Andrew Grumet
points out that the major impact of campaing giving in the Dean
campaign is on the donor. The donor feels empowered, the keeping
score at both the individual and the group level is public and
audited. He would like to discover other ways of being empowered
that are more wallet-friendly, but he gets the importance of the
Dean campaign’s use of giving to build the community. Of course the
same is true for MoveOn.org.
The really important element in this election is how to empower people
to be a part of the political process, and how to do it soon. I
like to think of the “political behavioral ecology:” Certain
behaviors and self-understandings become more commonplace across the
societal landscape (like, two to three million people become political
donors for the first time). Large numbers of individuals become
more deeply empowered–because they are knowledgable, linked with
others, and feel their power. The flora and fauna of the
political landscape becomes replete with a robust, empowered and
diverse mix of beings.
Finally, the Internet facilitates interaction across time
and space. Flora and fauna to feed each other and exchange ideas,
skills, and love. They swarm around opportunities and
problems. The political ecosystem becomes stronger and more
richly effective. And the landscape becomes inviting to political
independents and those who are currently inactive, because they sense
the depth and fecundity of the forest. So they join and
contribute, thus further enriching the whole.
There is an individual dimension: how strong is our involvement, how much a part of our life?
There is a population dimension: how many of us are involved?
There is a species dimension: how many different ways are there to be involved, how do the communities interact?
And there is a time dimension: If we get a lot of folks engaged
now, they will have longer to be involved in the election of
2004. Longer involvement increases depth of involvement, as long
as being in the overall ecosystem is fun…
