What seems commonplace now was a chasm of untouched resources at the time. Through meetup.com, a social network precursor to MySpace and Facebook, a community was built and fueled by bloggers who critiqued Dean’s every move, debated ideas and got involved. This meeting place served as a virtual clubhouse for the Dean campaign and people emptied their piggy banks in support of a new dream, gathered in living rooms across the country and passed the word along in droves. They organized parties to flyer their cities. They emailed their friends. They started the conversation.
It’s hard to imagine the web — this great, inanimate, impersonal beast — to be the impetus for such a revolution. What Dean understood then was simple: “A lot of the people on the net have given up on traditional politics precisely because it was about television and the ballot box, and they had no way to shout back,” he said. The internet has taken politics out of the hands of the privileged and made it accessible to all. It allows us all the distinct possibility of participating in the process in a way we never have seen before. Ironically, that great beast I was referring to could ultimately brings us all closer to a true democratic society if we choose to participate.
This time around there are fewer idlers by. The youth of this country have embraced a kind of politics that many of us are too cynical to see anymore, but lucky for them, it’s all they know. Of course the candidates are going to care about what people think. After all, this is the first time unknown savvy video artists have shared their homemade ad campaigns with millions of YouTube viewers in a given week. If they see a clip of a certain candidate spouting off, they write about, they talk about and they replay it, so much so that the mainstream media sit up and take notice and actually report on it.
When worried that their favorite Republican candidate was not being supported by older generations, 19-year-old brothers Alex and Brett Harris founded hucksarmy.com, calling themselves the “unofficial grassroots headquarters for Mike Huckabee.” With a following 12,000 strong so far and leading organizers from 45 states, the website is well-designed and extremely functional, probably one of the best campaigns out there. But this is just one of many examples.
Sure, there’s no doubt that Iowa and NH’s impressive youth voter turnout was fueled by some refreshingly unconventional candidates and polarizing issues like the Iraq War, but it’s hard to ignore the new political reality of our tech-savvy youngsters. Obama’s win in Iowa has been credited to this inexorable group, whose turnout was three times what it has been in the past. A blog started by a political science major at St. Anselm College (www.nh2008.blogspot.com) garnered 8,000 unique visitors every day who joined him to watch the presidential race in NH. With the success of this blog, he’s launching the more impressive politikernh.com this week.
Fearless in their approach and progressively creative beyond compare, youth campaigns could indeed have more impact on this year’s election than just about anything else. Because the current online political fodder is user-driven, it makes sense that it appeals to the primary drivers — young people out there. With a venue for self-expression, they are expressive. The candidates listen and their perspective is valued. For the first time, perhaps in history, they have ownership. And as a result, they participate. What a novel model. The thing is, we all have access to this new fangled gizmo. Whether we’re YouTubers or bloggers or not, we can read, we can post, we can watch, we can listen. We can find our political soulmates out there easier than ever. The technology is definitely here and it’s waiting for us.
Not sure whether technology is necessary, evil, both or neither, Christine Heinz perpetuates this love/hate relationship every day as a photographer, graphic designer and educator.