Monthly Archives: September 2009

Stories of Now

Posted on by
Reply

From Marshall Ganz’s lectures on organizing:

Stories of “now” articulate a challenge we face now, the choice we are called upon to make, and the meaning of “making the right choice”, in particular the hope that may be there. Stories of “now” are really stories set in the past, present and future. The challenge is now; we are called upon to act now because of who we have become, a legacy of the past; and the action that we take can shape a desired future. These are stories in which we are the protagonists. We face a crisis, a challenge. It’s our choice to make. And, if it is a story of hope, there’s hope if we make the right choice. It’s not a sure thing, but there’s hope… and it’s the right thing to do. The story teller among us whom we have authorized to “narrativize” this moment finds a way to articulate the crisis as a choice, reminds us of our moral resources (our stories, stories of our family, our community, our culture, our faith), and offers a hopeful vision we can share as we take our first steps on the journey.

Time for tax reform in Washington State

Posted on by
Reply
County government simply isn’t sustainable, anywhere in the state, and no amount of focus on budget priorities is going to fix this over the long term. At some point, voters are going to have to accept that the level of revenue they are providing simply isn’t sufficient to support the level of services they’ve come to want and expect. But we’ll never have that painful conversation until our elected officials are willing to start it.

via HorsesAss.Org

Krugman on Climate

Posted on by
1

Paul Krugman has a great column on climate change today.  This leapt out at me.

“For three decades the dominant political ideology in America has extolled private enterprise and denigrated government, but climate change is a problem that can only be addressed through government action. And rather than concede the limits of their philosophy, many on the right have chosen to deny that the problem exists.”

And, not parenthetically:

“We can afford to do this. Even as climate modelers have been reaching consensus on the view that the threat is worse than we realized, economic modelers have been reaching consensus on the view that the costs of emission control are lower than many feared.”

Noted in brief – 9/24/2009

Posted on by
1
  • TechNerd Interviews McGinn
  • Silicon Valley Hyperbole and What It Means to Really Change the World - if people are really, really interested in where the next generation of truly disruptive innovation is going to come from, it’s not Silicon Valley. At least not this iteration. If people really want to see the next generation of disruptive innovators, they need to look at the thousands and thousands of undergraduates all around the country who are taking advantage of new opportunities to get abroad. They need to look at the students who are coming face to face with poverty, injustice, and all of the warts of an unfair world, and are returning to restless nights where they realize they can’t do nothing.It’s these students – and after 7 years at Northwestern University I know just how their numbers are increasing – who have the intensity, the passion, and the absolute total and utter unwillingness to not succeed that will help them create the organizations, and yes, products, that will really change the world.
  • Most Interesting Start-up of the Year? The Federal Government
  • Slacktivism and the division of labor

Noted in brief – 9/23/2009

Posted on by
Reply

Noted in brief – 9/22/2009

Posted on by
Reply

On social change advocacy and its targets

Posted on by
1

Supporters of long-term social change should not just be providing resources to organizing campaigns. They should also be focusing on helping decisionmakers become more able to hear the messages that social change campaigns are sending.

What good is funding campaigns to send faxes, emails, tweets, phone calls and letters to legislators who are already overwhelmed by unstructured incoming messages?  Why not also work on tools to help the legislators track and manage inbound communications more effectively, so that they can actually hear the voice of organized people over the din of organized money?

Why not invest in providing government with the tools to run proper community engagement processes that bridge traditional in-person public meetings with online technologies?  This probably requires some interesting innovation in online discussion tools.

Most social change advocates believe fundamentally that government works.  Why don’t we systematically invest in helping it transform itself so that it can be more open and responsive to our advocacy?