Technology has afforded our modern world many conveniences unimagined by our forebears. The advance of computer-driven gadgets and systems into our everyday lives has been rapid, and generally marked by steady improvements. One of the built-in benefits of software is the allowance for constant improvement in programs while maintaining essential operating platforms. As customers use products they find glitches, “bugs” not foreseen by the engineers of the program. They also identify ways to make the program more efficient or user-friendly, and more productive. Through this partnership between the creator and the customer, bugs, errors and other inadequacies can be cycled out while new features not previously considered can be engineered in, all the while protecting the successful platform.
Companies frequently re-release software sequentially. For example, Release 2.0 would include improvements upon Release 1.0. Lately we’ve been hearing the buzz about the coming arrival of Web 2.0, tech-speak for the next generation of World Wide Web companies. The expectation, or course, is that the new version will be more powerful, more efficient and more user friendly. Given my background in the technology industry, I will apply my experience to the world of politics. We can all agree that we have glitches, bugs and other errors in our political system. What we have not seen is that, as with software, we are afforded the luxury of re-engineering our politics, our Republican Party, while maintaining, even strengthening the pillars of the platform. I am pleased to announce the release of Republican 2.0.
Republican 2.0 is based upon the founding principle of the Republican Party - Freedom. Thanks to advances in technology our world is connected like never before. With the advent of 24/7 communications, our world is more agile, more rapidly and evenly distributed - ironically, our world is beginning to resemble the defining technologies of our time. With one glaring exception…
Government seems to be bucking this trend, resisting all efforts to modernize. As most other aspects of our lives become micro-manageable, our system of government has grown larger and more cumbersome. With that growth government has also become increasingly more expensive to operate. There are more computers in your car than were involved in the first lunar landing. Your entire world of music, movies, books and photos can fit in the palm of your hand. Meanwhile, our government would bust the borders of Texas. Here in Maine government has become the single largest employer in the State!
This inability of our government to keep pace with evolving technologies is largely due to the 'engineers' that have been designing it. Think about it… We elect officials with promises of lower taxes and reduced deficits, and the best we can hope for are cuts in growth and tax increases that don’t outpace inflation by too much. We are continually disappointed. The creators are not listening to the customers. The reality is that we actually can improve upon government. We can release Government 2.0. We need to design and build an updated version that delivers the expected services while simultaneously reducing taxes and maximizing efficiencies. In a world where a man can trade a paper clip for a house on EBay, certainly government could be made more efficient AND more productive.
For example, software solutions exist to increase the quality of healthcare while reducing the costs. Developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, VistA is an enterprise-wide, fully integrated, fully functional information system built around an electronic health record. However, politicians seem to ignore this important government advancement, focusing their efforts instead on attempts to universalize the encumbered system. I say update the system - make it more efficient and cost effective. Let’s release a health care system that can easily support the uninsured at a lower cost rather than designing an even larger, less agile system that costs everyone more while producing less. Let’s call it Health Care 2.0.
The people of Maine value the environment. Perhaps above all else, Maine’s scenic outdoors is what is implied when we say, “Maine, the way life should be.” I know it is that way for me. In fact, Maine’s pristine waters and dramatic coast are what called me back home a couple years ago. We often hear of a clash between environmentalists and those who want a better economy. I say let’s achieve both. Did you know that California is attracting 100s of millions of dollars to create jobs exploring ways to create energy independence? This is a perfect industry for Maine to attract. Imagine a Portland that thrives from 100s of millions of dollars based upon a cleaner environment. Where are our politicians? Generally they are out bringing home Federal bacon and raising money for their next election cycle. I will bring home the bacon - the right kind of bacon. Lean bacon – private, non-government, investment capital. The sort of private investment that will serve to draw our talented young people back home and keep future generations right here in Maine. Call it Economy 2.0.
There has been a tendency in our government to legislate to the exception. By that I mean they use a baseball bat to swat a mosquito. When speaking about the efficiency quotients of Republican 2.0, I fully expect my political insider opponents to strike the popular refrain that many among us are not “nice” and the rest of us need to be protected. They will provide exhaustive anecdotal evidence, citing the executives at WorldCom and Enron, as disasters that are the inevitable result of an already broken system. As unfortunate as the Enron, WorldCom and Adelphia situations are, they remain an extreme minority of the economy's total landscape. As a result, they suggest universal policies for finite solutions to individual problems. It’s time for some Legislation 2.0.
I seem to remember a time, perhaps only a decade ago, when Bill Gates was persona non grata in political circles. He was the fat and happy CEO, the evil capitalist. One could hardly log on without reading about some anti-trust lawsuit or other somewhere in the world against the creator of the most widely used operating system in the computer industry. However, given his sense of benevolence and the global success of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the critics have moved on to other targets. Regardless, it is a proven fact that conservatives give more of their time, money and energy to charity than the more liberal among us. No one disagrees about the need for programs that provide a safety net for the neediest among us. There is, however, great disagreement about how these programs are designed, delivered and financed. There is also a divide on whether or not such programs are to be held accountable for their success or failure. Democrats tend to believe that the Federal government should be the sole arbitor, distributor and inventor of these ideas. I suggest that the free market of ideas and compassion are better cultivated outside of Washington, DC. The Internet has enabled companies who optimize its’ use to better serve customers world wide, closing the gap between people seeking a service or product and people providing services or products. Similarly, my vision of government aims to increase efficiencies that will allow us to reduce the costs of everything from healthcare to education, increasing the effectiveness while decreasing the size of government.
Critical to a successful launch of Republican 2.0 will be new ideas. We need, as a first step, to understand that Washington, D.C. does not have a monopoly on ideas. To the contrary, the ideas that propel us forward are mostly generated in the great American market place of ideas. Great ideas are here in the constituency of Maine’s 1st Congressional District, just waiting to be incorporated into Republican 2.0. Ideas stimulate the economy and are the cornerstone of the American dream… always have been. Be it a shoe store, a piece of software, or a democratic form of governance, it began as an idea. An idea becomes a plan, a plan becomes a product, a product a company, and a company becomes the ingredient that fuels our economy. Politicians need to operate more like effective business leaders and realize that if the ideas do not exist underneath the dome, they need to go out and find them in the American market place. Politicans are always quick to mention legislation they sponsored. Constituents are all too eager to accept these declarations as signs of accomplishment. I have observed that the private sector has been responsible for the creation of the best ideas – both those that fuel our economy, and the ideas that provide support for those who require society’s assistance to survive.
The next generation of Republicans need to begin promising and delivering upon a larger vision of a Next Gen government - A government that is true to the nature of its original charter, but lighter, faster and more agile. A government that looks and acts like the rest of modern society – I am pleased to announce the release of Republican 2.0.
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