The Cable Gamer has always liked Cody Willard, he of the fab Fabio hair, but it wasn't till she read this profile,from blogger Kate O'Hare, that she realized that Cody had a whole worldview in his head. In fact, he is teaching that worldview, in a college course called "Revolutiononomics," at Seton Hall U. in Jersey.
Speaking of the Tea Parties last week, Cody had this exchange with Kate:
"It was a protest against the incumbents," he said.
Asked what would replace the current political crowd if it's voted out, Willard said, "It's to be replaced with a much more fluid, free-thinking, less rigid democracy/republic, that this country was founded to be."
Reminded that, while people often talk about ditching the two-party system, it hasn't actually happened yet, Willard turned to technology as an answer.
"I know," he said, "but there hasn't been an Internet and YouTube and Twitter. I teach a class at Seton Hall University called 'Revolutionomics,' that's the premise of the class, that the power of the center always disperses to the edge over time, and it's done through technology.
"That's why, in 2009, why would you possibly want to align yourself with a rigid, confusing political platform like Republicans or Democrats when you could simply go to your constituents and get a following on Twitter and Facebook and build up your presence, get the word out to your actual constituents and empower them and communicate with them and get them to follow you? What if you could get a groundswell underneath you via the technologies that are now available.
"You don't need the financial backing that you did to run for office just 10 years ago. In modern America, you don't need a two-party political regime anymore. You have technology that enables you to distribute your message for free to everyone on the planet instantly."
There you have it. Cody's points about the instant-organizing potential of the Net are well taken. TCG assumes that the new-media matrix is going to produce some new politics, and some new candidates. We might well have one here--Cody should keep his legal residence back in New Mexico.
