The Boston Telephone Directory
Paules' terrific post about the anti-candidate just gave me a great idea. Rob, help me work out the details of this one. I'm thinking of a reality TV show based on William F. Buckley's famous quote: "I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University."
They're right here. Do you think we could talk someone into giving us money to call them, get them together, and set up--I'm serious--a parallel Transport Security Agency? Just see how they really do when confronted with a complex problem like that?
I know there are a lot of details to figure out, but work with me, not against me. There's got to be something we can do with this idea. If I'm not mistaken, Rob, you're on the National Review cruise ship. Why don't you run this one up the flagpole tonight at dinner and see what salutes? If any crowd should like this concept, it's that one.
What do the rest of you think?
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Feb '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
I love the idea, but I would pick 400 names at random rather than picking the first 400 names, just to shake things up.
Feb '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
Our own Rob Long could try his hand at producing it ;-) Or at least he could use his Hollywood connections to find someone who could do it.
Jun '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
Why bother with a TV show, Claire? Why not up the ante with a viral movement to draft 435 ordinary citizens for the House? It's already been suggested by Bill Whittle; you can find it in his archives under "The Piranha Party." It would be entirely fitting to see Whittle hoist by his own petard. He can join Dave Carter as a member of the reluctant Congress in 2012. And I'm no longer half kidding at this point. My only qualm right now is a moral dilemma. Do I have the right to impose on another citizen if it's for the good of the country? We used to draft men into the military, so we do have precedents. I could make Dave a viral sensation entirely against his will, and I could do it from where I sit. We have just taken a step into something serious here. I'm asking you for some serious thinking and a serious answer.
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
I'm serious about the TV show. Obviously it's just the germ of an idea, but I think it's a good one. I'll give your question some serious thought this week.
Sep '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
He can join Dave Carter as a member of the reluctant Congress in 2012.
Their campaign slogan: "Don't just do something: stand there!"
Jun '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
Pseudodionysius: He can join Dave Carter as a member of the reluctant Congress in 2012.
Their campaign slogan: "Don't just do something: stand there!" · Nov 21 at 8:55am
Not exactly, Thom-cat. We need legislators who will get the job done in short order, and get out of town. If state legislators can complete the people's work in six weeks, why does our national government need to be in session year round? The constitutional powers enumerated in the Constitution regarding Congress are limited. I think it's logical to assume that most members of Congress are spending their time doing something other than the people's business. A reluctant Congress will mean short congressional sessions.
Oct '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
I like the idea but 435 people would definitely be unweildy; even 100 might be. Successful tv shows usually seem to have no more than 4-6 main characters, be it Star Trek, Seinfeld, Friends or The Jersey Shore. Perhaps 50 people, i.e. one to represent each state would be more practical, especially if 4-6 turned out to be natural leaders and became the stars of the show.
Edited on Nov 21, 2010 at 5:55pmNov '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
How about using the first 400 from a city that is not run by a criminal gang (that the majority of those 400 voted for)?
Jul '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
Cool idea. I love the thought of having some random person be the shadow Napolitano.
I think BSA and Team America's points should be combined and 8-10 people should be randomly chosen from that group. They'd have plenty to do for a first season. Then they get a bigger group to organize for the next season.
Jun '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
What you are suggesting could also be Ricochet Live! You have a pretty good start at a cast with Kenneth, ~Paules, Midget, Andrea, Aaron, Felicia, Jason, PseudoD, EJ. (and the other great regulars I fail to mention, but you know who you are)..
See, you get this great beach house in Malibu and then ....
Jun '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
OK, maybe not. If you persist in a shadow legislature format you have a great opportunity to sub-select into committee structure (e.g. Homeland Security/TSA) First you would have hearings and the opportunity for the committee to call witnesses, (think Thomas Sowell, VDH, Epstein, Yoo etc). Then, debate (think Buckley/Reagan on the Panama Canal) and finally question time with the larger body (for sheer raucous fun). Got to get the home audience voting in parallel with the shadow legislature.
Edited on Nov 21, 2010 at 12:34pmOct '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
"OK, maybe not. If you persist in a shadow legislature format you have a great opportunity to sub-select into committee structure (e.g. Homeland Security/TSA) First you would have hearings and the opportunity for the committee to call witnesses, (think Thomas Sowell, VDH, Epstein, Yoo etc). Then, debate (think Buckley/Reagan on the Panama Canal) and finally question time with the larger body (for sheer raucous fun). Got to get the home audience voting in parallel with the shadow legislature."
As Pilgrim says, why not take the idea to a higher level with a reality-show shadow/parallel congress? A parallel TSA might be too narrowly-focused with too little in terms of issues to provide content for an ongoing show. Then again, maybe not, since security as a main theme worked for Jack Bauer on 24.
Edited on Nov 21, 2010 at 1:12pmSep '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
Pilgrim: What you are suggesting could also be Ricochet Live! You have a pretty good start at a cast with Kenneth, ~Paules, Midget, Andrea, Aaron, Felicia, Jason, PseudoD, EJ. (and the other great regulars I fail to mention, but you know who you are)..
See, you get this great beach house in Malibu and then .... · Nov 21 at 12:02pm
I get a breakaway series called Ricochet 9Lives!, now with even more real meat.
Oct '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
I think it's a good idea. You can do episodes for different issues. The question that pops up in my mind is how do you implement the decisions to show that they have a better outcome? I think you can get people together and get them to come up with interesting ideas but people will want to see that it will actually be practical and better than the status quo.
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
The main thing is that the people have to be chosen at random. Of course, those who accept would be non-random; you can't force people to participate in a TV show--so we'd already be getting a skewed sample. But that can't be helped. I can't see any way to ensure the decisions would be implemented, but it would be fascinating to see how they approached the problem and how they handled some of the real-time pressures of government--like, for example, the PR problems in the wake of coming up with something massively unpopular, like the idea of body-scanning. I really do like this idea: We've been going on about the first 400 names ever since Buckley said this; time to put our money where our mouths are. Could they really do a good job?
It would be even more interesting if we could get an equal number of faculty from Harvard to participate.
May '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
Could they really do a good job?
Probably not. I've had experience working with four non-profits of wildly disparate membership bases (engineers, Realtors®, technicians, and parents). They would do better than the faculty of Harvard University so WFB's basic premise stands. But I doubt they'd do a really good job.
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
Claire! Apologies! The internet connection on the NR cruise left a lot to be desired. Imagine the uber-connected Andrew Breitbart tearing out his hair. Imagine poor Andy McCarthy, stuck on a cruise the day the terrorist verdicts came down in New York.
This is a great idea. Sort of a Lord of the Flies, except in this case the flies are people in Boston whose names begin with "A" -- which is sort of the problem. I'd go with 1500 randomly chosen names from the entire country, set up a parallel government with a capitol building somewhere (say, Oklahoma City, the Dead Center, practically, of the country) and have them tackle the same problems as those other folks in Washington DC.
Does anyone doubt for a second that the parallel government would do it better, faster, and with more genuine agreement? Does anyone doubt that eventually, the real government in DC would be parroting the parallel government's ideas?
This isn't just a reality show idea, Claire. This is truly revolutionary thinking. I'm totally serious: who do we know who has the money to fund such a project?
Sep '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
Rob, every reality show needs a scheming, caniving, untrustworthy backstabber that no one trusts. And where else but politics can such a creature flourish? I'd be honored.
Jun '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
Its charming, really, that we assume that randomly selected Americans would be less ego-driven, self-interested and boring than the political class. Do you think that you won't get parallel-Nancy, parallel-Grayson, and parallel-Maxine?
Sep '10
Re: The Boston Telephone Directory
I'm totally serious: who do we know who has the money to fund such a project?
If he weren't a serious 2012 RINO candidate, I would suggest Donald Trump, especially since he has his own reality tv show. Of course, maybe this could be used to keep him off the ticket.