YouCut Is Really TheyCut
Tags: e-government, participatory budgeting, political organizing, Social Finance 3 Comments
Republican House Whip Eric Cantor recently launched an online political campaign, YouCut,
for people to vote on federal budget cuts. According to an interview with Fox News anchor, Gretchen Van Susteren, Cantor promises to propose the budget cut with the most votes for “an up-or-down vote on the House floor the following week.” Cantor’s YouCut website claims that YouCut “allows you to vote, both online and on your cell phone, on spending cuts that you want to see the House enact.” If this is true, then YouCut would be an enormous advancement for participatory budgeting and direct democracy in America. But it’s not true because while YouCut is somewhat participatory, it is not democratic. YouCut is not designed for you to make decisions about what to cut; it’s designed for Eric Cantor and the Republican Party elite to decide what to cut. In other words, YouCut is really TheyCut.