[GPSCC-chat] Vision 2012

[Spencer Graves]

       A minor history lesson & a vision for 2012:


             * History:  In 1993, the Progressive Conservative party, 
Canada's equivalent then to the Republicans in the US, went from a solid 
majority, 169 seats out of 295, to 2 in one election.(a)  Bill Clinton 
defeated a popular incumbent in 1992 by repeating often, "It's the 
economy, stupid."(b)  In 2008, Barack Obama used social media to defeat 
the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination.(c)  That victory 
then brought in the big money that secured the oval office for him.


             * If we can open up the Green party web site to social 
media and a Green Wiki, we will get some terrible crap, Libartarian and 
worse, but overall it could become the primary news source for a 
critical mass of the US electorate.  This in turn could produce a 
revolution in the polls similar to 1993 in Canada and the current revolt 
from Morroco to Afghanistan (including Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Algeria, 
Yemen, and who knows where else).


       It's the economy, stupid -- and if we are nimble enough to 
provide social media for the youth who use it routinely, we can set the 
terms of the political debate in 2012.  In so doing, we can force the 
commercial media and mainstream candidates to discuss honestly the 
issues and options that concern the bottom 90 percent of humanity.  The 
alternative for the media is to lose the respect and attention of the 
voting public, and with it their profitability.  The alternative for the 
Republicans and Democrats is to lose elections, thereby following into 
political history dictators they've supported like Mubarak, the Shah in 
Iran, Pinochet in Chile, ... .


       Comments?
       Spencer

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(a) Wikipedia, "List of Canadian federal general elections" 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_federal_general_elections)


(b) Wikipedia, "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_the_economy,_stupid" 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_the_economy,_stupid)


(c) Paul van Veenendaal and Igor Beuker (2009) "Case Study of 
Effectiveness:  The Barack Obama Campaign" (paul at socialmedia8.com; 
"http://www.mintinnovation.com/links/docs/Marketing/The%20Barak%20Obama%20Strategy.pdf", 
accessed 2011.02.20)

-- 
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Operating Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567