Cairns Blog

Open, Accountable and Ethical Government and the Democratic Platform

Michael Kinsley's Learning to Read Democrat in the New York Times today poked fun at the vagueness and redundancies in many parts of the democratic party platform.  One section we can be proud of, however, is the strong, specific, and visionary discussion of open government that sets the party's plan apart:

A Connected America  (p. 17)

In the 21st century, our world is more intertwined than at any time in human history. This new connectedness presents us with untold opportunities for innovation, but also new challenges. We will protect the Internet’s traditional openness to innovation and creativity and ensure that it remains a dynamic platform for free speech, innovation, and creativity.  We will implement a national broadband strategy, especially in rural areas, that enables every American household, school, library and hospital to connect to a world-class communications infrastructure.  We will rededicate our nation to ensuring that all Americans have access to broadband and the skills to use it effectively.  In an increasingly technology-rich, knowledge-based economy, connectivity is a key part of the solution to many of our most important challenges: job creation, economic growth, energy, health care, and education. We will establish a Chief Technology Officer for the nation, to ensure we use technology to enhance the functioning, transparency, and expertise of government, including establishing a national interoperable public safety communications network to help first responders at the local, state and national level communicate with one another during a crisis.

Open, Accountable and Ethical Government  (p. 47-48)

In Barack Obama’s Administration, we will open up the doors of democracy. We will create a new “open-source” government, using technology to make government more transparent, accountable and inclusive. Rather than obstruct people’s use of the Freedom of Information Act, we will require that agencies conduct significant business in public and release all relevant information unless an agency reasonably foresees harm to a protected interest.  We will lift the veil of secret deals in Washington by publishing searchable, online information about federal grants, contracts, earmarks, loans, and lobbyist contacts with government officials.  We will make government data available online and will have an online video archive of significant agency meetings.  We will put all non-emergency bills that Congress has passed online for five days, to allow the American public to review and comment on them before they are signed into law.  We will require Cabinet officials to have periodic national online town hall meetings to discuss issues before their agencies.

Implementing our Party’s agenda will require running an efficient government that gets results. We will develop a comprehensive management agenda to prevent operational breakdowns in government and ensure that government provides the level of service that the American people deserve.  Because we understand that good government depends on good people, we will work to rebuild and reengage our federal workforce.  We will make government a more attractive place to work.  Our hiring will be based only on qualification and experience, and not on ideology or party affiliation.  We will pay for our new spending, eliminate waste in government programs, demand and measure results, and stop funding programs that don’t work. 

We are committed to a participatory government.  We will use the most current technology available to improve the quality of government decision-making and make government less beholden to special interest groups and lobbyists.  We will enhance the flow of information between citizens and government—in both directions—by involving the public in the work of government agencies.  We will not simply solicit opinions, but will also use new technology to tap into the vast expertise of the American citizenry, for the benefit of government and our  democracy.

Americans want real reform that will help them pay their medical bills and put the country on the path to energy independence.  They are tired of lobbyists standing in their way. So we’ll end the abuse of no-bid contracts and tell the drug companies and the oil companies and the insurance industry that, while they may get a seat at the table in Washington, they don’t get to buy every chair. We will institute a gift ban so that no lobbyist can curry favor with the Administration. We will close the revolving door that
has allowed people to use their position in the Administration as a stepping-stone to further their lobbying careers. We support campaign finance reform to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests, including public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time. As a national party, we will not take any contributions from Political Action Committees during this election.

McCain Tech Plan

Dow Jones reports that McCain will release his Tech Plan in the coming week.  The Obama Tech Plan came out in November 2007.  The failure of the McCain camp to address technology until nine months later and only at this end-stage of the campaign signals how little understanding McCain has about the relevance of technology.

Former FCC Chairman and McCain advisor Michael Powell says: "We're talking about the policy of the U.S. president, not the FCC chairman."  The outdated notion that "Tech = FCC" is hardly surprising from a public figure who proudly tells the world that he doesn't use email.  The fact that McCain does not want FCC regulation  doesn't tell us much about what he does want or how he will use the power of the Internet to improve American education, create jobs, grow the economy, or strengthen our democracy.

Clearly, McCain  wants an opportunity to reiterate to his big donors and their lobbyists that he opposes "net neutrality" and government efforts to ensure an open and free internet. The idea, however, that innovative companies like Google sprung up in the absence of any government regulation (as the article suggests) is ludicrous.  The government created the Internet in the first place.  Without an open telecom regime, Google never would have been able to provision its services to us.

Without efforts to reduce media concentration and prevent monopoly, we would not have a competitive hi-tech environment in which innovative companies flourish.  The notion that government has no role to play abdicates responsibility for ensuring an Internet that promotes commerce and respects free speech.

In addition, without the right technology and broadband policy we don't have wired schools and literate children.  We end up without a job-ready workforce that can compete in the 21st century and we disadvantage low-income communities by forestalling access to the Internet.  No doubt, the telecom bloggers and their readers will have a ball critiquing the McCain regulatory proposals when they publish.

Most important to point out is that without the Internet, we cannot have a transparent, open, legitimate democracy.  As Craig Newmark (of Craigslist) aptly put it last week in the HuffingtonPost, the President has to care about technology because: "It has to do with staying in touch with your community and constituency....A president is the leader of the American community, a lot of people, many of which don't yet have Internet access or comfort. That's being addressed, too slowly, but we do have the critical mass online that a president needs to listen to, to be in touch."

This report of the McCain plan suggests that he would continue the Bush policy of closed and secretive back-room dealings.  He is obviously not focused on how to use new tools to ensure that government information is published online or that government does its business in the open.

He is not talking about how to use the Internet to solicit information back from the American people so that when an agency makes an important public decision it is on the basis of the best possible information.  He is not thinking about the  cyber-security threats that face us in an era of information warfare.  He is also not focusing on how to strengthen the critical technological infrastructure upon which our nuclear and electric power grids run.  He clearly doesn't care about how the Web could play a role in coordinating relief in the event of another natural disaster.  The fact that government depends squarely on technology to deliver its services efficiently is also not on the radar screen.

For someone who claims to be opposed to big government and government regulation, such a blinkered view of technology condemns us to a large, inefficient, centralized institutions.  For the only way to realize a smaller, leaner, more efficient and yet more trustworthy government is to begin to connect institutions to public networks.  If you want the private sector to do more, then government needs to be able to use new technologies to communicate its priorities to citizens, obtain information from them, interact seamlessly among government institutions, and coordinate action.