How Important Are Our Values in Education?

Watching Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown’s campaign director talk about their campaign strategies earlier this summer made me realize that something really profound was taking place in our country.

As he detailed all of the innovations their campaign used to try and convince people to vote for their candidate I couldn’t help but wonder why it was so difficult to get people out to vote, an activity that is most certainly in their own best interest. And then I took that question one step further - why is so much time, energy and money spent attempting to convince people to do things that are in their best interest?

Whether it is a get out the vote campaign, public service ads telling people to stop smoking or to eat healthier, government mandated programs that force people to save money (which the majority wouldn’t do otherwise) or any other host of initiatives aimed at bettering people’s lives - Why is this costly practice of convincing necessary? Why don’t people know they should vote, know they should eat healthy or know they should be responsible with their money?

In a rare, and hopefully not precedent-setting, occurrence I actually would like to answer the question I raise. And I believe that the answer, sadly, is that these values, though perhaps once of import to our culture, and certainly valued in some sub-cultures or other parts of the world, are just not part of our process of socialization anymore.

For some strange reason, being raised in this country doesn’t guarantee you will understand the stock market, marketing and financial decisions, how to choose a healthy diet, how to exercise your political rights much less global economic and political dynamics.

Schools incessantly pound facts into young people while imparting very few, if any, practical skills or critical thinking concepts, not in a dissimilar fashion to Ray Bradbury predictions in Fahrenheit 451. True, many kids can do math at a level that would have surely categorized them as a witch in the not too distant past, but have they the same ability to question the world around them or an understanding of the complex and serious issues that they will have to grapple with throughout their lives?

If anything, school curricula have become even narrower because of the monumental over-standardization that has taken place over the past decade. The focus of our public education seems to have shifted from helping educate and socialize our youngest to just measuring the ‘quality’ of schools as to determine next year’s federal funding.

The idea of socialization, whereby the eldest help teach the youngest how best to survive and develop in a given environment is an incredible process. Humans spend more time on this process than any other animal by far. Our youngest today spend often 18 years or more under supervision, far greater than even our mammal relatives like dogs who spend only a few months or dolphins, perhaps the closest, who spend 3-6 years. This enormous focus humans have had on raising offspring is one of the primary reasons we have such robust culture - an incredible amount of information is passed from generation to generation, even before written or recorded materials existed. And now that we have such accesible and global mediums to record and share information, we should be able to further improve upon this practice.

For the first time in human history, we have unprecedented opportunity (resources and incentive) to enter into an entirely new level of thought, discourse and freedom. Critical thinking combined with vast and easy access to information is a powerful tool of democracy, science and thought that we have yet to tap into fully.

Perhaps we would not need so many complicated laws around financial markets if people simply were too well educated about finances to be tricked into poor decisions. Or if we had a better understanding of our bodies and diets we would no longer need the government to intervene for us. And if we could better engage with public policy issues, we wouldn’t need voter registration drives or overly-complicated (and ineffective) election rules.

Instead of attempting to solve all of these problems by creating cumbersome government interventions after the problem has arisen, we should, as a culture, take a more proactive approach and re-shape our education and enculturalization processes to better prepare people to make these decisions themselves.

Politics and How We Define Ourselves

I came across the incredible infographic the other day that draws a contrast between people who are generally liberal and conservative, and the differing values that are important to each group, for example liberals as 'champions of downtrodden' and conservatives as 'champions of opportunity.' Although the graphic, which is of course not 100% accurate, as it is generalizing and categorizing people into two differing groups, does provide some interesting insight into the values that liberal versus conservative people and families tend to hold true, and does so in a way that seems very rational and non-biased.

One of the more interesting pieces to it, which is backed up with substantial sociological research, (for example Don't Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff) is the differing family structures in liberal versus conservative households. More liberal families, which tend to be less religious are more democratic in their decision making - allowing children to play roles in decision-making on important household issues. Conservative families, which tend to be more religious, more often make decisions in a patriarchal fashion, where the father-figure is the ultimate authority and decision-making is not really open to discussion or dissent. That research provides enormous insight into how decisions are made by various political officials at even the highest levels of government.

All this to say that is important to understand those that you may disagree with. By understanding where people are coming from who you disagree with, you can make a much more profound effort at understanding and empathizing with peoples' ideas. By understanding eachother more, we can help frame discussions, especially in a public policy sphere for example, and act rather than in an obstructionist way out of ignorance or fear in such a way that encourages people to work together through understanding.

For the full-size version: http://infobeautiful.s3.amazonaws.com/leftright_US_1416.gif

Click to comment:

I Just Signed Up For The Personal Democracy Forum - And So Should You!

The Personal Democracy Forum, probably the foremost conference on the intersection of technology and government/politics is being held this year June 3-4th in NYC. I went last year, and the sessions and workshops I saw literally blew my mind. Here is my brief recap from last year's conference, and I look forward to more thoughtful discussions about these issues this year.

Too often we, as a nation, get stuck on a narrow-focused track moving in a certain direction, especially in politics. We are fortunate to have people like Andrew Rasiej and Micah L. Sifry who put together conferences like the Personal Democracy Forum each year and remind us of the importance of discussing critical issues in technology, most importantly how technology can impact government and politics. It's an incredible opportunity to get so many bright minds together to talk about how we can leverage technology to make government work better and work more transparently.

Check out the site and hopefully I will see you there in June!

The Costs of Waiting

When thinking about investing money in infrastructure (whether physical, political, educational, etc) like healthcare it's important to frame the context in which this debate is being held. Let's be honest: our current system will change, probably quite often until some sort of equilibrium is reached, and then it will just change again. The idea of changing something we have now should never, ever be controversial.

Unfortunately, a counterproductive practice people tend to exhibit, that has been more recently explored in the field of behavioral economics, is peoples' misperception that waiting costs nothing.

I find the phrase 'status quo' interesting, because, in reality, it doesn't exist. Nothing is ever not changing in some way. The changes may be small or may seem unrelated, but they are not. And in terms of healthcare, the costs are enormous as emergency rooms become more overcrowded and more American families are faced with the horror of not having the ability to ensure the safety and health of their loved ones.

I am not even advocating a particular solution, and in fact, none of the solutions we have are perfect, and they never will be, but as science moves forward exploring and learning, so must we in public policy. And part of that is realizing that waiting has costs just as much as bad policy does, maybe even more. Not everyone will get exactly what they want out of this debate, but let's think about how we can best move this policy forward and help cover more of those 47 million uninsured Americans.

Why don't people vote and what can we do about it?

In my column last week we briefly looked at how social perceptions are the primary driving force behind motivating people to get out and vote come election day. However, most people, by a substantial majority, do not actually vote. What are the forces at work that keep people home on election day? And if social perceptions influence how people vote, could affecting a change of the social and cultural perceptions around voting could lead to an increased voter turnout over time?

Working on election day November 3rd provided a very interesting experience about all of these issues. I learned a great deal about peoples’ feelings and thoughts towards voting from the conversations that I became engaged in throughout the day.

By and large, the people who weren’t planning on voting, weren’t registered, and perhaps never have voted, expressed a certain skepticism about the process itself and about how important their role in the process of choosing representatives was. Interestingly, to this group of people, the idea that their one vote was no more or less than anyone else’s created a feeling of unimportance. Oddly, this is the opposite of many other people’s reactions, who feel empowered to be able to freely cast their ballot for the representative of their choice.

Additionally, there are people, for example a couple, who agree to disagree on the candidate of their choice, and by perhaps both even going to the polls together, effectively cancel each other’s vote, yet still feel necessity of going to the polls.

However, all these different ideas and perspectives are just many ways to look at the same situation. For example, some people feel empowered that by going to the polls, they can ‘cancel out’ the vote of an opposing voter. Others, however, feel powerless as they feel their vote will be ‘canceled out’ by someone less informed by them. Each situation is exactly the same, it is just two people casting opposing votes, yet one glass half-full perspective sounds positive while the glass half-empty perspective sounds completely futile.

What this really comes down to is that voting is more about social perceptions than anything else. People who feel that their vote is futile will fulfill their own destiny by not voting and making their opinion futile, which will only create more frustration down the road as the person becomes increasingly outside of the process happening around them. And people who feel that their vote is powerful will get out there and feel engaged to whatever is happening - even if they disagree with it.

That engagement is they key piece to the puzzle. Not everyone will always agree. The only way we could have true total 100% representation is if we all were representatives in a pure democracy, yet even then I would think that we wouldn’t understand and agree with even ourselves as much as we’d like to think.

So what can we do about people who feel powerless and disengaged? By making people feel invested in their community and their world, we can work to avoid the tragedy of the commons scenario that our voting numbers are emblematic of.

Getting involved or volunteering for something in the direct community is a sure way to start to feel connected and a working and productive part of this crazy and chaotic world.

If we can help focus more education efforts at really fostering a feeling of community ownership, we can begin to reverse the unfortunate trends over the past few decades of decreased community and civic involvement.

For a person who has never voted before, casting a ballot on a national level may seem of too little impact. Opening up government to really connect, work with and seek the feedback of residents on all ranges of projects is a prime way to help people feel they are part of something that is both larger than themselves and larger than the sum of its parts. Feeling part of something productive like that is an inspiring experience. Embracing the use of technology for open government and community engagement to reach new audiences and make new connections are sure ways for us to get there.

Follow up Links

From Pyschology Blog: Why do people bother voting: http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/10/why-do-people-bother-voting.php

More information about the prisoner's dilemma: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/prisoner-dilemma/

President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Internet media especially is in a frenzy today as everyone looks to get in their word edgewise on Obama's, what turned out to be controversial, winning of a Nobel Peace Prize. The award came at a time when Obama is facing crucial decisions regarding troop levels in Afghanistan.

Many Obama supporters hail this as a landmark occasion where the international community has finally recognized Obama's ideas and vision for a more peaceful and diplomatic world where working with other nations and cultures is seen as a priority rather than a drag on international relations.

Conservatives, and a fair amount of Obama supporters, on the other hand, feel that this award was issued far too early, at best, and cannot possibly be based off of his record because nominations were due for the award almost immediately after he took office.

Others even may say this award comes at an awkward time, as a NASA rocket was just launched into the moon. (Though for peaceful purposes. For now. You're on watch Moon.)

Although both sides have a good point, it seems to have brought to light two very important points:

First, Obama has not yet delivered on his campaign promises of bringing peace, withdrawing troops and shutting down Guantanamo Bay. Granted, he has not been in office a very long time, and to make such large changes considering the past eight years requires a lot of political capital that he may not have yet. But unless he can constructively shape this healthcare debate, he may have trouble gaining that much-needed capital.

Second, conservatives and the Republican Party seem that they would rather see Obama fail than see our country succeed. That definitely doesn't apply to everyone who considers themselves right of center, but 'mainstream' American conservatism has definitely picked out Obama as a target, for whatever reasons, and celebrate his failures, like when Chicago lost out for the Olympic bid. What happened to the standing beside your President in tough times, a mantra oft-repeated during the Bush years?

My take on it? Regardless of whether or not he should have been awarded the prize now, I am confident that by the time Obama leaves office he will have demonstrated that he does indeed deserve a Nobel Peace Prize.

Speaker of New Jersey General Assembly Will Not Seek Another Term

Joseph Roberts, the Speaker of the General Assembly in the New Jersey Legislature will not be seeking another term, he announced on Wednesday

The announcement threw state legislators into a whirlwind on Wednesday, reports PolitickerNJ, as officials throughout the state are trying to figure out who will fill in that leadership position. Roberts spent 22 years in the General Assembly and cited his reason for not seeking another term that he needs a break.


Read More:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/three_nj_lawmakers_eyeing_asse.html

http://www.politickernj.com/matt-friedman/32859/roberts-announcing-retirement-downplays-possibility-senate-run

In Just 24 Hours, Newark Shudders Under Weight of Five Shootings

Over a 24 hour period, starting Monday morning with the death of a 14 year-old, there were six people injured in a total of five shootings in Newark.

Newark, once a cultural mecca in New Jersey - and much of the country - has in recent decades faced high crime rates, consistently putting the city ranked highest in the country among crime. Before 2006, a significant amount of that crime was taking place within the governing body of the city when former Mayor Sharpe James, who is now a convicted felon serving a 27-month prison term, used to be in charge. Since then, Mayor Cory Booker has taken crime and pubic safety head-on, though still faces significant challenges such as those 24 hours demonstrate. As reported by NJ.com, Mayor Booker said, "We're seeing still some progress but the last week or two has shown us that we still have a long way to go"

Several of the victims on Monday were innocent bystandars, such as one 62 year-old resident who was shot in the hip by a gang related drive-by as she was taking out the trash in front of her apartment.

Clearly there is no simple solution to this problem. It is obvious, more than ever, however, that intelligent and forward thinking policy and culture change are needed to ensure that our communities are safe and that no resident need worry about their safety when taking out their trash.

2 South Carolina Judges Rule 21 Year-Old Drinking Age Unconstitutional

Two South Carolina County judges ruled that the 21 year-old drinking age is unconstitutional.

Aiken County Chief Magistrate Rodger Edmunds and Richland County Magistrate Mel Maurer ruled that laws could only prohibit people under 21 from purchasing alcohol, and could not prohibit people under 21 from consuming or possessing alcohol. The main justificiation for the federally mandated 21 year-old drinking age is using the often-quoted commerce clause of the US Constitution, which allows Congress to regulate issues involving interstate commerce.

As reported by CarolinaLive.com "Both decisions relied on a 2008 SC State Supreme Court ruling that overturned a state law banning 18 to 20 year olds from possessing handguns."

Both cases have been appealed, and will be heard in South Carolina's circuit court of appeals.I will post updates to these cases as they progress through the judicial system.

Sources and Reading
http://www2.counton2.com/cbd/news/local/article/2_south_carolina_judges_challenge_drinking_age/49856/
http://www.carolinalive.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=332096
http://www.alphecca.com/?p=1627

Independent Candidate Chris Daggett Names His Lt. Governor Nomination

On Tuesday, Independent New Jersey Gubernatorial Candidate Chris Daggett selected his nomination for lieutenant governor.

Daggett named Frank Esposito, a professor of history and education at Kean University for his Lt. Governor nomination. Daggett said of Esposito, "Frank Esposito has been in the forefront of the movement to reform our education system, which too often has failed New Jersey's children."

Vying to make education on the forefront of his platform, Daggett wants to tap the experience of Esposito to ensure voters see his platform as a strong supporter of reforming education in New Jersey. After the large corruption scandals which resulted in 44 total arrests which spanned both the Democrat and Republican parties, Daggett is claiming that, being the independent candidate, he is the real person who can reform Trenton.


Read More
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20090728_Daggett_names_Frank_Esposito_as_running_mate.html

Jon Corzine selects Lieutenant Governor Nomination

Jon Corzine on Friday selected legislative veteran Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) to be his running mate in the first ever gubernatorial election that features a running mate. Republican candidate Chris Christie made his announcement Monday of last week - the first candidate to do so.

Senator Weinberg, 74, has been in the state legislature for nearly 20 years. She started her tenure in the Assembly in 1991 and in 2005 was elected to the state senate.

Sen. Weinberg’s legendary, and widely recognized, experience as a reformer and a proponent of open government is considered to be one of the primary reasons that Corzine has selected her - and doing so just one day after a massive corruption scandal rocked the Garden State. Additionally, Senator Weinberg hails from Bergen County, a key swing county.

Throughout her career in Bergen County, Sen. Weinberg has battled what many consider to have been one of the most corrupt political machines in the state. A real New Jersey legislative legend, Weinberg is also the primary sponsor of 50 laws that are on the books, in addition to being a co-sponsor on another 40 current laws, an astounding record.

It will be interesting to see how the next round of polls places the candidates now that both Christie and Corzine have named a running-mate.

NJ Politicians, NY Rabbis rounded up as part of corruption ring

Today, federal authorities rounded up a host of public officials and rabbis - 44 in total - who are apparently linked to a ring of money laundering and dirty political contributions.

At a press conference today, federal authorities, including officials from the US Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations Division said that New Jersey needed to clean up its act, and that the Garden State may be the worst in the country in terms of political corruption.

As election season kicks into high gear for the governor’s race, in addition to many other state and municipal races, some felt as though the arrests were politically motivated. Federal authorities did state multiple times at a press conference today that politics had nothing to do with the arrests as this case, code named “Bid-rig,” has been developing for nearly a decade, and surpasses political parties and multiple administrations.

Corruption in public office seems so embedded in the governance process that it seems to barely register on the psyche of our state. These actions must not be tolerated, and both public leaders and New Jersey voters must take a stand for more transparent and honest governance. Federal authorities were right on when they said that law enforcement along cannot fix this issue alone, but rather we need a mental overhaul of how, as residents, we want our state to run and how open and transparent we must require our government to be.

More Reading
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyregion/24jersey.html
http://sbk.online.wsj.com/article/SB124835404608875685.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iK4nrZ7GALyorz4G34gTnFocFM9gD99KCVB80
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/23/new-jersey-curruption-solomon-dwek-business-beltway-dwek.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090723_N_J__official_resigns_amid_corruption_probe.html

Christie, in a First, Picks a Running Mate (Featured in NY Times)

Some ask how important new media will be in politics. Today should answer that question once and for all, as Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie announced his pick for lieutenant governor on social networking sites, placing a video on YouTube as well as announcements on Twitter and Facebook.

Mr. Christie, a former United States prosecutor, selected Kim Guadagno, who currently is the Monmouth County Sheriff, to run with him. If elected, she will serve as the state’s first lieutenant governor.

Before 2005, the year that the position was created by a statewide vote — with much encouragement from then-Acting Gov. Dick Codey, who had to step in after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned — New Jersey was one of a handful of states with only a governor position. In addition, our state’s governor appoints all cabinet level officials, many of which are elected in other states, contributing to the New Jersey governor widely being recognized as perhaps the most powerful in the country.


The new position of lieutenant governor will help equalize the vast amount of authority that currently is placed solely in our only state-wide elected official.

Ms. Guadagno , who has been the Monmouth County Sheriff since 2007, served 15 years as the commissioner of Monmouth Beach, as well as on the Board of Adjustments. Ms. Guadagno also spent 15 years as an assistant U.S. attorney, working both in Brooklyn and New Jersey.

Both Mr. Christie and Ms. Guadagno are long-time residents of the state — he was born in Newark, grew up in Livingston and now resides with his family in Mendham. Ms. Guadagno has lived and worked in New Jersey for many years, and now lives in Monmouth Beach.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who is seeking election to a second term, has not made an official announcement as to his selection, though he is reported to be considering Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, Senator Loretta Weinberg and Rhodes Scholar and winner of Season 4 of “The Apprentice,” Randal Pinkett.

Already a heated battle, with candidates mainly clashing over financial policy issues, the race between Mr. Corzine, Mr. Christie and independent candidate Chris Daggett should be historic, the first featuring a “running-mate.”

Stay tuned for more news on the local angles to the race.


Please feel free to visit the New York Times local section, where this blog entry was featured yesterday: http://maplewood.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/christie-in-a-first-picks-a-running-mate/

Update to A1360, New Jersey's Medical Amnesty Bill

NJ Bill A1360 a bill that "Grants immunity to certain underage persons for unlawful possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages" has passed in the Senate 38-0.

Here is the timeline the bill has taken so far: (From the NJ Legislature)

9/22/2008 Introduced, Referred to Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee
3/12/2009 Reported from Assembly Comm. as a Substitute, 2nd Reading
5/21/2009 Passed by the Assembly (77-0-0)
5/21/2009 Received in the Senate without Reference, 2nd Reading
6/25/2009 Substituted for S2748
6/25/2009 Passed Senate (Passed Both Houses) (38-0)

Now, the bill needs to gain the signature of Governor Jon Corzine. I'll post updated as news comes out about that.

Here the sponsors of the bill:
Angelini, Mary Pat as Primary Sponsor
Johnson, Gordon M. as Primary Sponsor
Bramnick, Jon M. as Primary Sponsor
Evans, Elease as Primary Sponsor
Rodriguez, Caridad as Co-Sponsor
O'Scanlon, Declan J., Jr. as Co-Sponsor
Handlin, Amy H. as Co-Sponsor
Rible, David P. as Co-Sponsor
Chivukula, Upendra J. as Co-Sponsor
Diegnan, Patrick J., Jr. as Co-Sponsor
Casagrande, Caroline as Co-Sponsor
Wagner, Connie as Co-Sponsor
Kean, Sean T. as Co-Sponsor
Girgenti, John A. as Co-Sponsor
Van Drew, Jeff as Co-Sponsor
Bateman, Christopher as Co-Sponsor
Turner, Shirley K. as Co-Sponsor

More Information:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillView.asp

NJ Gubernatorial Election Update: Chris Daggett, Independent Candidate, Enters the Race

Today marks the announcement of the candidacy of Chris Daggett for Governor of New Jersey. Daggett today announced that he will be seeking office on an independent ticket, citing that over 50% of registered voters in New Jersey are registered as not affiliated to a political party, and that independent voters outnumber both Democrat and Republican voters by a large margin in the Garden State.

Daggett has just surpassed, by $10,000, the $340,000 raised funds mark to qualify for public election funding. This means that for every dollar that Daggett himself spends, the state will provide $3. Daggett will receive that funding as part of agreeing to some terms, including taking part in official debates.

Daggett believes that neither party has accurately reflected what New Jerseyans want in Trenton and that the political system is broken in its current partisanship.

More information at Chris Daggett's website: http://daggettforgovernor.com/wordpress/

Sources & Reading:
http://daggettforgovernor.com/wordpress/
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/nj_independent_candidate_for_g.html

Sarah Palin's Resignation as Governor of Alaska

On Friday, Sarah Palin shocked quite a few people by formally resigning from her position as Governor of Alaska. Citing personal reasons, Palin gave up her position in a similar fashion to her resignation from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) in 2004. When Palin resigned from AOGCC in 2004, the move helped launch her into a larger political spotlight.

Although Palin ran on a populist platform for Governor, and held extremely high approval ratings (generally in the 80s) for the beginning of her tenure as Governor, her popularity took a nosedive after her VP candidacy in the 2008 Presidential election. Democrats accused her of no longer working with them, and Republicans felt as alienated as well. Palin's approval ratings after the '08 election dropped into the 50s and never fully recovered.

The best take on why Palin may have done this is from TIME:

1) This resignation is a mirror of her move in 2004 with AOGCC
2) She no longer has bi-partisan support
3) She has introduced almost no bills, and only one made it to becoming law
4) Her national publicity has waned since the election, and this is to remind America of Sarah Palin
5) The enormous cost of defending herself against ethics violations is not worth being in office for.

Follow up below to read TIME's full article.

Sources & Reading
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1908800-2,00.html
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/obama/2009/07/06/republicans-perplexed-by-palins-resignation.html
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/06/1987086.aspx

Re-evaluating the drinking age @ WhiteHouse2.org

WhiteHouse2.org is....

Hollywood has the box office charts, television has the Nielsen's, college basketball has the ESPN/USA Today poll. Why don't we track our nation's priorities as closely?

White House 2 lets you set your own priorities for the United States. You'll get your own page, which you can send to friends and colleagues urging them to sign on to support your priorities.

The more people you encourage to endorse your priorities, the higher those priorities will rise on the site. And the more people who join the network, the more clout we will have with the President and the media to make our agenda happen.
(Source: Whitehouse2.org)

Head on over to the WhiteHouse2.org site to endorse asking President Obama to re-evaluate the 21 year-old drinking age.

Personal Democracy Forum 2009 Recap

Personal Democracy Forum (http://personaldemocracy.com) Wow. Instead of describing each session, as there are plenty of great summaries (search Twitter for #pdf09) I just wanted to note some thoughts:

Nate Silver brought up an interesting point in regards to the tea parties. Though he wasn't endorsing the content of those events, he certainly was impressed, and rightly so, at conservative organizing. He pointed out how it is in general more difficult for republicans to organize the way democrats do because they tend to live in rural areas - an interesting point that I hadn't thought about.

Blair Levin talked a bunch about how the FCC is changing to provide more access and accountability.

Vivek Kundra, the US Chief Information Officer presented the new federal IT Dashboard - a way to get information about money, investments, projects, budgets, contracts out to the American people. Really breakthrough concept & design - it.usaspending.gov.

Alex Ross, from the US State Dept., commenting on political organizing, said how drastic this culture is changing. No longer do you necessarily need a charismatic person who looks great on camera, etc. When organizing via Facebook or twitter, none of that really matters. This is interesting, as it is similar to much of what was talked about that seems as though technology is flattening the playing field of politics and political organizing.

The New York Senate Chief Information Officer presented the re-design of nysenate.gov, which is based on free, open-source software. This is a huge step, and hopefully an example for other state legislatures.


Overall, technology is going to be changing politics in ways that even now we literally can't imagine. So much happens so fast, and we are at the base of an exponential curve of improvement in tech. Looking even just at the role that Twitter has played recently in Iran, one must wonder what new platforms and technologies will be develop, even in the next few years, and how those new developments will impact government, politics and democracy.



Here is a list of the sessions/people I saw speak:

Opening Welcome, Andrew Rasiej and Micah L. Sifry

Did Obama Revolutionize Campaigning? A Conversation with Joe Rospars (Obama '08) and Mark McKinnon (McCain '08)

Keynote speech on how technology is improving government by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Reality Check: The Internet's Impact on Politics: A Conversation With Nate Silver, Fivethirtyeight.com

Powering the Youth Vote. Maria-Teresa Kumar of VotoLatino; Greg Miller of the Open Source Digital Voting Foundation; and Mike Connery of Future Majority

Mobile Politicking: From Text-Messaging Basics to Campaign iPhone Apps: Scott Goodstein, CEO - Revolution Messaging, LLC and External Online Director for Obama for America; Becky Bond, Political Director at CREDO Mobile and Working Assets; Nicola Wells, Organizer for FIRM, the Fair Immigration Reform Movement; Beka Economopoulos, Fission Strategy

PoliTech Demos: Tristan Harris of Apture, Stan Magniant of Linkfluence, Abby Kirigin of TipJoy

The Obama Broadband Initiative and the Future of the Internet: Opening Remarks by Blair Levin, FCC; Discussion with Josh Silver, Founder of Free Media; James Assey, Executive Vice President of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association; Hank Hultquist, Vice President, Federal Regulatory, AT&T Andrew Rasiej (moderator)

Innovation in Government, Obama-Style: Conversations With and Vivek Kundra, US Chief Information Officer; and Macon Phillips, White House New Media Drirector; introduced by Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist

Chairman Steele said, “Take the lid off”: The New GOP Web Presence, Todd Herman, new media director for the Republican National Committee

Social Networks and Social Revolutions, Randi Zuckerberg, marketing director at Facebook

21st Century Statecraft: Fostering Citizen-Centered Diplomacy and Development, Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation in the Office of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube Culture and the Politics of Authenticity, Michael Wesch, Professor at Kansas State University

The Dangerous Power of Sharing (Power), Mark Pesce, Inventer, writer

Mapping the Networked Public Sphere: How Blogs, Mainstream Media and Official Sources Interact: Ken Deutsch, Director of Strategic Services and Partnerships at Morningside Analytics; Stan Magniant, Vice President & General Manager of Linkfluence Vincent Ducrey, French Government new media director; Michael Cornfield, Vice President for Research and Media Strategy at 720 Strategies

PoliTech Demos: Andrew Hoppin, the CIO of NYSenate.gov, David Moore of OpenCongress, Benjamin Stein of MobileCommons and Tristan Harris of Apture


Final Plenary: Can We.gov? How? A Conversation With Rep. Steve Israel, (D-NY) Jack Dorsey, Creator, Chairman and co-founder of Twitter, Ellen Miller, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Sunlight Foundation and Joe Trippi, Democratic Campaign Strategist.

NJ Gubernatorial Election Update: Christie's Attacks on Corzine's Management of Economy Off-Base

Lately, Republic gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie has been lambasting current Governor Jon Corzine's leadership of the economy, using the high levels of unemployment as "proof" Corzine has failed New Jersey. Not so, says recently released numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Christie claims that it is Corzine's mismanagement of New Jersey's finances that have led to the current unemployment rate. However, one need only glance at the news any day to know that nationally, indeed globally, unemployment is reaching double digits in places that haven't seen such numbers in decades.

When it comes to New Jersey, which has a current unemployment rate of 8.8%, the Great State falls below the national average, which is at around 10%. Additionally, New Jersey is faring better than most states in terms of its current budget deficit and percentage change of foreclosures compared to years past. Corzine repeated this message at the Employer Legislative Committee Dinner on Tuesday saying, "Facts are stubborn things."

Yes, we can all agree the economy is not in a great place, but this is a world-wide issue, not solely a New Jersey issue. The fact that Christie, along with a few other New Jersey Republicans, actually wanted to refuse about 17.5 billion dollars in federal stimulus money does not inspire confidence that they posses the skills and commitment to see our state through recovery.

In terms of looking forward, and how best to help New Jersey climb out of this economic downturn, Jon Corzine is unarguably a financial expert. New Jersey is beginning shovel-ready projects, and putting New Jersey residents to work in building for our state. Would these same projects be happening under a different governor? Perhaps. It's hard to tell exactly what is Corzine's unique ability, and it is easy for Christie to be critical from the sidelines. Joe Biden said it best, however. At Corzine's campaign kickoff earlier this month Biden said, "Do you know who I called first when Barack and I sat down to write the US economic recovery package? I called Jon Corzine."

Considering Christie's lack of enthusiasm for literally taking money from the federal government, I don't believe he will be able to forge a successful relationship with the White House, which could potentially have large implications for our financial situation. But with a federal administration that has a better understanding of economic policy than our most recent past administration, I do enjoy the commitment between our Democratic governor and Democratic federal administration who have promised, and have already been shown, to work together to help not only New Jersey, but set the pace for the US to recover as well.

Sources & Reading:
http://www.politickernj.com/matt-friedman/30647/christie-and-corzine-give-dueling-speeches
http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/gapmap/index.htm
http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13107814