Background information for www.heldtoaccount.com
Six months ago I decided to stop moaning about the behaviour of our MP's and try and do something about it instead. I sat at my kitchen table with a laptop and thought what we need is a way of affecting their actions and decisions between elections. The time when they feel safe and do virtually what they want because the next election is a long way off.
It occurred to me that the one thing we as a nation feel very strongly about is what other people think of us. Therefore the logical thing to do was to create a public device where the electorate could tell politicians what they thought of them now - for all to see.
So I decided on a huge internet notice board, a place where any member of the public could leave fair and accurate comments about the way our politicians and government officials behave. The intention being that those very politicians and officials would see what others thought of them and would alter their behaviour to ensure that they received praise rather than criticism.
It may seem rather simple, even crude but the point is this;
Politicians know they must remain popular in order to get re-elected, they are hugely sensitive to personal publicity. If they receive negative publicity they will move heaven and earth to try and avoid letting it stick, if they get positive publicity they keep pointing to it. The reason they do all this is because people forget the details but retain an over-all impression, which is what gets them re-elected.
The power of www.heldtoaccount.com is the fact that it will be a permanent record of their actions and decisions and is there as a constant reminder of what they have done. Come election time it will be available as a quick reference about any politician or official and what they have been up to during the last five years.
This will effect their personal popularity and whether people choose to vote for them again. As it grows its influence between elections will also grow as politicians realise it really does matter what they do, because the electorate will record it on www.heldtoaccount.com |
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| I commend it to you - | Kevin Mann. | July 2009. |
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