I am confident that someday soon, a forward-thinking, honest, "next-gen" political candidate will run her/his 2016 campaign as 100% "transparent" to voters:
- His/her staff will broadcast streaming video 24x7 of the politician's every moves (like a Truman Show of the candidate). Video archived and accessible.
- Emails, speeches, files, etc. all online and searchable.
The promise:
- Politicians are in low regard now. They are not trusted.
- A truly honest politician has nothing to hide. No secrets. No back-room dealing.
- If one politician does this, others will have to follow ("What do you have to hide, anyway?")
Given our distrust of politicians this might be the only way to address cynicism and once again get value out of govt.
The fact is that we are headed toward a "Transparent Society" anyway. Security cameras, web analytics, ad tracking, etc. ensure that it will be hard to maintain privacy. This is frightening, but inevitable, and it may result in us becoming the good society that we want to be. We will all be accountable for our actions. See David Brin's excellent "The Transparent Society" for details.
My thought is that a politics could use some of this transparency.
May 31, 2012
