Epistemic Ingemination

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NOTE: this blog is no longer active as of 12/07. New one: http://blog.kirchhof.com

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.

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Wed, 16 Mar 2005

I attended a conference with that title at SXSW yesterday. It was a very interesting discussion; primarily about the Democratic Party because the politics of the panel and the room leaned strongly in that direction. Many good points were made, and the nascent power of the Internet for fundraising was, of course, discussed. That's kind of a done deal since Howard Dean took control of the party, though.

I never got to ask my question, which would've been "why do the Dems keep hiring the same political consultants that consistently lose elections?" But one point was made that caught my attention. Political parties used to be very much a local affair. Discussions were had, ideas were aired, and decisions were made at the neighborhood level, and passed up through a series of caucuses. That is no longer the case. Now polling is the norm, and polling gets you no new ideas; it just affirms or rejects whatever question you ask.

So, no, political parties are not dead; they're, as panelist Glenn Smith said, like a dying tree -- still green on the outside, but hollow in the middle.

I came away with the conclusion that the Dems must put in place some mechanism for capturing and discussing, and incorporating grassroot opinion. It is where ideas come from; it is where relevancy comes from, and it is where votes come from. It is the very reason for the existence of a political party, and ironically, in the information age, they've lost their primary function.

A functional political party cannot, by definition, be a top-down hierarchy.

A very good panel. Almost an epiphany.

Posted at 10:49 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink] [Reload all] [E-mail]

Wed, 09 Mar 2005

Sorry for the silence...

Been one-armed-paper-hanger busy doing audio prep and logistics with everything else for SXSW. The craziness begins soon; expect an occasion update over the next ten days.

Posted at 15:59 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink] [Reload all] [E-mail]