And I don’t think either lazy or indifferent applies, but, Erick, I didn’t read beyond the second paragraph, and then my eyes fell on the very last line as I clicked down to the next article.

Then it struck me. How ironic: what I’m assuming is a rant against bureaucracy and “white papers” (probably a safe assumption, not having read even half of it) and the damage they do in stifling creativity within the movement was itself on a white background, and was too long to hold the attention of this internet-savvy, politically minded reader.

Just sayin.

I am kinds disgusted that the RNC can’t even get a website together. Thankyou Eric though, for wanting to solve this.

A lesson I learned from the left: successful technology use by the left has little, if anything, to do with central party leadership. Individual grassroots efforts (albeit incredibly well-funded) such as DKos and MoveOn have successfully used current technology to actually overtake the DNC in terms of setting the agenda for that side of the isle and winning the loyalty (or maybe vassalage?) of elected officials.

The time is coming where we simply have to choose to ignore the RNC and focus on individual efforts like the kind you present here. What I’d like to hear is: what kind of “micro-projects” are you proposing? Are they going to be part of a larger, cohesive project?

Unfortunately I am just one of those dumb Microsoft Admins….lol…Well if you are ever in need of a good SMS guy let me know…you know where to find me.

Seriously though, great idea. I like that you are standing up and taking the initiative that our leaders should be taking.

BTW I went to my first State Republican Committee meeting here in VT….it’s a rather libertine bunch up here. Should be a fun time. Thanks for all of the encouragement and lessons via RedState over the past year or so and good luck in this endeavor, I hope you find some good people!!

Because this is how the government thinks, and how large scale development of mission assured projects is done. Success in the Internet is driven by the commercial model, which spends less time on requirements analysis and more time on producing products.

The RNC wants to be in the business of running the government, so their instincts are antithetical to the commercial model. It’s quite different if you are building things that people die if you get it wrong.

I wish I was more inclined toward writing web apps. I typically grab something ready made like Word press as is used here, then hack it to make it do what I want it to do.

I share your frustration Erick.

I am web developer of over 15 years. I have seen lots of great tech ideas go nowhere during the dot com boom. I can write all kinds of wiz bang app using current languages and technology, but they are worthless if no one wants to use them. They become the lite rail projects of the Internet.

My question is what effort is being made to analyze the human element to determine what the problem is? I have a number of other thoughts, but this is the biggest obstacle I see to success.

Thoughts?

Yes, it is a big statement, and I agree with the premise that Twitter/Facebook/Ning or any other variant is not the correct path; however, neither is trying to “out internet” the Democrats.

We already know that lefty’s in general will place a huge amount of faith in what is delivered via internet, just look at the size of their blogs. Inversely, the Republicans in general do not turn to the internet for a supportive push on their positions, but as a learning tool; really no different then MSM.

Additionally, social networking has not caught on to a large degree with the now 30+ crowd; shunned for more important activities like working and living. This will change, but not to the degree that Democrats embrace the medium. That must be understood.

What must be developed is internet based message delivery mechanisms which integrate the core conservative philosophy into a common and repeated message. Just like the Contract With America was a unified message, our efforts must be similar.

We here at RS are “just like” our counterparts on the left. We like, immerse and involve ourselves in blogs and social media. But we really are the exception to the rule for conservatives.

Conservative message delivery.

And I read the whole thing. Of course you know I can’t even post pictures or links in blogposts, so obviously I’m not your target audience, but I support you in theory.

And I’ll support you guys with money as long as hubby and I can keep our jobs and pay our bills.

Proper grammar saves lives.

Let’s eat Grandma.
Let’s eat, Grandma.

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Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots

I see a whole LOT of people looking for ways to take hold of the political process and make it work to suit our ends. The shock and depression of the last couple of months is largely wearing off and there is a huge amount of energy present and the energy levels are growing rapidly. The problem for most people is that there are not a lot of places to expend that energy where the impact is positive and measurable. That leads to a danger: If outlets are not rapidly developed to allow people to become active in solving the mess we as a country are in, the energy will dissipate back into depression and malaise.

The Republican and conservative organizations are mostly in a shambles. Nothing new in that observation. RedState has been talking about that pretty much forever. Mr. Steele, for whom I had high hopes, does not seem to be driving the party in the direction they need to be driven. Maybe it shouldn’t be his role. The Democrat resurgence of the last several years was not driven by Howard Dean or any of the other top Dem operatives, although they participated and cooperated. The driving forces were decentralized: Kos, moveon.org, democratic underground, etc., and myriad other groups. What the central party did, largely, was to coordinate, cheer on and I am confident, coordinate resources, although a lot of that was probably below the radar.

Erick’s ideas seem to me to be one of the important directions. The GOP and the conservative movement needs robust, well-developed tools. But it also needs immediacy. If the millions of dissatisfied Republicans, independents, Democrats, conservatives, moderates and liberals can get quick access to networks and avenues to communicate and share their dissatisfaction, their knowledge and their ideas, they will begin to coalesce into a group. If conservatives can provide intellectual input to these networks, then they can influence the tenor of the discussion. Personally, I don’t see most of the people I described spending a lot of time on a “Republican website”. Why should they? They are not Republicans. But they are part of the growing dissatisfaction with the current status quo. If welcomed into the tent, they could be part of the coalition that takes back our country. That is where I see the potential for tools like Twitter. They are not big, robust, institutional “Republican” places. The non-Republicans do not have to compromise their own self-image to join a discussion. They just have to be captured by an idea or a message long enough to be nudged in the direction of a discussion.

So drive on with the call for developers, but please let’s not get lost in the long range development and the big stuff. To me, that can be “white paper” country, too.

Erick,

I appreciate your comments and your effort in heading this up at Red State. I think you’re right in that you have a great, conservative community that could be the catalyst that this needs to succeed.

I have zero trust in the RNC. These are the people who told “Finance Boot Camp” attendees that Rule #1 was to get all of their donors to max out. Great advice. What’s Rule #2? The people that have worked there over the years seem to have zero experience with real world experience on a political grassroots campaign.

I understand your push to bring in the technologists, because the Good Lord knows we need them. My main bone of contention is this: all of the “shiny” new tools will be totally worthless if no one knows how to use them or if no one actually mobilizes because of them.

I am NOT saying that it shouldn’t be done – far from it. But I would ask you to define the terms of what you would like to accomplish.

A huge online presence is useless if nothing results from it. It would absolutely have to mobilize Conservatives to the front-lines of the war.

Erick, you have often encouraged us (and rightly so) to step away from the keyboard and get active. As a campaign veteran, I love that advice! But I think it’s important to realize that campaigns have evolved from the traditional campaign activities (parades, yard signs, phone calls) to now include online activism.

I would love to see something that would mobilize all of the Conservatives online to make a difference in their local politics by engaging in conversation on the blogs of their local newspapers, etc. Make the argument in the place that it can affect the decision of an actual voter.

I have 12+ years of experience working on campaigns with various candidates and county parties so that is where my understanding lies and from which my comments are springing. I have long been fascinated by the intersection of the internet and politics. I do understand the utilization of the internet in political causes, primarily the mobilization of the activists, because I have done it. After all these years, I am thrilled that the likes of Twitter and Facebook have finally come along to strengthen the ability to mobilize. Are they the answer to everything? No, but they are another instrument in waging a strong fight.

But, and I know this may be difficult to fathom, I’m finding that before I can use these tools, I have to do the job of teaching people they exist and how they can help. Facebook is finally coming along for mobilization but people still look at me funny when I talk about this thing called Twitter.

Can they learn? Absolutely! And that’s why I’m working on a local level to teach others how to use these tools for Party building. I’d encourage others here to do the same — work with your Conservative candidates and Party leaders.

No matter the product produced from this current effort, we will need evangelists to help implement it.

The discussion needs to be had: are we trying to reach online people and organize them? Or are we trying to reach Conservatives in general and mobilize them? Whatever the answer is will necessarily guide the development and predict the success of any such tool.

Conway’s Law

…organizations which design systems … are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations[1]

Variants include:

• Any piece of software reflects the organizational structure that produced it.

Unfortunately, it’s not just that the RNC is technically incompetent. The bigger issue is that, when push comes to shove, the RNC is incentivized to serve the needs of the top-down RNC, not the grass roots.

Erick, you are spot on. And many others feel the same way and are already taking action.

We don’t have an Action Center yet, but there is a group coding on it now. So far our team has over 24 members. We are open to your input. As a matter of fact, ‘Open’ is the first word in the name of the project:

Open Action Center

Now the web address I will give below is not the Action Center itself – it does not exist yet; we are coding on it now.

The web address below is the communication and admin work space for the team that is coding the project. Ning is nearly perfect for the team coordination function, but it’s not the product we are working on.

There is a non-functioning dummy of one unadorned, non-functioning illustration of what an action center might look like. More than anything else, it’s a somewhat complete ‘illustration’ of how all complete functions of an action center might be tied together.

If you visit, please DO click on the ‘dummy-up’ link near the top of the opening page, then click the ‘Call’ button. Click all the other controls made available on the dummy… then imagine that if it were real.

That’s what we are working on, although I expect the presentation to be very different.

And we are very, very open to your suggestions and needs.

http://gopguerrillas.ning.com

I hope all of you will join and offer your suggestions, and even code or moderate on the project if you can. We still lneed lots of help! Right now the conversation focuses partly on trust/privacy/security/abuse and more thoughts are needed on that topic right away. You input is not only welcome, it is essential to our success.

Ron Robinson
Open Action Center

At least once my schedule clears up a bit. I’m 10+ years in PHP / MySQL with specialties Drupal, WordPress and Symfony. I like where you’re going with this, and can’t wait to see what comes of it.

nt