Reading over the Excel spreadsheet that Vieravisionary generated based on your responses to Our Progressive Platform is enlightening.

Here at BMT, there are four major rivers that run through our politics: social democracy (policies that invest in citizens’ health, education and retirement), green environmental policies, a Globalist anti-war vision, and powerful commitment to election reform.

There are also many powerful streams: the call for a living wage, a commitment to science, a renewed call for privacy and civil rights, support for sunshine provisions in government, tax and corporation reform and opposition to the death penalty.

These may not have been surprising results, but I think they represent a new kind of coalescing. These streams are merging into one. Now is the time to begin the next step in the BMT Electoral Politics Project, and once again, I open the floor to you the readers with a special challenge to help create a list of Our Elected Officials. To find out more, read below…

In the interest of “doability” I’ve decided to simplify this project. And at the same time, I’m going to ramp up the challenge a bit.

There will three more calls for input.

First, this week I’ll be asking for your input on Currently Elected Officials who you think represent our progressive vision.

Second, next week I will ask you for Candidates who best represent that vision.

Third, and finally, I will ask you to list Organizationsthat best advocate for our positions with our government.

Here’s how this will be a challenge. I am now asking each of you to list Five Elected Officials who you think best represent our vision.

When you list them, I would ask that your list their name, what position they hold and where they are from. I would also like you to add one or two of our Planks that they best represent. To make this trackable I would ask that you look through the following list of planks first before you create your own. This will help Viera Visionary make our data most effective:

Health Care

Education

Retirement

Living Wage

Green/Environment

Globalism

Anti-War

Science

Populism

Privacy

Sunshine Provisions

Election Reform

Corporate Reform

Dealth Penalty

Equal Rights

Gay Rights

Media Reform

Tax Reform

Campaign Reform

Church/State Separation/Secularism

Finally, and this is where it gets difficult. No more than two of your Elected Officials should have already been mentioned. (And no, no one is going to grade you on this…it’s just a goal.)

Our goal is here to get as deep a list as possible. We want local names. We want “small fry” people that others might not have heard of. And since we’re looking to teach each other, where we can…provide a link. So, an entry might look like this:

1. Lupe Valdez, Sheriff, Dallas TX, Equal Rights, Gay Rights

Do you see what I’m aiming at? Three weeks from now, after compiling these three lists, we will have built a database of elected officials, candidates and organizations tagged to specific planks in our platform. The goal is get a list that reflects the values and passions of this community and will empower BooTribbers to learn about candidates, politicians and organizations they might never have heard of.

I will post this first call out more than once. To all those brave souls willing to leap in and help. Please do so!!

Here we go: Please list Five current Elected Officials who best represent our Progressive Values. Local is Good!!

{Update:These tags aren’t the be all end all. They are just meant to be a guide based on your responses so that the data entry isn’t “all over the place.” Church/State Separation was mentioned in a couple planks and accidentally left out here but is now listed. (Some of the planks mentioned more than one or two or three topics, so, forgive me, it gets confusing.)}

Please, we’re doing great, but keep the names coming!! There ARE more folks out there, I am sure. If the repeat thing is weighing you down, don’t worry about it. We need more names and participation here…not more worries!!