[Note: Soapbox ahead, proceed with caution]
I just had a great phone conversation with Pete Laney, former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, and a very sharp friend of his named Leslie. Mr. Laney has expressed interest in the MomoPolitics internet-application I'm trying to build (need help by the way if there are any engineers out there). The phone call was an attempt to get on the same page about how I can help him, and how he can help me. He confirmed my observations very eloquently (insert a Texas Panhandle accent here): "there is always a need for politicians to better access their constituency, and there is always a need for voters to better access the truth." That's exactly what MomoPolitics™ is all about.
It is my opinion that the political machine of the United States is still in the “dark ages” when it comes to utilizing technology to improve the political process; this observation comes from first-hand experience with the most advanced political tactics used during the 2006 Midterm Elections. Volunteers were summoned from all over the country to use information complied through techniques such as data-mining to micro-target literature, home visits, and phone calls to specific homes and individuals instead of entire neighborhoods, cities, or counties. Although this is considered cutting-edge political tradecraft, its effectiveness is still entirely dependent on manpower and financial resources. The information for data-mining about prospective voters must be purchased (i.e. from grocery store membership programs), expensive literature must be printed, the expenses of volunteers must be paid, and long hours of mundane work are required by both volunteers and candidates to market themselves and their beliefs.
Of course, there is another problem with traditional politics: it takes lots of time and effort from both voters and politicians. I'm a political junkie, but it's hard enough to keep abreast of the national elections, much less the state and local races. And now that Momo is foremost on my mind, I feel guilty for reading a political article at lunch instead of The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. I should be reading both anyway, right? Well thats what piles of books are for... Now imagine someone who works 80 hours a week (me! or you?) that doesn't like politics. An ill-informed voting public is not a matter of laziness; its a matter of priorities. Hmm, spend that one free hour of my day trying to figure out if Giuliani had anything to do with NYC's drop in crime, or watch my kid's baseball game? Tough choice. Especially for a single-issue voter. Voter: "Stop the illegal farming of waterlillies, no matter what!" Politician #1: "No problem, we'll just throw 'em all in jail!... (in a whisper) as long as you don't mind me cutting your farm subsidies too." Voter: "What was that?" Politician #1: "Don't worry about it." Ignorance is bliss, right? What Mr. Voter didn't get from that CNN newsbyte is that the lesser-known Politician #2 is actually going to increase his farm subsidies and try to stop illegal waterlilly farming by taking a more diplomatic approach. But that wasn't as exciting so it didn't get reported. Oh well.
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