A little while ago, Armed Liberal noticed a group called Hope Street. As he put it:
"They support what they call the 'opportunity economy', in which market incentives are created and market barriers lowered to ensure that everyone has a chance to participate. I definitely like the sound of that. The details, however, need a bit of work."
Then he went on to offer an in-depth critique of their housing policy proposals. Guess it left an impression:
"The Hope Street Group, a non-partisan policy think tank founded and operated by young business leaders from the private sector, today launched Hope Street Blog, a new weblog that will serve as both a discussion forum and a mechanism for the development of innovative policy proposals. The new blog is being implemented as part of the Hope Street Group’s open source participation model for policy development."
Speaking for myself, I'm encouraged to see blogs begin to play a role in this kind of serious policy discussion and formulation. First Dan Darling's entree into a Washington think tank, via blogging. Now a think tank's entree the other way, into blogging. Pay close attention, folks. There's much more to this medium than just media.
Joe: The message is the medium?
What they are doing is a nice test of what the medium is capable of, but I'm personally tired of just "shaping the debate" without doing anything more than talk. A 501c3 advocacy-only group like Hope Street is very limited in what it can achieve.
What I would be much more interested to see is a blog using, social networking, 527 + PAC focused on changing the debate by winning votes, financing, and elections.
I'm talking specifically about a dean campaign like combination of methods, driven by the more hawkish version of independent perspectives so many of the pro-war wing of the blogosphere share (whether otherwise "liberal" or "conservative"). The political bond between the bloggers on Winds of Change, Instapundit, Roger L. Simon, A Small Victory, and so many others is based first and foremost in a dedication to examined thought and open discussion over partisan ideology.
Using the tools we are all so familiar with to politically network those of us that share these basic interests would do more to change the dynamics of politics than any amount of think tank talk can.
501c3's can be wonderful, but I prefer when they actually achieve something in and of themselves (like the DOE Fund for example).
Honestly, I think Spirit of America will be a much more important development in the process of pushing what the medium can do. It is one of the most important projects any of us could be involved in domestically during this war and will have a positive impact on the world well beyond it.