compatibility with national party business is poor, everything happens late for me. We just need to be something tangible and could have asynchronous contact if needed, maybe try to have a proper meeting once in a while as long as somehow we're still moving forward on stuff. Even if its pretty humble in practice.
I am rather introverted by nature. I don't do door knocking, you can barely get me on the phone, I do not like speaking, I am not a field expert except in knowing random stuff that exists, I just like computer stuff and pirate politics interests me. In effect I'm something of a bench warmer, certainly not a leader, which is why this page is as far as the michigan party can go until there are others on board. But I am willing to collaborate with others and take initiative as long as its not just me moving the ball forward.
Branding. The Michigander Pirate Party, or just Michigan? Thinking a logo adapted from the pirate brand with Michigan coloring influenced by pirate purple.
How to avoid shortening the MI Pirate Party so it doesn't read as my pp. "pirate" is uphill as it is and mi pp is just weird.