Category: Uncategorized (Page 8 of 49)

Rep. Hunt’s letter from this morning:

State needs program to reach young voters

The Olympian’s article on the recent mock student election underscores the concern many of us have about the “political literacy” of the next generation of voters. All of us should be alarmed that only 4.4 percent of eligible 18- to 21-year-olds in Thurston County – the seat of our state government – actually vote.

Even more alarming is the fact that young people don’t participate in civic processes because, as the article points out, they don’t understand or feel comfortable with such processes.

That’s why I have asked my fellow state legislators to join me in urging Gov. Chris Gregoire to include sufficient funds in the 2007-09 state budget to support a public-private effort to develop a student election and civic education program.

The prototype for such a program would be hands-on, Internet driven and age-appropriate to capture and hold student interest. The goal will be to promote a practical familiarity with actual campaign and election “mechanics,” not just the philosophical underpinnings of our system of government. In my view, this will encourage greater participation when such students reach voting age.

Thank you for highlighting this issue in your paper, and I urge you and your readers to join us in supporting this effort.

Rep. Sam Hunt, 22nd Legislative District

Maybe this is one more thing for us to talk about when we get around to talking next week.

I like the idea of teaching civics via the internet (and here), so I think a TVW like effort (a non-profit funded by the state) would work.

I also like that he started with the example of voting, but broadened his argument to “great participation,” implying that it isn’t just voting we should be worried about, but rather deeper participation like lobbying local government, civil discussion and organizing (boy that sounds heavy).

This is something I noticed a couple of days ago, but a visitor who googled “Terry Thompson political consultant” and stumbled upon my post about Terry Thompson not understanding blogs reminded me to write about it.

When you look for Terry on the internet (with either “Olympia” or “political consultant” attached to it) you get my post about him way before you find a link to his own website. The reason for this is that Terry hasn’t taken the proper steps to increase his google page rank.

Of course, his page should be the first one you find when you search “Terry Thompson Olympia” or especially “Terry Thompson political consultant,” but they’re not.

What you find is some jerk bad-mouthing him.

Sigh.

A few years ago the UK began a major technological push in their national government that included a Local E-Democracy section, which according to David Wilcox of Designing for Civil Society, are coming into their own. This can happen here too.

Which may explain the reaction of an outgoing Brit pol to internet citizens:

Taylor also compared British citizens to “teenagers” and suggested that they could be “caricatured as being increasingly unwilling to be governed but not yet capable of self-government.”

Talk about condescending!

I’m sure from the perspective of a politician sitting at the center of what used to be a top-down system of authority, the flowering of public voices online can’t be pleasant. But Taylor ought to realize that he is blaming the public for a system that was designed by politicians to keep the public out, with the result that we think the worst of them. If people seem unruly and disrespectful, maybe it’s because the politicians aren’t using the internet to let them in and share in understanding how government works and can be reworked.

I think I’m contributing at Washblog by not doing any out of the box thinking.

Two more posts from today and yesterday, one digesting the posts on why Darcy lost, the other on Mike!

What I’m trying to do is replicate, to the best of my ability, what Carl was doing at Washington State Political Report, but different. I’m not sure how yet, but you can probably see.

If you want a good rundown on what Blue Tigers all are about and why Michigan becoming the first state to partner with them, watch this… uh… radio conversation.

I’m writing Dwight this morning to ask him what he thinks.

Wow, poking around the internet for a few minutes and I stumble upon the mother load of Blue Tiger videos. The following are parts of a talk on Internet Giving and Civic Engagement, but before that, read this section of the press release announcing the new arrangement between Blue Tiger and the Michigan Democrats:

The Michigan Democratic Party and Blue Tiger Democrats perceive the lack of respect and credibility for politicians and political parties to be a paramount problem.

Consider this:

• From 2000 to 2004, there has been a 21% increase in the number of self-identified independents;
• Membership in state and local political organizations has been cut in half over the
past forty years while financial contributions have increasingly replaced time commitment;
• 70% of all funds raised go to television advertisements that generally hurt the credibility of political parties; and
• $1.6 billion in 2004 campaign contributions went to political advertisements while nearly nothing went to local civic engagement.

The videos are three parts of a presentation and group discussion. If you follow this link to one of the videos, you should be able to find plenty of other videos of Blue Tiger activities in the sidebar.

I know I’ve said in the past that those Blue Tigers need to do a better job on the internet, but it is just sad that it has taken me so long to find these videos.

I need to do a better job keeping an eye on their site. The movies where here all along, but I wouldn’t have missed them had the Blue Tigers launched a blog.

Will Washington be the second? Probably not, we don’t get much for Blue Tiger Democrats up in these parts, but I love their mantra of “sending money to local organizations to serve their community and build the base.”

Here is Blue Tiger chair’s Bill Samuels’ Kos Diary on his Wyoming Trip (where the deal with Michigan was announced).

Said the Michigan party chieftain:

“Despite the gains the Democratic Party made in the midterm elections, many people still do not believe either party cares much about them. Our goal is to regain respect for the Democratic Party and for the political process.” Brewer said. “The Michigan Democratic Party is committed to making civic engagement an integral part of our state organization. By giving Democrats things to do between elections and providing meaningful services we Democrats can show citizens that parties want to engage them more than just on election day.”

This is beyond YouTube election stuff and moves us beyond “The revolution will not be televised.” Blue Tiger Dems suggest a way to move the party to the future where the old media won’t really matter and social connections will be the most important aspect of our organizations.

More on Michigan:

Samuels and Brewer were to give a presentation to the Association of State Democratic Chairs around 7 p.m. EST Friday on Michigan’s success with a Blue Tiger pilot project it ran this year. Brewer is president of the national organization, which is meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

The state party helped low-income Michigan residents in 10 of the poorest areas of Detroit and nearby Macomb County learn ways to be more energy efficient and lower their utility bills. The program reached more than 28,000 people, helping some families save more than $1,000 each, Brewer said.

He noted the outreach is important because too many people think the political parties don’t care about them except to get their votes. He wants to make the Democratic Party appealing not just for its candidates and principles but because it’s involved in improving citizens’ lives.

The Blue Tiger idea (as suggested by a commenter over at Michigan Liberal) is hauntingly similar to the Dean Corps idea that grew out of Dean for America. It was a good idea then, and I’m surprised honestly it hasn’t changed more local organizations.

I’ve been listening to Radio Open Source (donate here) consistently for about two months now. I always tried to listen to the show, since I fell in love with its format for a year and a half, but getting an mp3 player made the difference for me.

What I like about it is that they have, and use, a blog. They solicit audience input through the blog, asking “what should we ask?” and “Who should we ask,” and every month they have a thread on “What shows should we have.” In one week they used my suggestions to have on Kari Chisolm (Montana Senate show), Daniel Kemmis (Experiments in Democracy), and Noah Feldman (Somalia). My efforts earned me a t-shirt (score!).

Anyway, since I’ve started listening to the show and getting used to contribute on the blog, I’ve been wondering why other radio shows don’t pick up this format. Allowing listeners (the people formerly know as the audience) to conversate about whatever topic seems like a good thing.

So, in addition to the email I’m going to send to KUOW’s Weekday about Monday’s topic on Civic Engagement, I’m going to suggest they launch a blog, hire a blogger and follow the Open Source way. Washington is a bloggy state, we had more suggestions to Since Sliced Bread than any other state, per resident. We have a vibrant blogging community, we have political reporters who blog. We also have a major newspaper editorial board that lets you have a conversation on the next day’s editorials.

We should have more open source media.

Not what I hope to do long term at Washblog (more of a Daily Glean meets WSPR), but I think my first post fits more up there than down here.

Maybe there are some things, like the post 9-11 flag craze, getting all excited about the Yankees that just don’t travel all the way out West. One of these things could be overall dislike for George W. Bush, and maybe that is why Darcy Burner lost.

(Though, I like the grassroots argument that if there had been a couple of candidates in the 5th LD that it would have provided more room for Darcy. But, I digress.)

According to SurveyUSA, the top three “blue” states in terms of not hating Bush so much are Hawaii, New Hampshire and Oregon. Fourth is Washington State where Bush has a 37 percent approval rating, right around the national average.

New Hampshire is the last of the New England States that could be considered Republican, when there used to be those of Republicans. But, the other three states can only be explained because they’re the last states you hit before you land in Japan (aside from Alaska).

Essentially, I’m arguing that folks in the 8th CD just didn’t really buy into the anti-Bush mantra of of the on-air Burner campaign. Because of where we are, three hours behind all the jibber-jabber back east, things happening back there don’t seem to have the impact they would have in say New Hampshire (whose two sitting congressmen got booted).

Also, I’m wondering about Alex Alben.