Some Questions for Independent Voters, Democracy Advocates and Third Parties

Is it possible to have political organization that isn't a political party? Can people impact policy without being organized as a voting bloc? How do you fight the power of entrenched corrupt partisan organizations without becoming one of them? Where does the issue of power come in? How can independents break out of paralysis? What is "personal democracy"? Isn't democracy by definition collective, and thus requires organization? Why do most minor parties object to open primaries? Wouldn't third parties be well served by inviting independents to participate in their candidate selection process? Is the Tea Party independent, or a right wing faction of the Repubs hoping to push the RP to the right?

Of note:

• Politics is People, Not Parties (Future Majority/Craig Berger's Blog) Linked on Third Party and Independent Daily yesterday, this article is also posted with commentary on Wire Tap Mag  NOTE: Author of the quoted text is Alejandro Ribo, who seems to be the European (Spanish) version of techPresident, which "was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah L. Sifry as a crosspartisan group blog covering how the 2008 presidential candidates were using the web, and vice versa, how content generated by voters affected the campaign." Rasiej and Sifry host a yearly conference called Personal Democracy Forum centering around issues of communications technology, open internet policy, and government "transparency" that draws 1000 techies from across the country.Independent Mayor Mike Bloomberg was their keynote last year