TechCrunch recently published an article on congressman Ron Paul, a presidential candidate who is running a digital campaign. Paul is gathering support through all the Web2.0 usual suspects: a typepad blog, digg, eventful, flickr, meetup, MySpace, and YouTube. The article highlights the fact that Paul is gaining internet popularity despite the fact that he has been ignored by (and in turn is ignoring) the mainstream media. While he probably doesn’t have a chance to win, the fact that he’s getting attention in online polls show the growing power of the digital community. I’m waiting for a candidate to lay down a digital platform [for net neutrality, against DRM, for creative commons, etc.]
In his interview, Paul has a slight libertarian bend–I like him because he’s for voluntary contracts (meaning the government should not have a hand in regulation), and includes gay marriage as a kind of contract. I get a bit queezy when he’s against federal regulation of consumer activism. And his comment that anti-gun laws are in part responsible for 9/11 is insane (around 15 minutes in): if people could carry guns, then they could shoot terrorism. Gun laws prevent poor inner city blacks from properly defending themselves. He’s also against the department of education, stressing that education should be a private enterprise open to the market economy. While I might be against NCLB, I’m more against the idea that education should have anything to do with profit margins. He’s also got an isolationist bent–essentially American troops shouldn’t be anywhere but in America. That seems a bit too idealistic for me in this age, to be a leader in a global economy probably requires a global presence. Umm… I won’t be voting for you.
So, there’s probably a reason why this guy hasn’t shown up on the mainstream radar. He’s a wee bit crazy at times. But it is interesting to see a candidate gathering attention [21st century gold] through strictly digital means.
