Kids Take on the California Maw. (Extremely Cool.)
Two events in the last 48 hours in the life of your faithful correspondent:
1) I interviewed Cong. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, recognizing, as we spoke, that he has achieved a thorough understanding of the federal budget by devoting most of his adult life to the effort.
2) I learned about a group of kids here at Stanford who have formed an organization called "California Common Sense," a project intended to use technology to bring transparency to every last nook and cranny of the government of the Golden State. Holy moley! Click on the YouTube video to take a look at what they've already accomplished.
Note that the effort is intended to be entirely non-partisan. All the kids want--all they want--is transparency. But if what we conservatives have believed all along contains even a modicum of truth, then getting a good look at government will send those kids in our direction. (There's some evidence that this is happening already: In the YouTube video, the narrator refers to California's "vast bureaucracy," hardly a term of endearment.)
Who knows? Maybe I'm overreacting. But college kids, using technology to take on big government? This strikes me as the most hopeful spontaneous development--hopeful precisely because it's spontaneous--since the emergence of the Tea Party. And after cutting their teeth on California, won't it seem only natural to these students to turn their gaze from Sacramento to...Washington?
Paul Ryan, call your office.
(A tip of the hat re California Common Sense to Mr. C. Dauer.)
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Re: Kids Take on the California Maw. (Extremely Cool.)
And just get a load of this: The kids are taking on Jerry Brown!
Re: Kids Take on the California Maw. (Extremely Cool.)
Very cool! For all the lip service paid to the notion of transparency, if left to government to provide it, there will never be any such thing as transparency. Government simply lacks the incentive to pursue it. It takes concerned citizens and a whole lot of hard work to provide accountability like this. Kudos to these Stanford students!
Jan '11
Re: Kids Take on the California Maw. (Extremely Cool.)
I recently spoke w/ a few high school seniors who are concerned about paying for college, national debt, social security, etc. I've taught h.s. for years & this is first. Also spoke w/ a lefty I know who is starting up a new business & has to deal w/ a CA state licensing agency. She's aghast & frustrated at the level of incompetence ("you'd think they've done this before & know what to do"). She even agreed when I suggested that the licensing should be contracted to the private sector. They'd be held accountable.
Aug '11
Re: Kids Take on the California Maw. (Extremely Cool.)
Very cool. I hope these guys get some money behind them and track every state plus the feds. If people could just simply see the numbers in simple terms we'd get a ton of reform fast.
Oct '10
Re: Kids Take on the California Maw. (Extremely Cool.)
Is that what modern radicals look like? It was sure different in my day. And this whole business of advocating sensible policy. Wow, man.