This story was originally published on  Policlicks.com LLC's Site.

Policlicks.com LLC's  spin off platform Choices of Democracy has gone up with questions to candidates from VFW Departments in the following states - North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Alabama. The candidates are being provided a venue to directly connect with the VFW membership and the voters at large.

These Interactive Forums are part of an on going effort, now in its 4th Election cycle, to engage more voter participation, by bringing more candidate direct information, presented in a non-partisan manner to the process of electing our representation.

Policlicks is in discussions at this time with the Internet Archive and VSocial to bring these debates and forums to you from the Presidential to the school board level from coast to coast for the 2008 Election.
Policlicks partnered with the Department of North Carolina Veterans of Foreign Wars in October 2002. Its charge was to conduct neutral, non-partisan debates and forums for the candidates running for office in the state, strengthen Miltary Family Communications and to develop the Department's 21 st Century internet based organizational internal and external protocols.

In the same month, in an event that was hosted by VFW Post 2087 and live blogged by Ed Cone we produced and launched the first inter-active political video debate in history.

Two County Commisioner candidates, Jeff Thigpen and Jonathan Wagstaff ,squared off in separate places at different times in front of a webcam taped to the top of a PC monitor for the benefit of the voters of Guilford County, NC. Their recorded answers played through the election and where seen by thousands.

In 2003, to protect the value of the debate and forum platforms to the democractic process, we created Choices of Democracy as a non-profit endeavor.

The videos shown below are from the Policlicks library and show the power of the application of the internet in the political process. We are working on uploading and donating all of our historical content to the public domain through the Internet Archive.

The following, is the first Issue Advocacy video we made. Produced for the Preddy Memorial Foundation and narrated by Congressman Howard Coble, a lifetime member of Major George E. Preddy VFW Post 2087, it advocates to add the name of Preddy to Pope Airforce Base to create the new name Pope-Peddy Air Force Base. This initiative was launched to honor the memory of Preddy who was the top p-51 Mustang Ace of all time.

This effort is still very much alive, so after viewing and if you feel inspired, the Preddy Foundation asks and encourages you to take a moment, sign the petition and forward the video on.

The second video featuring Tara Sue Grubb (Clark) was produced just prior to the 2002 Election. Tara Sue was provided by Dave Winer the distiction of being the first Congressional Candidate to use a weblog as a political campaign tool but it was her understanding of the value of the tool that has set the benchmarks. Her video demostrates how very aware she was of the changes that the internet was bringing to "old school politics"

Tara Sue moved on after the election and became CEO of our company, bringing her creative leadership to bear leading our company through it's crucial infancy stages, until turning over the reigns for our next stage of development to Dan Romauld in 2005.

She now serves as the Executive Director of the Veterans Foundation of North Carolina.

The internet provides the ability for candidates to directly connect with the voters. Those that fail to avail themselves of the opportunity may very well find it difficult to get elected in the 21st century.

We encourge all candidates who have received an invitation to respond to this important voter education project.

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance or International IDEA
was established to promote sustainable democracy worldwide. Membership is comprised of
states, with international non-governmental organisations as associate members. Under its
founding statutes, the Institute is mandated to engage in a wide variety of activities designed
to advance democracy and to improve the quality of democratic governance, nationally and
internationally.
The Institute promotes a long-term perspective on the building and consolidation of
democratic institutions and the fostering of a democratic culture.
The Institute works to improve electoral processes. It helps to develop and disseminate rules
and guidelines which promote transparency and accountability, professionalism, efficiency
and impartiality in the conduct of elections. In the fulfillment of these objectives, the
Institute develops global networks in the electoral sphere and organises seminars, workshops
and training on electoral management designed to disseminate best practice.
International IDEA seeks to strengthen national and local capacities to develop the full
range of instruments and institutions needed for democratic government. It provides
options on various forms of democratic institutions and processes rather than prescribing
any particular model. As part of this process, it facilitates dialogue between local actors and
publishes assessments on the prospects for democratic development in individual countries.
The Institute is a forum for exchange of ideas and experiences between scholars, policy
makers and practitioners involved in all aspects of democratic governance. It is a meeting
place for a broad spectrum of individuals and organisations involved in democracy
promotion and assistance. Through its programmes of research, information and outreach,
International IDEA aims to increase knowledge in the pursuit of democratic excellence.

The Center is dedicated to the task of making new ideas and information available for the purpose of democratizing undemocratic systems--and for improving democratic processes that are still only partially realized.

Democracy itself is not the final end. Rather, democracy is a means to the end of enhancing human life. It is a method by which the human community can care for itself, its environment, and its future evolution. Democracy is a step toward the infinite, toward the greater realization of values and abilities within ourselves that human beings have often associated with God.

We could say that democracy is love writ large and continually expanding. But love by itself is not sufficient. It must be organized by means that are consistent with the nature of loving--with intelligence, compassion, fairness, freedom, purpose...and inclusiveness.