Dean 2008

I keep thinking Dean 2008. It might define me. As for money, Bill Gates once famously said, it is not like I am going to buy any more hamburgers or anything. Beyond a point, money is just numbers. And I am confident I can make what I need on the fly. Through online marketing, writing, guest appearances in movies, sitting on the boards of cutting edge tech companies, whatever. Money is no problem in the long run. I don't enjoy spending money, I really don't, and that might never change. I prefer the subway to cabs, and that might never change. The crowd is what I love about NYC. Why would I deprive myself? Ever since I got here, I have been plotting to get rid of my car.

But Dean 2008 might be the best way, the most efficient way, to ensure a total spread of democracy, the best thing that could happen to the dollar a day crowd. I am thinking a deadline here. Say Dean gets into the White House in 2008. And by 2020, every country on the planet is a democracy. JFK set his goal to take the country to the moon. Dean could pledge himself to global democracy.

With that vision, I can see me focusing on Dean 2008 single-mindedly starting from now. I wish there were no term limits. I really would have liked to go head-to-head with George Bush and Karl Rove. I am no Martin Luther King, I am no Mahatma Gandhi, I am Ninja.

I keep having this recurring dream of adding a Pentagon to the State Department. Dean gets into the White House, Barack Obama becomes Secreatary of State. And Obama sets up a peaceful Pentagon. An appendage that is constantly spewing out newer and better tools that grassroots movements for democracy may use worldwide. Both technological and organizational tools. It is war with communications technology. It is the bank robbery gone wrong scene in the movie Heat. This is a heavyweight boxing championship. I am feeling martial.

(Aug 07 '00 They Can Smell Each Other Opinion on Heat)

The next time I meet Dean, I am going to say something like this. "You have seen the James Bond movies. There is James Bond, and there is this old guy, who comes up with cool stuff, guns, cars, watches, pens, that James Bond gets to use to do his work. I am that old man. You are James Bond." Let me do my work.

In 2004, after the Deaniacs got massacred by old media, all Democrats in the field started copying the Dean style, but noone even tried to copy the Dean substance. That substance goes undefined. We have so far only defined it vaguely. Fiscally responsible, and socially progressive is a close approximation, but it does not cut it all the way.

I would like to talk about a One Person, One Vote, One Voice superstructure. Democracy has to be reinvented, like it was invented in 1776, like JFK invented the modern presidential campaign in 1960. Dean gets to reinvent both democracy and the presidential campaign, and then he gets to reinvent the whole idea of governance.

One Person. Every Homo Sapien within the geographical US has the option through DFA to get involved, to contribute, to truly count. Heck, the geographical line might not exist. What would stop an Australian or an Indian from coming online and contributing to our campaign's policy talk on, say, Social Security? Nothing. Our definition of a person is that he or she be a Home Sapien. For now. Them Hindus think non-humans also have souls. So you never know.

One Vote. A vertical hierarchy will have to emerge. We want to reinvent democracy, but we do not wish to invite chaos. There will have to be an organization with hierarchies. The organization will have a total, transparent democracy, and this Ninja preaches a non-violent militancy. But to speed up decisions, we will have the vote mechanism in place. When you can't reach a consensus, you vote, and then everyone gets behind the decision.

One Voice. Each person gets to speak his or her mind. Before you look for where the majority opinion is, you speak up. Preferably blog your opinions. At the one voice level, you don't care what the world thinks, you don't care what your comrades think. All you are concerned with is trying to figure out where you stand, and expressing that stand in the most clear way possible. Step 2 is still to submit yourself to the one person, one vote mechanism, or the consensus mechanism. But step 1 is all about you. And even if you get outvoted, and you still feel you are right, you get to keep polishing your stance, and whatever you say is still archived. It does not get washed away into thin air. Your voice gets archived online if you might so choose.

This superstructure is the democracy we are talking about. And I expect us to be only one step ahead of the competition. That is enough. And I do want us to be imitated. By our rivals within the Democratic Party, and by our Republican opponents. Because if they copy our one person, one vote, one voice superstructure, American democracy goes to a whole different level.

I am not too worried. Walmart is an open book company. When you go inside a Walmart you have seen their entire business model. Kmart and Target and all the rest of them have still not been able to beat Walmart. So don't get alarmed with the total, transparent democracy idea.

Dean 2008 just might clear my head. It might redefine me. It might get me focused like I never might have been before.

NYC is the crown city, DFNYC the crown jewel.

A total spread of democracy through indigenous, non-violent movements that receive maximal external moral and logistical support.

A Not So Little Norman Fact

I only learned yesterday Norman Siegel is Jewish. I mean, how do you know? I can't tell from his first or last name. I can't tell from his looks. There are people in my neighborhood who wear their cap, and have that hairstyle, and the Jewish clothes. That I can tell. But Norman?

All I knew was DFNYC was fanatically behind him. And I watched a debate where he scored real well for the most part: I think he won. And my earlier blog entry was not in any way designed to put him down. It is not adulatory, but I think that entry makes him look like the most deserving of the candidates.

A Little Siegel Incident

I met him yesterday, thanks to Tracey Denton, and I liked him a lot. We made small talk.

"You went to school in Georgia, I went to school in Kentucky."

"Really? Where? University of Kentucky?"

"No, a small school 30 minutes south of there. Berea."

"Oh, Berea. I know Berea. It is a good school."

That practically makes him a southerner. I mean, if he has heard of Berea.

He actually made a comical remark before parting: "Back to private practice!" He had a mischievous smile about him when he said that. I like that spirit among warriors. You give the contest your very best. And if you don't make it, you just dust it off. And move on.

I also learned Lewis is Jewish, the DFNYC Lewis. I can't tell from his looks. And I don't even know his last name yet. Although I am beginning to see a goofy side to him.

If I were on Norman's campaign staff, I would have advised him to handle the Betsy question about her stalker with a little more sensitivity. And post-debate, I'd have engaged in some damage control. I think saying that is being on Norman's side.

And I think he should have done a better job of integrating Tracey into his campaign. Tracey is a major plus. She is a political animal. She is sharp. She is nuts and bolts. She is good at the campaign thing. I have seen her in action. I mean, I have openly talked of her as the Campaign Chair for Dean 2008. Look at it this way. She leads the largest Dean group in the country. It is for a Deaniac to lead the Deaniacs. It would not be a bad idea to have a separate CEO and a CFO, but the chair has to be Tracey. I think. Bobby Kennedy was 35 when he became Attorney General. (Dean Was In Town Yesterday) Check out the photo. She looks like she is the candidate and Howard Dean and Fernando Ferrer are voters she is out to lock in.

And now that I know Norman is Jewish, I don't know what to make of this other DFNYC member's comment that Norman has fought for the right of Nazi groups to do this and that. I have been offered clarification by Tracey that Norman has been for the right of Nazi groups to express their opinions. That is a whole new fact that looks good on him. He is Jewish. He is a fierce civil rights lawyer. So he ends up supporting the rights of Nazis to talk hate. That is gutsy.

And Lewis. I like the guy. He is great. But when the local TV wanted a DFNYC comment on a mayoral debate, they did not get one of the two women Executive Directors. They got the Finance Director, the first male they could find in the hierarchy. To me that is so obviously sexist. It is a glass ceiling thing. I can't choose to not see these things. Although I do have a choice in terms of how I can react.

I feel like we as progressives should openly talk about these things. There is no point in being nice nice and sweeping things under the carpet. The dialogue can be positive. Dialogue is the most productive way to deal with these social schisms.

There is political progressive, and there is market progressive, and there is social progressive. Talking counts. Respectfully talking back and forth.

The Three Pillars

Claiming All The Real Estate For Myself

None of the other members are contributing. So I hereby boot them out.

• jonl
• Aldon Hynes
• Arthur
• Chi
• Rob Dickinson
• Rene' Wood
• David Baker

(When Web Hosting Is No Longer A Problem)