10,000 Commandments

My colleague Wayne Crews over at CEI has some really interesting tidbits from his annual 10,000 Commandments report on this tax day.  I thought you guys would enjoy these:

•    3,503 new regulations took effect last year. The burden of government is heavier than ever.
•    How much does government cost?  Government is spending $3.518 trillion of our money and imposing another $1.187 trillion dollars in the form of regulatory compliance costs.
•    How much of our economic output should be eaten by regulatory costs?  Regulatory costs now absorb 8.3 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
•    What’s the federal government’s total share of the economy?  Regulations + spending combined puts the federal government’s share of the economy at over 30 percent.
•    Which do you think costs us more: individual income tax or regulations?  Regulations cost more than the income tax!
•    New rules that cost at least $100 million increased by 13 percent between 2007 and 2008.

-nick

How I Was Not Al Gored Into Submission

The Personal Democracy Forum Doesn’t Help Conservatives

Monday was a very long day here in New York City.? The Personal Democracy Forum Conference busted out of the gate bright and early and never seemed to slow.? The conference and its attendees are a cornucopia of ideas and innovation.? It certainly feels as if the applications built for and during the Obama campaign have spurred an entire new focus in the political realm.? I feel like I’m a fly on the wall of the office that invented grassroots mailers.? It certainly seems that we are witnessing the initial stages of a new era in politics.

Six month from now things will be very interesting.? The first campaigns since the 2008 presidential race will begin cranking their engines.? It will be the first big test as well.? Letting all of us evaluate who “got it” after the last go round.

One has to understand that when they attend these sorts of events that there is certainly a goal of objectivity.? The reason for attending is to discover the areas in which politics and technology are intersecting.? How is technology, or possibly more specifically, the Internet changing politics?? Are these changes creating the evaporation of results from the previous models?? If so, how do we incorporate these new tools into our area of politics to create new successful models?? That’s what we are hear to discover.

The reality though is that people that are passionate about anything can’t keep it from seeping out even when they are trying to hold back.? There is nothing wrong with this.? I take zero issue with individuals who wear their heart on their sleeve.? At least it’s out there.

But at some point a balance issue develops.? If panels are mostly chaired by a certain orientation of political enthusiast, the point of view is always the same.? If the audience to which they are speaking is of the same enthusiasm, then they are preaching to the choir.? The cheers and hardly applause comes because of political orientation and alignment and not because all political technology enthusiast share the same goals.

We don’t.

Case in point was the fine display of two sheep being led on stage for the final panel of the day.? The sheep, in the form of two teleco representatives, had their achille’s slit so that they couldn’t escape and then were promptly ritually massacred by the Picadores Josh Silver.? Silver, well known in tech policy circles for avoiding any concerns or facts outside of his own talking points was suburb in his beat down.? I honestly couldn’t tell if the teleco reps were ill prepared or just trying to play the saint for the audience, the obvious antagonist.

But why was this happening?? Silver has a particular motivation and a goal, and not one with which all parties in the tech policy community would agree.? Why was no one with a differing point of view sitting on this panal?? Not to defend the telecos, but to ask questions from a differing foundation, or to call Silver’s bluff.? Where was Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, or Adam Thierer who started Technology Liberation Front?? Where was Timothy B. Lee, CATO fellow and Ars Technica contributor? (Who in my humble opinion has hands down written the best scholarly explanation of network neutrality available.? Which is mighty humble of me, if I do say so, considering I’ve written on it myself.)

I did appreciate hearing the audience gleefully suck up every drop the FCC commissioner Blair Levin had to say; especially the part where he told us that they were creating a plan.? Really? The plan he is referring to of course is the National Broadband Strategy which comes due in February of 2010.? What hardly anyone knows though is that the US Department of Agriculture who has used the Rural Utilities Services (RUS) division to improve broadband distribution in the past has been awarded funds for distribution from the stimulus.? RUS plans to distribute its roughly $2.5 billion by September 30th, 2009.? The National Telecommunications and Information Administration?who received the bulk of the broadband stimulus funds?will hand out their dollars in three phases occurring Spring of 2009, Fall of 2009, and Spring of 2010.

Spend first, formulate your plan later, Mr. Levin?? Sort of seems counterproductive to planning at all.

Conservatives are boned at PDF 2009.? There is certainly not enough representation amongst panel members.? Some of this is absolutely not the fault of Personal Democracy Forum.? We are under a liberal Administration, and that administration appoints liberal bureaucrats.? An invite to Robert McDowell or Meredith Attwell Baker would have been nice.? Maybe they were invited, and turned it down.? This too is a possibility.? At least Cas Sunstein with his Fairness Doctrine-esque “electronic sidewalks” for the Internet isn’t present.

I’m not laying the wood to PDF.? Yes, from initial indications it doesn’t appear that the ideological sides are well balanced, and possibly they don’t know where to look.? The real trouble however is the attendees.

The Personal Democracy Forum doesn’t help conservatives.? Because conservatives aren’t there to be helped.

The numbers are simply overwhelming.? I’d guestimate that the attendance is somwhere close to one thousand.? I’d also venture to say that there are roughly five conservatives there.? And I’m incorporating the one libertarian I saw with a Ron Paul button.

I’m dismayed.

I know these folks are out there.? I’ve written about them.? So where are they?? After this past Fall why aren’t ogles of people from the right side of the aisle on Capitol Hill all over this event?? Did the speakers shy them away?? I don’t really think so.? I’m a strong conservative-libertarian, and have been for years.? And while there are a few people in the speaker list that irk me on the average day, I wouldn’t let them keep me from attending when the majority of lectures and panels are simply focused on an examination of content in some form, a discussion of getting content to an audience, or about tools to help you be more efficient and productive.

This is subject matter that conservatives need to hear.? Maybe PDF needs to market themselves more to conservative circles on the web?? Possibly all conservatives on the web are poor and couldn’t afford to attend?? It could be that conservatives don’t fit in with all the Apple fan boys present at the conference.? If there were more Dell owners then it might have been more balanced.

All thought provoking questions.

These are just initial reactions.? I’m sure I will be thinking more about it into the second day of the event as I look for reasons for the paltry representation.

Secretly though, I think the liberals in the crowd are ecstatic.? Why wouldn’t they be?? It’s like someone serving up a box of free gold to anyone who shows up at the box and takes the gold.? And only liberals are showing up, so they get to take home all the gold.

You can’t teach a dead dog new tricks.? And you certainly can’t expect to win a fight you don’t show up to.

Very much looking forward to Tuesday.

-nick

Al Gore Starring in Apple’s 1984 Super Bowl Ad

Conservatives Just Don’t “Get It”

You’ve heard this right?  Conservatives just don’t “get it” when it comes to technology, social networking, and Internet marketing.

Really?

I’m so sick of hearing this.  What secret technology recipe do Dems and liberals hold in this medium?  What have they done that is so damn special?  Everywhere I turn I’m being fed this line about how liberals have cornered the market on online politics.  Why?  Because the Obama campaign used Twitter, Facebook, and put a donate button on their campaign website? Please…

MoveOn.org is certainly a big player in some areas of webspace, and they have no equal in the conservative cybersphere…yet.  TheVanguard.org argues that they will be the conservative answer to Moveon.  This is a promise we have heard before, so I will remain cautiously optimistic.  But while we are on the subject, what is it that MoveOn has on it’s website that is so mind blowingly special?

I circled it for you in case you are a conservative/libertarian that just doesn’t “get it”:

The MoveOn page is filled with rhetoric and articles.  As an aside if you look closely you will pick out blatant misleading numbers all on one page. Their email sign up claims 4 million members.  The article under “Success Stories” claims 5 million members in the title.  While just under the title the actual story print claims 4.2 million members.  I wish my boss paid me an extra 80% on every 20% of the dollar I made.  But I digress.

The big FTW that liberals all other the Internet sipping their techno-lattes are getting all worked up about is how many email addresses MoveOn has collected via what boils down to a newsletter sign up box, a donate button, and a graphic icon link to their Facebook and YouTube fan sites.  That’s it folks.  That’s what the big liberal Net geniuses  are walking around heads in the clouds over.  High-five guys! You conquered the Internetz!

What is the actual gain from this?  MoveOn had close to $60 million in donations in 2004, and unless usual donors took their money straight to Obama, it’s safe to assume that the number was close to that in 2008.

While not in direct competition, The Heritage Foundation had a similar endowment in 2008 and also holds a similar size contact list.  Being that Heritage is a think tank, and not a social club, many of their priorities are different.  But there endowment certainly allows them to compete in the same spaces that a group like MoveOn is battling for ground in.

But what are the real numbers here?  Why can’t conservatives compete in the webspace like they do in talk radio in meatspace?  Why don’t we get it?  What aren’t we getting?

WHAT WE DON’T GET IS THAT WE HAVE BOUGHT INTO A LIE THAT WE “DON’T GET IT”.

… in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.

?Adolf Hitler , Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X

Look at the numbers:

MoveOn is winning the Facebook war.  That’s pure Paris Hilton “hot” right there.  You guys can trade pictures and make cute references to the Messiah’s newest portrait in your status bar.  But Facebook isn’t the only application in webspace.  Liberals claim to be controlling everything.  But the numbers don’t add up.  The DNC less than half the subscribers or channel views than the much webspace belabored RNC on YouTube.  And the RNC easily rivals MoveOn in YouTube channel subscribers, falling behind by only 500 subscribers, but actually having 65,000 more views of channel content.  And Twitter, the Internet rage that is constantly talked about by liberals like they invented it is completely dominated by conservative and libertarian organizations!  In fact MoveOn and the DNC don’t even have representation on Twitter.  And let’s not even discuss individual members of Congress’ Twitter or Facebook adherence.  They all have them.  No one has an advantage.

So why are liberals and media outlets always saying that conservatives “get it”?  Because of Obama.

The Obama campaign’s technology effort which receives ravenous attention didn’t invent these applications or even use them any differently than anyone else in the conservative movement, with the exception of my.barackobama.com which allowed individuals to organize local events online.  Ultimately a brilliant strategy.  But It is no secret that Obama implemented an 18 month online social networking strategy, while John McCain simply pushed hard at the end, running what amounted to be a 72 hour “get out the vote” train wreck.  The reality of what happened last year was that Obama’s team produced an in depth Internet strategy from the very beginning.  The Internet was not just a webpage used to promote his candidacy and explain his policies.  It was used to connect like minded individuals through various ranges of social networking.

This isn’t something new to conservatives and libertarians.

It was new to John McCain’s campaign staff and John McCain.  And by the time McCain got on board with a decent Internet strategy, that ship had sailed, and Obama’s web presence was rolling down a mountain like a Mac truck with no brakes.  When liberal pundits are issuing their insults toward the other sides comprehension and use of Internet applications, they are thinking of the Obama campaign specifically, and not the broad strokes.  What Obama did with technology and did early was a great move.  But the uses of tech in his campaign was not some secret cauldron of witch brew which only liberals had the necessary skills to use.  Conservatives have been using the same tools for years.  And when we saw them being used by Obama and used successfully, we were sitting around all thinking, “This stuff should be obvious, we are all using it, why isn’t McCain.”  Conservatives have it right.  They’ve “got it”. In fact if you want a closer look at how well they get it, look to efforts like CEI’s openmarket.org, bureaucrash.com, globalwarming.org, or the Heritage Foundation’s stopspendingourfuture.org, 33-minutes.com or their joint venture ReadTheStimulus.org.  Or try RedCountry.com, RedState.com, TopConservativesOnTwitter.com (#tcot), atr.org (Americans for Tax Reform), netrightnation.com; these go on forever.

The RNC’s loss of Cyrus Krohn is a tough blow.  But you can’t build an empire with one hammer.  And furthermore, the duties of the RNC specifically does not necessarily need to be creating and implementing new widgets and whatzits.  It needs to be making sure that the next candidate is.  If the RNC was behind at some point then let’s be clear, the RNC is not the conservative movement.

Realistically, there is also more to the story.  While conservative get technology and use it effectively, the last campaign was riddled with problems.  Mixed messages and feelings over the Bush policy, the party being sporadic with their message, and many conservatives feeling like they were being left behind and no strong voice to represent their political ideology.  At the same time, Democrats were very united.  Not by Twitter or Facebook, but by a common theme, ‘Paint McCain as another Bush — No more Bush!”

For conservatives to rebound, and additionally re-capture the votes of moderates and libertarians they don’t need to just use technology well.  Getting a lot of followers on Facebook or Twitter will not win an election.  Conservatives need a unified voice, a return to traditional conservative values, and a common theme.

Which they have found, in Obama.

-nick

?I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.  Some come from ahead and some come from behind.  But I’ve bought a big bat.  I’m all ready you see.  Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!?

Gateway Neutrality

I have a new post up on CEI’s openmarket.org blog on Net Neutrality.? It discusses how the stimulus plan will force regulated net neutrality on any network built with government funding.? And theorizes on how this may lead to neutrality proponents having an easier time forcing regulation legislation through Congress in the years to come.

Gateway Neutrality: Just a Taste

-nick