Now Hear This...Pt. 2...

Mark Steyn hits BINGO!

"If the non-political sphere is permanently left-of-center — the movies, the pop songs, the plays, the sitcoms, the newspapers plus the churches, schools and much else — it's simply unreasonable to expect people to walk into a polling booth every other November and vote conservative. The culture is where the issues get framed and the boundaries set."

Steyn's Article in Full

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The value of social networking is to bulwark and reverse what Steyn points out - the default is liberal. It's less about logic or reason than celebrity, cool, and hip. We and Hillary were rolled by a campaign devoid of substance that became a movement.

Politics is Viral-and Local, Pt. 2

A comment @techpresident.com re:Politics is Viral-and Local posted below:

Home-Based Communities

Excellent piece. I particularly like the point "people trust those whom they already know or with whom they share a neighborhood connection." As TiVo and other technologies enable viewers to skip commercials, hopefully campaigns will invest much more in year-round, precinct organizing rooted in house meetings and other local activities. Who knows? We might even turn the Democratic Party into an activist organization that consistently fights for its platform. Or build a democratic Obama for America 2.0.

Wade Hudson
http://progressiveresourcecatalog.org
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As one can read - it NOT about tech. It's about community connections, social networking.

BiasedGirl Sees the Light...

BiasedGirl's web blog gives a good account of the power within "social networking."

"As a Conservative, I survived 'Obama-Mania', by friends, colleagues and the Obama Loving Media (OLM). The onslaught of Obamism taught me a bit about others and myself. Turns out even if 'Everyone else is doing it'...If I disagree with it, I'm Out. Good to know. I never felt like much of a Sheep, but somehow now I feel like I have proof. I learned a little about my friends, and how even though they don't 'follow' politics, their ears perked up this time around on Both sides of the political spectrum."

Visit WithBias.net

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Even a cursory understanding of group dynamics is sufficient to understand what is at work here - the group membership, peer pressure, constant reassurance, the associated rewards and penalties. Now, you may recoil at all this - but know this, it is how the world works. Politics runs on money, organization and volunteer manpower. The Obama campaign hit the trifecta in ways conservatives could not fathom.