Today we begin the political season in earnest with the beginning of convention season. The Dems go first and then the Repubs follow suit. There will be no real surprises I suspect at either convention. We will know soon who the Republican running mate will be and that will take care of that suspense. Sure there are rules and platforms to hammer out but most of that has already been done. Then there is the question of whether Senator Clinton's name will be put in nomination. Whether that happens or not will not change the outcome of the convention.
What I am saying here is the conventions are long on "show" and short on substance. For the $40 million plus price tag, I would hope that there would be something new revealed. I seriously doubt it. Last night at dinner some friends of mine suggested that the conventions were a waste of money and probably wouldn't change many votes anyway. I suggested that a better use of the money would be a donation to the Denver or Minneapolis-St. Paul Public Schools. That would likely change more lives than the convention programming. Will I be tuned in tonight? You bet but not because I need to know more about the candidates or even about the platform. I am more interested in the dynamics among the central players. the rapport between the former rivals, and who has the best zingers. I will be doing the same for the Republican convention. But in four years, let's think about using technology in a smarter way to streamline the process, shortening the time spent, and save some money. A new approach to conventions could really move a conversation or an idea forward by contributing the money to something worthy. Not everyone agrees with this assessment--read on.
I agree with you that the $40 million could have been spent better. I'd go a step further and say that most of the money donated to the campaigns won't translate to significantly better schools, more funding for non-school programs in high poverty areas, or fewer youth dropping out of school.
I read an article by Jesse Jackson in the 8/26 Chicago Sun Times which basically said "leaders can inspire us" but it's up to citizens to do the hard work of creating change.
If we imagine an "hour glass" or a "figure 8" one side is people who have the wealth to make donations to campaigns, and non profits, or the talent to help schools and non profits help people who need more help. The other side represents the places in big and small communities where help is needed on a consistent, and long-term basis in order for change to occur. This list includes schools, after school programs and volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.
The small part in the middle between the two parts of the hour glass, and the figure 8, are web portals that can help people learn more about the issues, and learn how to connect with schools and non school programs. The http://www.tutormentorprogramlocator.net/programlocator/default.asp web site is such a portal. People can go through that site to offer help at more than 200 non profits offering various forms of tutoring/mentoring, or to look at maps showing where there are poor neighborhoods and poorly performing schools, but few (or no) tutor/mentor programs. In these cases all of the information on the site is intended to help business and non profit partners create new programs, borrowing from the work everyone else is already doing.
If intermediaries like this are available in every city or state, and public leaders point to these in their speeches and web sites, then thousands and thousands of people might be inspired to go through these sites to where they can help.
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