Politics, how I relate to it now
Almost exactly a year ago I wrote this post, largely about my politics, and I am a little disappointed that I don't see much change in my attitude since then. If anything I'm more apathetic, especially about electoral politics and governance.
This is partly because the main way I engage with governments now is as a sympathetic service provider. Most of our clients are government agencies working in some executive capacity. (Contrast with how I used to interact with the government, which was by campaigning for new legislation). We are two organizations with goals that happen to be aligned and good (get data out in an accessible way, support open source software, develop new technology that helps them do their (often technocratic) work well). Even when I work explicitly with "open government" in mind, it's not about putting popular pressure on legislators. It's about making a technical argument to the right human being about the best practices and tools for them, and trying to make sure the technology that's right for them also serves the greater good.
This suits me. I've never been a believer in any of the big Theories of Justice, or in any particular theory of Legitimacy. I don't believe that democratic governments Represent their constituencies or that legislators are particularly competent to govern. So I guess I hold them to a low standard. If there are serious societal problems, that's because society is seriously broken. Governments are just another kind of institution within society. But they are institutions that despite their flaws can do a lot of good, and most of the people in them--at least the ones we work with--are into using their positions of power to improve the way things work.
It's accomplishing a technological change. Is it accomplishing a political change? I think so. Because the main political challenge I care about these days isn't about representation in a government context, but about liberation/empowerment in a more general context. And knowledge, data, technology, etc. are, when easily and equitably available, liberating--they accelerate the disclosure of being by existence, they are the torch of truth that can be wielded best by the champions of humanity against its enemies. Sort of by definition, if I had a more specific idea of how these tools would be used, it wouldn't count as real empowerment.
This is partly because the main way I engage with governments now is as a sympathetic service provider. Most of our clients are government agencies working in some executive capacity. (Contrast with how I used to interact with the government, which was by campaigning for new legislation). We are two organizations with goals that happen to be aligned and good (get data out in an accessible way, support open source software, develop new technology that helps them do their (often technocratic) work well). Even when I work explicitly with "open government" in mind, it's not about putting popular pressure on legislators. It's about making a technical argument to the right human being about the best practices and tools for them, and trying to make sure the technology that's right for them also serves the greater good.
This suits me. I've never been a believer in any of the big Theories of Justice, or in any particular theory of Legitimacy. I don't believe that democratic governments Represent their constituencies or that legislators are particularly competent to govern. So I guess I hold them to a low standard. If there are serious societal problems, that's because society is seriously broken. Governments are just another kind of institution within society. But they are institutions that despite their flaws can do a lot of good, and most of the people in them--at least the ones we work with--are into using their positions of power to improve the way things work.
It's accomplishing a technological change. Is it accomplishing a political change? I think so. Because the main political challenge I care about these days isn't about representation in a government context, but about liberation/empowerment in a more general context. And knowledge, data, technology, etc. are, when easily and equitably available, liberating--they accelerate the disclosure of being by existence, they are the torch of truth that can be wielded best by the champions of humanity against its enemies. Sort of by definition, if I had a more specific idea of how these tools would be used, it wouldn't count as real empowerment.