The First Female President Must Be A Really Big Deal

I have been astounded reading some of the commentaries.

I think Indira Gandhi was the first Indian Prime Minister I became conscious of. And I was Barack Obama’s first full time volunteer in New York City. To be honest before that 2004 convention I did not imagine I would see a black guy in the White House in my lifetime. But it happened and he has been astounding, but even then I felt bad that Hillary had to be running at the same time.

As far I am concerned Hillary is the women's Barack Obama. She will be the first and she is talented. 93% of blacks voted for Barack Obama. Why aren't 93% of women voting for Hillary? How about 83?Even 73 would be nice. Wake up, women.

For me Barack Obama was about 500 years of world history. The only thing he needed to do for me personally was get in there, plant the flag, and I personally had no other expectations. For women it ought to be about 5,000 years of history.

God has given the women of 2016 the astounding gift of the most incompetent man to ever have run for this office. And women are still so subdued, it is astounding.

More astounding are some of the members of the commentariat. It is being suggested the only reason to vote for Hillary is that otherwise the republic might not survive. I guess that takes the sting out of the idea of the first woman president for some people.

This is not because India is a less sexist country. It is the most sexist country in the world, Indira or no Indira. This is not a East West thing. Look, Angela Merkel and Theresa May, and Europeans have managed to say every possible wrong thing about Google.

So what's going on? What is it about America? It feels like breaking some kind of a sound barrier. I am expecting to feel the thud.

Never mind we have a woman president now but at least the republic survived!

Golley.

Hillary gets pilloried for running for office, for doing what politicians do. If she were a swimmer at the Olympics, people would be like, I don’t like her, look at her, she is moving her limbs, and you can't trust her, she has the goggles on, why would you have the goggles on unless you are hiding something?

Donald Trump: Lucifer's Change Agent

Sexism Is 100% Lucifer, Sexism Is Satanic

Donald Trump is Lucifer lunging for the nuclear code. The truth is in black and white.

This Is Secret Service Territory

Donald Trump knows he has lost this election and he intends to be a bad loser.

Donald Trump Suggests 'Second Amendment People' Could Act Against Hillary Clinton 

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, wrote on Twitter that Mr. Trump “makes death threats because he’s a pathetic coward who can’t handle the fact that he’s losing to a girl.”

Former Secret Service Official: Donald Trump Is ‘Pretty Close to the Edge’ | TIME

A presidential candidate is not above the law. Trump just sent a message to tens of gun owning mentally unstable people to at least make the attempt. My knowledge is this is illegal. The Secret Service needs to do its job and have a sit down with this guy.

One-in-five U.S. Republicans want Trump to drop out: Reuters/Ipsos poll | Reuters

NYTimes: Donald Trump’s Support Among Republican Women Starts to Slide

Democrats: Trump costing GOP in key House districts - POLITICO

Trump’s loaded words fuel campaign freefall - POLITICO

“You aren’t just responsible for what you say; you’re responsible for what people hear,” said former CIA director Michael Hayden during breaking news coverage of Trump’s comments on CNN.

Trump's Assassination Dog Whistle Was Even Scarier Than You Think
Republican nominee engaged in so-called stochastic terrorism with his remarks about "Second Amendment people" and Clinton

Donald Trump uttered perhaps his most outrageous – and dangerous – ad-lib yet. And that's saying something for a campaign in which he's criticized John McCain for being a prisoner of war, characterized Mexicans as rapists, called for banning Muslims from coming into the country, picked a fight with a Gold Star family and urged Russia to hack his political opponent. ..... given what we know about people taking up arms in this country, there will undoubtedly be some people who think he was serious and consider the possibility. ....

Stochastic terrorism, as described by a blogger who summarized the concept several years back, means using language and other forms of communication "to incite random actors to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable." .. we can predict that there could be a presently unknown lone wolf who hears his call and takes action in the future. .... Trump puts out the dog whistle knowing that some dog will hear it, even though he doesn't know which dog.

.... He has 1) demonized her whenever he can by calling her "Crooked Hillary" and constantly degrading her; 2) organized a convention around which the central theme, repeated over and over, was that Clinton is a criminal who needs to be locked up, clearly using fear and moral disgust as motivators; and 3) is now using violent metaphors (or "jokes," if that's what you think his statements were) against her, just short of an explicit call to arms. Now we just have to hope that #4 doesn't come about – that violence does not erupt.

India's Northeast Is Unsettled Territory For Democracy

Iron Lady of Manipur breaks fast, wants to be CM 

The Muslims are not in the mainstream. The Dalits are not in the mainstream. The women are not in the mainstream. The people in the South are not in the mainstream. And the people in the Northeast are not in the mainstream.

So who runs India? India remains a fundamentally flawed democracy. Vast swathes of the population stays marginalized. Is India even a democracy?

Fuck Trump (In Williamsburg)

Videos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Not Socialism, But Hypercapitalism

I have talked of the Age Of Abundance, I have talked of a Universal Basic Income. To the untrained especially the latter might smack of "socialism." That would be misleading.

This is talk of a new reality that asks for a new grammar. A lot of old rules are going to get junked.

Socialism has had two strains, one absolutely appalling, the one where there is no human rights. There has been another, the left of center variety that has been ridiculed for not knowing the fundamentals of wealth creation. I am not talking about that.

I am a small d democrat, which basically means taking the one person one vote one voice to all its logical local, state, national and global conclusions.

I am a free marketeer. Economics to me is like physics. Just like physics can come up with astounding technology, I believe economics as an academic discipline is capable of coming up with intellectual frameworks for massive wealth creation. If I am a capitalist I am one likely to speak of human capital in the same breath as financial and technological capital.

It is said in physics if you go to a high enough energy level all four basic forces are the same. The physics of liquid water is fundamentally different from the physics of steam.

Talk about being at the right place at the right time. It is about this point in time, this point in history, lucky you, lucky me.

The productivity gains driven almost entirely by technological innovation are about to be so astoundingly astronomical that many of the old rules will no longer apply. But there is a need for accompanying political innovation, and accompanying advances in economic theory. I lost a lot of respect for the discipline in 2008. They were royally surprised.

The most obvious thing to do is create a world government. That is knowledge we already have. Europe has suffered for attempting an economic union without a political union. Globalization is unstoppable but you go off the wheels if you don't create a world government.

The 2008 meltdown happened because politicians had stayed light years behind globalization. Banks go global but the governments are all still only national.

In a democracy everyone gets to vote, everyone matters. In a market there is free competition, there are no monopolies.

America is uniquely positioned to take the lead. It is the oldest modern democracy with mature institutions. It has a young about to be ex president. It is the most diverse country. Just in New York City you could find at least one person from every town on earth.

These are exciting times, even though Planet Earth right now is Titanic, on course to hit the iceberg in terms of Climate Catastrophe. But the same collective will that will steer humanity away from the iceberg will also usher the Age Of Abundance. It will be like a new birth to humanity. There is no parallel in history to what is about to happen. I am wildly optimistic.

Kumar: Wake Up To God

The Diamond Triangle: The Voters, The Politicians, The Academics

It really is just about one person, one vote, one voice. Democracy can be magic. And if you just keep building the matrix, the lattice, there is no upper limit to how big your party can be. It is power. It is also in-built humility.

The voters are required to vote, go above 80%. That is all you really need to do. But you do have to do that much, every two years, by the clock. And if your rear end can't move that much, do not have expectations, do not complain.

The voters also should be part of the conversation. This happens in person. This happens in small groups. This happens on social media. This happens at rallies. You voice your opinions. You consume information. You learn more about issues and the political process. You ask questions. You have your questions answered.

The politicians are to ziggy withit the government machinery, the political machinery, are to connect the academics and the voters. Running the government machinery is brain surgery, it takes a lot. Only the most qualified can do it.

And then there are badly paid academics. They are the ones who think the thoughts and connect the dots, but they don't much care for retail politics, and most of them don't much care for politicians either. But even the most obscure academic is part of some social network or another, and there is no dearth of academics who are fond of glamor. If the academics are part of the diamond triangle then running the government becomes like physics and engineering. You are looking at data, you are collecting data, academics are making sense of it all. Academics should always, always, always be three steps ahead of politicians and voters.

You can really quicken the heart and the pace of the political process by forming this diamond triangle. It is the political machinery's job to take the academics to the voters in digestible formats. Some might want to read journal articles. Most might prefer summaries. Some might like a minute long YouTube video. You give it to them.

With this matrix/lattice in place, you can have a vote share of 60% or more and still not suffer the mindless, irrational, quirky pendulum swing two years after snatching a massive mandate. You keep delivering and you keep looking forward.

Either you will eventually have an opposition that is also finally into evidence based decision making and is past bigotry, xenophobia, racism and sexism or America will stay a de facto one party state for a while. Doesn't hurt.

Building A Democratic Structure For A Lasting Majority

People coming together in small groups and large groups, people voting religiously and in large numbers and unfailingly every two years, people doing their civic duty, the civic duty of showing up to vote every two years and not just during presidential elections, people meeting in person and talking policy, people being heard by the national leadership, because technology now makes it possible, building a structure of one person, one vote, one voice, the national leadership passing a constitutional amendment to take money out of politics, the national leadership doing away with the nonsense called voter registration, a country that is capable of knowing who its taxpayers are is capable of knowing who its voters are, the national leadership getting rid of the agricultural era concept of an "election day" and instead putting in place an election week, making it possible to vote on smartphones through biometric IDs, you press your thumb and you vote, and taking the voting percentage to 80%, voters should not have to get organized and register and canvass and make phone calls, people should simply have to vote, 80% plus: the work will merely begin when Hillary takes all 50 states in November.

Hillary needs to appoint three female progressives to the Supreme Court. The only way the first female president is amazing is if women holding office after that is not news. America should have 30 women governors. 50 female Senators.

The Dean/Obama/Bernie/Warren crowd needs to run for public office at all levels. Bernie lost fair and square. Now how much you get of what you want is going to be in direct proportion to the size of the mandate. Work your heart out. Sweep all 50 states.

I hope someone from that crowd, preferably a female, becomes mayor somewhere, then Governor, and then president in 2024, and puts in place the Universal Basic Income, an idea Bernie never talked about, but an idea whose time will have come.

The Green Party is bonkers. They are afraid too much of what they want they will get if Hillary gets too large a mandate. They are out to steal votes from the only person who stands between Donald Trump and the White House. I accuse them of political illiteracy. They need to get out of the race and get behind Hillary. Trump is Mr. Climate Change Denial. If you are helping him you are Ms. Climate Change Denial. And if you are helping him and are not even aware you are helping him, well, you are a fool.

The most qualified candidate in history is up against the most unqualified candidate in history. This election is a no brainer for any thinking person regardless of party or gender. The most unqualified candidate is also the most dangerous. Not even in the 1930s did America come anywhere even remotely close to electing a fascist. Trump is a fascist. Trump is a sociopath. I can't imagine someone asking, why can't we use nuclear weapons? This guy is going to think the nuclear suitcase is his lunch box. Trump is insane.    

Bill Clinton, My Man! Sharp As Ever

Bill Clinton is badass! Sharp as ever.

Bill Clinton Urges Immigrants To Vote

Speaking directly to illegal aliens, Clinton stated to an applauding audience of delegates that “if you love this country, you’re working hard, you’re paying taxes and you’re obeying the law and you’d like to become a citizen, you should choose immigration reform over somebody that wants to send you back.” 

GST Bill Just Guaranteed Modi Re-Election

GST may have just handed Modi govt a $200-billion cheque 

The passage of the GST Bill has now made it much more likely India will have hit a 10% growth rate by the time Modi goes back to the voters in 2019. At 10% he will win.

Hillary 2016: How Not To Gloat

If Hillary sweeps all 50 states and the House, this is not about Hillary. This is about getting things done. The Hillary team has to give the best two years anyone ever gave. And they have to build the grassroots organizational infrastructure. The people have to stay involved. The people have to keep feeling they are getting heard.

The Republican Party is dead. It might be a few cycles before the Libertarian Party takes that vacant spot in this two party system. In the mean time the Democratic Party is going to have to do the democratic work of two parties.

Hillary should nominate three progressive women to the bench. And the goal should be to retain the House in 2018. You do that by delivering and by staying level headed.

I Did Predict 10

Hillary Clinton Holds Big Lead Over Donald Trump in New Hampshire, Poll Shows 

"Nationally, according to a new Fox News poll, Mrs. Clinton holds a 10-point lead over Mr. Trump."

273 And Counting

273

"Kill Them All" Is Luciferspeak

Voices From Donald Trump’s Rallies, Uncensored

Sheer hatred. Naked hatred.

Really? Why Can't We Use Nukes?

Is this really happening?

Trump asked three times in an hour.... Why can't we use nukes if we have them?

Trump Is Plain Bizarre

I am no longer going to look for another word. This candidate is plain bizarre.

Toughest Job In The World

The US presidency can be said to be the toughest job in the world measured by how much harm or good a POTUS is capable of. A surgeon can harm (or cure and save) only one person at a time.

Is Trump your surgeon? What are you telling me? This election is now in the bizarro phase.

Mad Man

Is Donald Trump Just Plain Crazy

Also within the week, Trump lied in complaining about the presidential debate schedule and its conflicts with professional football. He told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, “I got a letter from the NFL saying, ‘This is ridiculous. Why are the debates against — ’ because the NFL doesn’t want to go against the debates.”

I Say 50

Utah Could Vote Democrat For First Time In 50 Years

"Utah has been the most Republican state for 40 years but that could change with Trump's run toward the White House."

Putting The Khans On The DNC Stage

Strictly politically speaking, whoever came up with the idea of putting the Khans on the stage in Philly, hear ye, that was a master stroke, an act of pure genius. This is an attack from which Trump can not recover.

It is also an attack on groups like ISIS.

Trump: A Candidate From The 1930s

Hillary Clinton endorsed by Houston Chronicle, Trump 'danger to the Republic'

I have a theory. Donald Trump came to run for president in a time machine. He is from the 1930s.

The Republican nominee is supposed to run against the Democratic nominee, but this guy is running against the US Constitution. He is running against the Republic. He is running against the Bible. And the Koran. He is running against decency and good manners. The list is long.

I have been googling and googling. Trump seems to have no policy proposals. Or he forgot to put them on Google.

The Anxieties Are Real

The 2008 implosion, no one seems to have seen it coming. Europe teetered. Greece went full scale. And people have been watching. There is a feeling among a sizable chunk of the electorate that if somehow the clock could be turned back, things would be okay, as if turning the clock back is an option, or even desirable.

Trade and immigration, both good things, get blamed for productivity gains through technological innovation. Humanity has longed for productivity gains, and now that it is here, people are complaining.

First, the big picture. 2008 and the aftermath has blown the cover from America and Europe. Both have been exposed to have accumulated trillions of dollars in bad loans while writing off the Global South as not creditworthy. This has been racism.

Trade is a good thing, and if it is not a good thing why don't the 50 states try to become 50 different economies? Bill Clinton created a pretty good economy, but he could not have done it without NAFTA and some of the other trade deals. But he, and his party, and especially his chosen successor messed up towards the end when they should have been the most vigilant. The record surplus of 2000 was allowed to be thwacked. I don't remember either Bill Clinton or Al Gore saying half the surplus should go into education and health because now it was a knowledge economy. Al Gore spent all his time running against Bill Clinton. Bush was the only one with a plan for what to do with Bill Clinton's money. The plan was to steal it on behalf of the super rich, but it was still a plan, and the only plan on the table. The Democrats did not have a human capital plan.

A trillion dollars in tax cuts, another trillion for drugs for seniors, a trillion to destroy Iraq, which got mistaken for the Al Qaeda, and a trillion to rebuild Iraq: all that was going to send a signal to Wall Street to go reckless, and it did. And Wall Street "cops" were taken off the beat very conveniently. The watchdogs were made weak systematically.

Trade is a good thing. It, coupled with other things like balanced budgets, gave you a record surplus. But trade is only a good thing if you know what to do with the money it brings you, apparently.

Immigration is a good thing. Eradicate immigration and America is no longer an entrepreneurial country. Immigration is in the DNA of America.

The thing is you can not globalize capital and finance and trade and drag your feet on the idea of a world government. Europeans tried the idea of an economic union without a political union. It does not work.

The anxieties of the middle class are real. The anxieties of the working class are real. But that working class needs to take responsibility for the political choices it has made and threatens to make all over again. You voted for a party that prevented the economically sound idea of a $3 trillion stimulus in 2009. With that the recovery would have come much faster and stronger with much of the money going straight to Main Street. Instead there was a much, much bigger monetary stimulus with all the money going straight to Wall Street. That was money printed on your behalf. You vote for the party of gridlock. You vote for the racist party. You vote for the sexist party. You threaten to vote for a guy who is known in New York circles as Mr. Bankruptcy. This guy has lighted the racial fire under your bottoms so he can give himself and his pals a tax cut. Where is your common sense? Think.

The biggest news is not trade or immigration or China. Jobs are also disappearing in China. The biggest news is technological innovation moving at warp speed. And this is supposed to be a good thing. The dream that humanity has harbored for thousands of years is about to be realized. Everybody wins if there is accompanying political innovation.

And the innovation is one person one vote democracy taken to its logical local and global conclusions.

The productivity gains are about to be so large that many of the old rules will no longer apply. The company ownership structure itself is going to be challenged. Maybe We The People are meant to own 10% of all companies. Perhaps that percentage should go up for companies that will show astounding levels of productivity gains. If your productivity gain is going to be 10,000%, perhaps We The People ought to own 30% of it.

Like it or not, the world is moving towards something called the Universal Basic Income. And why would you not like it?

The productivity gains are about to become astronomical. So far the politics and economics have been liquid water physics. We are about to experience steam physics. Many of the old rules will no longer apply.

This is not socialism. This is the Age Of Abundance. It is a new paradigm that asks for the rewriting of rules. And Donald Trump has no clue what I am talking about.

I read an article a few days back that showed your smartphone has free stuff that people in the 1969 to 1989 time window paid almost a million dollars for. Which basically makes you a millionaire. Everybody with a smartphone today would have looked a millionaire to the people of the ancient era of 1969-1989.

This productivity gain thing is real, it is unstoppable. Rejoice. This is good news. But what has happened is nothing compared to what is about to happen.

If you are a white person wanting a white president, I recommend white person Hillary. The Donald is completely clueless. He would fail the SAT today. His brain has been fried with racist, sexist venom. On bad manners alone he would go to hell. Read your Bible. Donald Trump is Sodom and Gomorrah two in one. Everyone in New York knows that.

Priyanka Chopra

Hello @priyankachopra Cool interview @InStyleMag. Have not seen Quantico though. No TV. Welcome to NYC. https://t.co/02owhoRkSA

— Paramendra Bhagat (@paramendra) July 30, 2016

Salt in the air, sand in my hair 🐚 @instylemagazine @fendi #CoverGirl pic.twitter.com/hatPfQo63j

— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) July 22, 2016

A Lot Of Women Will Break For Hillary Final Two Weeks

I fully expect Donald Trump to have a bunch of Rick Lazio moments during the debates.

Lazio ran for the US Senate against Hillary Clinton in 2000 and in one debate the guy was seen invading Hillary's personal space. He walked over to her podium.

Donald might not walk. But he has a foul mouth. He doesn't need to. The guy is zero on policy. His gas tank is empty. And that just makes it more likely he will act boorish. This dude's credentials are bad manners. They would not hire him at McDonald's.

All Hillary has to do is maintain her composure. Lazio lost big. A lot of women took offense, and rightly so.

Donald Trump is going to make Rick Lazio look like a gentleman.

Donald will lose big and will take his party with him.

Call it female diffidence, but a lot of women are acting coy about Hillary. But I expect them to break in Hillary's direction in large numbers during the final two weeks. This is going to be a landslide election. Nothing less is deserved.

The historicity of the first female president can not be lost on most women, but they are being diplomatic about it. They are trying hard not to gloat.

Donald Trump: Typical Republican

Donald Trump is not a different kind of candidate. He is a typical Republican.

He wants to light the racial fire under poor white bottoms so they may not think in terms of their economic self interest. He wants them to vote for him so he may give himself a tax cut. How is that new? How is that different? Was there ever a point in time when Donald Trump had enough money? The guy is greedy. The guy is sin personified.

A thousand evangelicals gathered around Trump. I am not sure that's enough. You are going to need many more to save this soul.

Donald Trump wants tax cuts for himself. Trump University did not work out. He got caught in the act. Donald gotta make money somehow.

Hillary Should Collect A 10 Point Bounce

Hillary Clinton Speech

Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton: such uplifting, wonderful speeches. Such a contrast to the Republican arsonists. I think Hillary will see a 10 point bounce from this convention. This election is going to be won in a landslide. And by now I am so glad the Bernie crowd is all sewed up, and she did it herself. That crowd needs to know, how much you get of all you want is in direct proportion to the size of the mandate. I should write that in the form of a mathematical equation. Give her the House!

The top speakers from Philly should now fan out to the 50 states in a coordinated fashion.

Did you get the news? Donald wants to punch people in the face! This dude can't come anywhere near the nuclear code. This is a simple one issue election now. People, be very afraid.

The Bernie Crowd Needs To Get In Line

The time to show enthusiasm is now. It is not about making the right noise. It is about getting things done. How much gets done is in direct proportion to the size of the mandate in November. Don't walk away now and in a year complain you are not getting it. Exhibit political literacy. Prepare to run for public office at all levels in all 50 states. That is what idealism looks like. But don't be walking away now. Every Democrat in over a hundred years has run against a Republican but this is the first time a Democrat has the option to kill the Republican Party. But it will not happen without total unity. There is a very real chance of Dems taking the House. If you want stuff done, get the House.

Show some sportsmanship. Bernie lost. But his agenda did not lose. His ideas carry on. But the government machinery asks for a mandate, or the levers don't move.

Not lukewarm unity, but total unity, enthusiastic unity. If you want to see things happen.

Warren Did Not Run, Bernie Did Not Win

The left and the center are together under the Democratic Party umbrella. The Clintons forged the New Democratic formula after the party had become lifeless for being too taken by the pure left. They dread going back there. Even if the ground reality has changed.

The Bernie crowd has had to google the word socialism. This is the crowd that will deliver the Universal Basic Income. This crowd will steer the conversation from liquid water physics to steam physics.

You do that by running for office at all levels. That is the only way.

Hillary won. She picked who she wanted to pick. That is what winning means. You get to pick.

For now the best bet progressives have is to work towards a large mandate. I hope Warren goes to every state.

Donald Trump Exhibited A Black Employee

Donald exhibited a black employee in Cleveland, as if to say, look, I have a black employee, I am the least racist person.

Like some people have a "black friend" and that is how you know they are not racist or anything.

Black Lives Matter needs to perhaps look for people who don't have a black person working for them.

How big is Trump LLC? Four people? Five? Seven?

What if having one black employee is a brand of racism called tokenism?

What if having a black employee is the 2016 version of a master slave relationship? That you need to have at least one black employee to boss around and feel good about yourself?

Was the exhibit a receptionist? Or was she like one of those struggling actors hired for Trump rallies? Was she paid? Minimum wage? Living wage?

Did Trump ever bother to learn her name? What does he call her if he does not know her name? Did he remember ever having seen her before?

Is the exhibit happy at work? Or is the racism too much? How does she feel when she hears Donald Trump hate speech on TV? Does she have Hispanic friends?

Donald Trump does not seem to realize blacks and Hispanics are one people now.

Advocate: A Tech Startup

Advocate is a tech startup. It is in round one. It is in for both the voter and the people running for office. It is impressive that it already has clients in Kenya and New Zealand, among other places. It is pursuing the "enterprise model," as in get the political party not the solo candidate.

From Senators in ancient Rome to parliamentarians in the 1200s UK to the revolutionaries of the American revolution to the chaos in Cleveland, democracy has evolved, but apparently not enough. "Driving an always-on political atmosphere where supporters and candidates are more thoroughly engaged throughout the total political cycle, not just during elections."

"Campaign finance will change when less TV ad spend allows the decoupling of the crippling money needs.....There will be location independent, mobile and secure voting as barriers will be removed in favor of rising voter turnout/engagement in the processes."

Chris Bystrom is the CEO and one of the three Cofounders.

But how will Advocate do what it wants to do? What is the product roadmap? What are its chances? Who are the other players in the space? When he came back from Cleveland I met up with him in his office near Union Square.

Advocate_BSF16_WhyNotNow_Final_7716 from Chris Bystrom

Advocate_Product_Overview_7716 from Chris Bystrom

When Chris emailed me suggesting I write up about his tech startup, I called him up. One of the first things I asked was, how did you find me?

Oh, I was just looking online for people in the New York area who were writing about politics.

I was standing on the sidewalk in front of Baruch College near Little India smooching off the city's free gigabit WiFi from stands that used to be payphones but now look like pins on a Google map, only in 3D. He was in Williamsburg, getting ready to go to Cleveland.

"To protest?"

"No. To distribute flyers about the company, to onboard people."

We got disconnected a few times. Was the WiFi really gigabit, as promised, or more like a Trump University course, high on promise, low on delivery?



I just spent an hour with Chris, holed up at WeWork on 33 Irving Place near Union Square, right before lunch. It was an intense experience of a conversation. Technology is going to eat up politics but, just like with health, there have been many false starts by people who, just like with health, came to politics from the technology not politics angle and failed. Hello Google.

When you are at a WeWork, you feel incubated. WeWork itself has been an Uber size startup. It feels like it was launched only yesterday and is now in the billions. WeWork has revolutionized the work space concept.



What is in your background that got you to do this, I asked. Unless you have a burning passion, you can't do a startup.

His great grandfather was Governor of Nebraska. His mother is political. He grew up in a political family. He learned politics like he learned English. Kind of like me, both sides of my family is political. You get infected early.



"How do you end up in Kenya?"

"Skype."

Nobody does mobile money quite like the Kenyans. I am talking m-Pesa. The digital democracy tools are going to have to be redesigned with SMS only in mind.



"What about for countries with authoritarian regimes? Will you go into those?"

I was not happy with the answer. There are 120 democracies. That's a big enough market.

Maybe so, but that's not the entire market. That's not the market segment with the greatest need. Oracle only became a serious company after it won a contract with the CIA. Maybe the State Department would like to become a client. Maybe George Soros might wish for a much better ROI on his liberally sprinkled money.



What about the competition? He listed a few: Nationbuilder, Brigade, ChangePolitics. I was not impressed with any of them. It felt like Advocate had a first mover advantage, which is surprising. Politics is one of the oldest professions, some might say the very oldest. And technology has been around for a while. But will Advocate deliver on the promise? Will it do what it is promising to do? 2016 will see $4.4 billion spent on political TV ads. It is not possible to talk to someone in 30 seconds without insulting their intelligence. Craig's List killed the newspaper classifieds. Will Advocate kill the 30 second politics ads? That is the question. It has a nine month runway based on money in the bank. That is plenty of time to prove it just might. Having already onboarded 100 American politicians before even launching is not a bad start for this eight person team, a few in San Francisco, one in Chicago, most of them in New York.