Taking On The System

I'm about half the way through reading Markos Moulitsas Zuniga's recently published Taking On The System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era. I'm sure the people who know me have already gone back and re-read that first line, wondering if I somehow lost my sense of direction and accidentally made a left turn into a drive-thru progressive bookstore.

Why would I read something like this? For starters, I like his blog, The DailyKos, even though I don't always agree with it. But it's more than that, something deeper, broader, rooted in what people do know about me.

I'm tired.

I have two children that have grown to be fine adults, and an 8 year old son who will follow in their footsteps. In actuarial terms, I've peaked and am headed down the back slope of this life. I'm hoping to have a lot more years on this Earth, but if I'm average, I've got about 30 left.

I want a strong, fair country and a bright future for my children and grandchildren, and I'm tired of the status quo. I'm tired of leadership that fails to lead. I'm tired of the money=power equation. I'm tired of the lack of honesty, decency, caring, compassion, and courage in our institutions, be they corporate, educational, governmental, social, or philanthropic. And I'm tired of politicians pissing on my head while telling me it's raining.

Markos writes about the ongoing change in dynamic, brought on over the last five years or so primarily by the internet, which allows people with similar ideas and goals to connect, build, and effect real change outside of the normal corridors of power. And not just in politics.

Some examples: Peer to peer filing sharing and musicians distributing their product digitally online, via download or streaming audio, have made record companies a dying breed. Epic, Atlantic, Columbia, and the rest will tell you piracy is behind the drop in CD sales, but that's not the whole truth. More music is available than ever before. People just aren't buying CDs. The medium is dying, not the art. People want their music in a way that fits their lives, and paying for 13 bad songs on a DRM-restricted compact disc that limits their choices of where and how they can play it, just to get the one or two songs that they want, doesn't fly anymore, now that there are other options. Record companies are sticking to their outdated business model, and it's taking them down. Musicians don't really care - they almost never made a profit on CD or album sales anyway. The record companies made all the money. Musicians want their music to be heard, and it is being heard, in new and exciting ways. Music fanboys and fangirls sharing songs with their friends, driving online discourse and bringing attention to bands and tunes that would never hit the airwaves on today's corporate radio stations renders record company execs irrelevant - if you won't give music customers what we want, we'll simply bypass you and take our music dollars with us. Too bad, so sad for you.

Newspapers and magazines are in similar dire situations. Look at the depth and variety of information available online. There's no end to where I can go to find interesting things to read. You're reading my words now. What do you think the chances are that a daily or weekly would give me the freedom to write a column about anything I wanted? Look at the counter on the bottom of this page. This blog has been up for a couple of weeks, and we're close to getting 500 hits already. Every week new people are checking it out, and if they like it, they're passing it on to their friends. People have a hunger for information, for things that are interesting and different. You don't have to agree with everything I post, and you can tell me immediately when you don't, and I'll be happy to put your comments out there for the world to see. What a great two-way dynamic. When was the last time you wrote a letter to the editor, and had someone read it, approve it, and print it in the paper? I love newspapers, and I read one every morning as I eat my breakfast, but I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that I don't need fifty sheets of newsprint in my hands, giving me stories that the 24 hour news channels and websites have been covering for 12+ hours before the Columbus Dispatch plopped on my driveway at 6 AM. Why should I pay to run a classified ad when I can use Craigslist for free or buy/sell on Ebay? Can you name the last person you knew who got a job by answering a newspaper help wanted ad?

But I digress. Markos talks about how today, ordinary citizens can inform, connect, and create in ways that can change the world as never before. I don't need anyone's permission to do it. I don't need money, or power, to get started. Today, all of us have the ability to drive change, from the bottom up, instead of the way it's worked for ages, from the top down.

If you want the "gatekeepers", as Markos calls them, deciding what you should read, what you should watch, what you should think, while they give you a listing of what's right and what's wrong, then Taking on the System is probably not for you.

If you want your children and grandchildren to be safe, secure, and have options, choices, and possibilities, then read this book. All evidence I've found tells me that the people who have been in charge aren't going to give my offspring what I want them to have. It's up to me to do my part and advocate on their behalf. My legacy can be that I did what was right for them. That sounds a lot better than having them remember Dad/Grandpap by visiting a marble marker once a year.