My Dwindering Thoughts

the importance of being a tangent

while i usually use this blog as a collection of images and videos that i find interesting, i am going to make a small tangential pit stop to discuss with you something that is near and dear to my heart.

its not a secret that our country is in dire straits. everywhere you look, the sad state of our country is staring you in the face. be it from newspaper articles (i am quite the news junkie) to the commercials on tv. IM TALKING ABOUT YOU PLANET FITNESS..AND BALLYS TOTAL FITNESS…as much as i want to continue ranking on those ads - i’ve been listing annoying miserable ads on twitter…ill save that for another tangent.

what can we do about this sorry sad state of affairs? im sure that there are many people out there who feel that there is nothing they can do. after all, when have the “little people” aka “citizens” ever had any real power. sure, we get to vote - but your average person doesn’t have the means or the power that lobbyists and special interests groups do.

enter gov 2.0.

government 2.0 is something that i learned about on twitter from my dear twitter friend adriel hampton (@adrielhampton). the basic idea being the opening up the lines of communication between government officials and the rest of us — or “citizen 2.0”. and by opening, i mean lighting up a bunch of C4 and blowing up the boundaries and hoops one has to go through to get ones voice through. (not literally obviously. C4 and blowing things up is bad). gov 2.0 will allow for direct communication between representative and representee. it will also create transparency in government - as being entirely in the public and engaging with the public will facilitate total accountability. (that idea is one posited by tim o’reilly (@timoreilly). in fact, gov 2.0 will add a new type of check/balance to the system. as the people will be empowered and able to call out their representatives.

so far, the obama administration has embraced the idea of gov 2.0. between the very interactive website, the twittering of president obama (though it is ghostwritten), the twitter account @askthepresident to which anybody submit questions, to the town hall meeting that happened a few weeks ago - where the questions were submitted and voted on by the public. all this is great, but gov 2.0 has yet to reach its maximum potential.

which brings us back to adriel hampton. adriel is your really typical average guy. he lives in san fransisco, takes public transportation to work everyday, has a wife and two kids. he doesn’t come from a powerful family. he doesn’t come from wealth. and yet adriel is extraordinary. he is the type of person who sees a problem and needs to fix it. sees a hole and wants to fill it. sees something that can be improved and wants to work to improve it. and thats why he decided, against all odds, to run for congress. adriel is currently running for the CA10 congressional seat. he announced his campaign on twitter. he posts his ideas and platforms both on his blog and on twitter. he engages with people, finding out what they want, what they need. and he doesn’t just care about the people who he represents. he cares about the entire country. yes, if he wins, he will represent his district, but he will also keep on engaging with the general public and sees his role in government as part of a larger picture.

i dont live in california. quite the opposite, im in ny. but adriel is somebody whom i believe in. somebody that i really feel can take gov 2.0 to the next level. somebody who will do good by his country.

check out his blog at www.adrielhampton.com

end tangent…