Convince me to vote for you (Possible future Q&A page) {PLEASE READ THE FIRST POST}

[Souss]

Originally Posted by Souss

More precisely:

- Reform at the State level may not have been within FPM's control, but reform within FPM is. Why should I elect a party that, by many of its members' account, requires reform only 3 years after inception, and that shows no sign or desire of doing so?

- Why should I elect a party that is undemocratic, has no accountability processes, and is poor at communication, when I believe these three things are essentially needed at the State level?

Thanks,

I didn't think so

[GMA forever]

Originally Posted by Souss

More precisely:

- Reform at the State level may not have been within FPM's control, but reform within FPM is. Why should I elect a party that, by many of its members' account, requires reform only 3 years after inception, and that shows no sign or desire of doing so?

- Why should I elect a party that is undemocratic, has no accountability processes, and is poor at communication, when I believe these three things are essentially needed at the State level?

Thanks

Very simple, because it is the best what you have in Lebanon and the closest to a real democratic party between all the other lebanese parties.

Now if you wanna compare FPM to European standards of political parties, well I agree with you totally that we fall very short and we need a lot of reforms still.

But if you wanna be realistic and compare FPM to other Lebanese parties, we are ahead of everybody else in that sense. At the end you are voting in the Lebanese elections and not in the Swedish ones.

Originally Posted by Souss

I didn't think so

I hope now you think so

[The Jade]

Originally Posted by GMA forever

Very simple, because it is the best what you have in Lebanon and the closest to a real democratic party between all the other lebanese parties.

Now if you wanna compare FPM to European standards of political parties, well I agree with you totally that we fall very short and we need a lot of reforms still.

But if you wanna be realistic and compare FPM to other Lebanese parties, we are ahead of everybody else in that sense. At the end you are voting in the Lebanese elections and not in the Swedish ones.

Care to give us some examples and comparisons between parties on the democratic level ??

[Dark Angel]

Originally Posted by The Jade

Care to give us some examples and comparisons between parties on the democratic level ??

jade, FPM completed phase one of the internal elections a couple of months ago, and phase two will shortly follow. members were voted in to local and regional committees. a small step forward, but one in the right direction nevertheless.

[The Jade]

Originally Posted by Dark Angel

jade, FPM completed phase one of the internal elections a couple of months ago, and phase two will shortly follow. members were voted in to local and regional committees. a small step forward, but one in the right direction nevertheless.

It is a good step, now I won't go into the reasons why no elections were held in more than 3 years, but I was asking is the following:

Why don't we compare how other parties fonction to the FPM?
What makes FPM more democratic than other parties ?

And I'd like to have some example as to how and why other parties aren't more democratic than the FPM.

[Positive Balance]

In my stance on FPM, I am similar to superduper. My activity on this forum has generally been indicative of my confidence in the party; more accurately, my waning enthusiasm for posting on this forum only to hear the same arguments being made over and over, and get the occasional insults slung towards anyone who dares question FPM or its allies, is part of a broader loss of trust in the Lebanese political scene.

I am in full agreement with superduper and Dry Ice, and agree with many of the points Greg Davis raised. I won't repeat what they said. I do have a couple of other observations.

I) Though clearly this forum doesn't represent the official party line, I find that the attitude here is very similar to that of the broader party - and also in fact the broader political context of all parties in Lebanon. I think that the healthiest thing for any political party or country or group of people is to have people who generally have the same ideals and overarching goals as you, but actively (when necessary) question the means by which others attempt to get there. As an example, read the literature on groupthink in the context of Kennedy's advisers during the Cuban missile crisis. What I would appreciate would be more willingness to accept criticism, or to partake in reflexive criticism. This forum is, more than anything else, meant to (i) glorify GMA, and (ii) vilify M14 in its entirety. I wish the effort X has laudably made in creating this forum had been present more often, so that people can question what their own party is doing, and be more open to others with good intentions coming in to question them without having to immediately become accusative.

II) Through the IMF and Paris III, the Lebanese government has committed itself to a broad range of very ambitious macroeconomic policy goals. Many of these goals make macroeconomic sense, but come at an expensive political cost. Examples are increasing taxation coverage, improving electricity bill collection, and removing fuel subsidies. What is the stance of FPM on what I believe is one of the most important economic policy package for the future of this country? If M8 stays together for the next elections and gains a majority, what will be the economic policy implications?

I think that if 1 party were to clearly bring a set of well-defined policy goals as part of a political manifesto to the table, it would not only inform the people who ultimately decide who gets to rule this country on the issues they need to know about, it will make it more difficult for all the other people calling themselves politicians to prove that they know the stakes and that they can be trusted in making decisions for us on these issues. Sectarianism, constant accusations, fear-mongering, all those things shouldn't be the basis of our political system, but so far, that is what this has all been based on. The top echelons of our political establishment has become a mockery, an oligarchical revolving-door system, where the same people just rearrange the chairs every so often but let no one else in. And I still believe FPM is probably the best chance for gradually bringing an end to this. With some more convincing, they may even get my vote.

[YOSS]

I would like to know where this party stands on utilizing the defense strategy to deliver an outcome where the refugees go back home, or repatriated.

Does this party guarantee that? Coz its leadership is evading answering this.

[FBM]

Originally Posted by Dark Angel

jade, FPM completed phase one of the internal elections a couple of months ago, and phase two will shortly follow. members were voted in to local and regional committees. a small step forward, but one in the right direction nevertheless.

The Democratic Left movement has its own "council" which the people elect, they had that since a long time ago... Thats a bigger step forward than FPMs...

[vegojimbo]

Originally Posted by FBM

The Democratic Left movement has its own "council" which the people elect, they had that since a long time ago... Thats a bigger step forward than FPMs...

Not one member of this council was "elected". All won by acclamation. It's way way behind FPM, which at least held elections on the regional level (not that much of a big step, but still).

[joseph_lubnan]

(X, since the thread has drifted anyway, I would like to post again the list of steps I see as a prerequisite for my vote for FPM. Please delete if you still disagree.)

I am an independent and will give you my vote if FPM clearly takes these 10 steps before the 2009 Elections:

1. Declare officially and humbly that last period since 2005 was one of turbulence and growing pains where FPM was forced to try different maneuvers to survive. (Not everyone will buy that but it is a good message to explain a change in course that will follow.)

2. Reaffirm unequivocally the principles of sovereignty, democracy and secularism.

3. Declare that although FPM understands HA's position, FPM would like to move forward with a clear and expeditious timetable towards integration of weapons into the army and the reorganization of HA under the army's umbrella and command. Declare clearly the decoupling of this activity from Shebaa and any other excuse. Suggest a one year timeline for that to be accomplished.

4. Declare the support of a one-year time line for all Palestinian factions inside and outside the camps to disarm. Declare that this need not be tied with the disarmament of HA, and it doesn't matter which should be done first. both are equally important.

5. Break publicly all alliances with Feudals, and declare that you are categorically against Feudalism, and would like to run independently as a modern democratic secular party all over Lebanon.

6. Publish a clear and detailed policy program.

7. Do not sponsor Bassil or any other relative of GMA, for a parliamentary position.

8. Declare a set of demands that FPM believes Syria and Israel should do to redress their relations with Lebanon.

9. Stop all propaganda and yellow journalism in all FPM media outlets.

10. Hold all internal FPM elections.