MeetUp, LinkUp

DFA was with MeetUps. That was true when I came into town. And suddenly DFA launched LinkUps. It was kind of unexpected for me.

Not long after I came into town I became personal friends with Scott, the self-effacing CEO of MeetUp.com. I am proud of that friendship. And I wish him all the best, of course.

The MeetUp, MoveOn cocktail can be positively devastating. They did some real good work with Katrina.

Social Networking: Where The Internet Comes Down From The Clouds

I hit the road. Scott went to work a coutner at McDonald's. We both had our downtimes. If in the late 1990s, you were not part of the dot com mania, where were you!

And it is not like I landed in NYC, more like I landed at DFNYC. As I have said, NYC is the crown city, DFNYC the crown jewel. I expect to go to the White House with Howard Dean in 2008, the year America the republic will become America the democracy.

DFNYC In The News
Tracey Denton Of DFNYC
Who Is Leecia Eve?
Lewis Cohen Has Been Behind Ferrer Since Summer 2004

Soaking In Howard Dean
Dean Was In Town Yesterday

DFA MeetUps were and still are the largest at that site. And I was not part of the LinkUp decision, and still am not in any position to have a say. I am kind of on neutral ground. That might actually help what I have to say.

I am for DFA using Google's Blogger, as opposed to starting something in-house from scratch. That "outsourcing" helps us stay focused. We are a political organization. In Blogger's case, it helps that it is free. We instead work the blogalaxy idea in-house. Google will always beat us on the blogfront. We should not even compete.

One Blog One LinkUp One Atom

The same argument could be made for MeetUp. A company whose sole focus is to leverage out MeetUps and is financially backed by eBay will likely do a better job than our in-house LinkUps in the long run.

MeetUp.com and Dean 2004 fed on each other. Dean 2004 could not have been imagined without the MeetUps. We have history together.

I would like to suggest a second attempt at a newfound business relationship. It might not bear fruit, but why not give it a shot?

MeetUp.com should realize losing its largest customer is a crisis situation, and should go out of its way to please that customer, especially when Dean 2004 and Dean 2008 are going to be whole different ballgames: Dean 2008 will be much, much larger. The DFA MeetUps will likely grow even larger after Dean is in the White House. The MeetUps will be key to the Dean governance style.

More On Organization
DFA Organization Framework

On the other hand, we DFA people need to realize the MeetUp idea is not our specialty.

Can something be worked out?

Costs. Those have become a major issue. What about applying the wholesale-retail concept? Prices at Sam's Club are not the same as those at the Walmart stores. As the largest customer, DFA should not have to pay the same price per MeetUp. If the rest of the world pays, $19 per MeetUp, perhaps DFA Organizers should pay $12 a MeetUp. Or $10. Just because there are so many of them, and there will be many more of them, if allowed.

Another way to bring down costs would be for the central DFA to "subsidize" some. And so individual Organizers chip in maybe $8 per MeetUp. Something like that. That might lead to a $1 per MeetUp price tag for each participant. And that is fair enough. We don't want just anyone to show up.

Living wage is around $10. If you go attend a MeetUp for an hour, that is already $10 you did not make that you could have. Or if you are a lawyer, that is $100, maybe more.

And MeetUp.com should be willing to add features that LinkUp has but MeetUp does not. And MeetUp should be willing to add more features down the line, always giving ears to its largest customer.

I think if we talk, something could be worked out.

One feature I request, a Google map that lists all DFA MeetUps on one map. As you zero in from the country to state to city to locality, you start seeing the specific locations.

The amount DFA must be spending to upkeep the LinkUp might pay for the "subsidy" part.

Ours tend to the most prominent, largest MeetUps in any town. When people go to the site to join, say, Knitting MeetUps, some of them end up joining us. Our standalone LinkUps do not have that advantage.

MeetUp is snazzier.

MeetUp could further reduce costs by really getting into the ad model. Google ads alone will not do. Even Wonkette sells its own ads. Maybe video ads like Yahoo. The more MeetUp.com works on the members' profile pages, more it can make through ads.

Ideally, MeetUp shoud be able to support itself solely through ads. Paid Yahoo Mail does not seem to fly all that high.

Lessons for social networking are to be drawn from real life. Members should have the option to tab each other, for example.

But those details are something to keep working on.

For now I throw in the idea of dialogue. Maybe something can be worked out. Maybe not. I don't know. I am not in any position to decide.

I mean, was the DFA taken into confidence before the mega decision of charging Organizers $19 a month? And if not, did that become a stickler? Was DFA's decision to launch a LinkUp also as abrupt?

Maybe we should talk and see if something can be worked out.

This Is What I Am Talking About

A woman has become Chancellor of Germany and suddenly a lot of career women in Germany are coming forth with gender specific workplace questions.

A few days back I talked of going beyond foetus talk. This is what I am talking about. The pro-choice stand is all good, but that is not the only issue women face. Infact, for most women, that is more symbolic than a choice they personally hope to face.

So expand the agenda. Talk more broadly. Dig up many more issues in gender relations. Issues to do with relationships and marriages, issues in the home, at the workplace, issues out in the streets, issues where big money and big power come into play.

The same applies to race relations, and cultural diversity issues. Too often worshipping Martin Luther King is used as an excuse to make no further progress on race relations. Education, health and economic growth cut across all racial lines, but there are a host of issues that are race specific, and those have to be talked about openly.

Digging up issues, and putting them on the table, and engaging in productive dialogue might be the best way to make progress on both race and gender.

Only I wish the women in Germany talked these issues up also before.

• Woman on top Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
• Merkel Becomes First Female German Chancellor Zaman Online, Turkey
• Let the Merkel era begin International Herald Tribune, France
• German Press Names Merkel 'Miss Germany!' Zaman Online, Turkey
• 'Merkel smashes stereotypes' Independent Online, South Africa
• 'The girl' who surprised the old boys in Berlin politics San Francisco Chronicle, United States
• Deal gives Germany 1st female chancellor San Francisco Chronicle, United States
• Merkel emerges as new face of Germany Globe and Mail, Canada
• Merkel to lead Germany as first female chancellor Detroit Free Press, United States
• Merkel to Be Germany's First Woman Chancellor Los Angeles Times, CA
• Chirac invites Germany's Angela Merkel to France People's Daily Online, China
• Merkel reaches deal to become Germany's first female chancellor Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription), MN
• First female chancellor plays it cool Financial Times, UK

My Photo At ABCNews.com

It is from this event: Dean Was In Town Yesterday. I am in the top right corner.

Howard Dean Backs Bloomberg Challenger
ABC News Sep 27, 2005

The Bloomberg Machine

Poll: Bloomberg Extends Lead in NYC Race Two new polls indicate the mayor's response to the terror threat helped him nearly double his lead over Fernando Ferrer. And an overwhelming majority of voters said they believe Bloomberg is stronger on security than his opponent....... Bloomberg with a 28-point lead over Ferrer, 60 percent to 32 percent, among likely voters....... the mayor appeared with the police commissioner and FBI officials to announce the potential al-Qaida attack and a tightening of subway security........ A Quinnipiac poll released three weeks earlier found the incumbent leading by 14 points...... CNN and the New York Post, citing unidentified sources, reported that an informant in Iraq who had told U.S. authorities about the plot later admitted he made it up. Bloomberg and police officials questioned those reports Tuesday........ The billionaire incumbent, who is financing his campaign with his fortune, led among both black voters and Democrats in the Quinnipiac poll. Ferrer, who is of Puerto Rican descent, had a slight edge over the mayor among Hispanic voters...... More than three-fourths of those surveyed gave Bloomberg high marks on security and favored him over Ferrer for keeping the city safe.......

Ferrer Attack: Ferrer's chief complaints about Bloomberg's security record are that he has failed to fight for federal counterterrorism funds, and should hire more officers to the city's police force of nearly 37,000.

Bloomberg Attack: Bloomberg's opposition grumbled about whether last week's threat announcement was a political ploy, but Bloomberg said Monday that he and his police commissioner were not playing politics....... "The implication that Ray Kelly or I would try to scare people for some sort of petty political gain is pretty cynical," the mayor said. "You can't stop and worry about politics when you're talking about keeping people safe in this city."

Looks like Bloomberg did get a major security boost.

Bloomberg: No Mr. Security

And compare the Ferrer attack to the Bloomberg attack. Bloomberg's is sharper. Sharpness works.

Bloomberg's online ads the past few days have been more message focused. The beauty ads are gone. I wonder if people on the Bloomberg campaign have been reading my blog. Maybe not. But I did criticize the beauty ads a few days back.

Ferrer could get more aggressive. But then if Bloomberg is getting most of the black vote, something is cooking up.

The self-made billionaire perhaps has limitless supplies of money and a political instinct or two to top that.

Ferrer Can

One Blog One LinkUp One Atom

Blogger allows that. So every Organizer of a MeetUp/LinkUp would have a blog, and all participants of that MeetUp are invited to become members of that blog. And so the meeting literally never stops. It is at that blog that you can read the agenda a few days before the MeetUp.

After getting a Blogger account to join the LinkUp blog, a member can create a personal blog or more using the same account. Having a Blogger account is kind of like having one of those email accounts, Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, what have you.

This way there is virtually limitless space for policy talk. And the policy discussions during Face Time will be more informed.

That will also free up time at the MeetUps. We could use that to make sure the MeetUps stay within the hour. If people were to know MeetUps last only an hour, more people are likely to show up.

More free time would also mean we could use that for team building exercises. Ice breaknig exercises. Let's get to know each other exercises.

We could get really creative.

One blog per MeetUp would also mean the leaders in the organization could really get a feel of the larger group on their own schedule.

A blog plus a MeetUp/LinkUp would thus be the building block of the nationwide DFA organization. This is transparent democracy.

Instead of minutes, we could have a volunteer take pictures of each MeetUp. The enthusiastic ones might even snap up video highlights to post online.

This synergy will really help us communicate with MeetUp groups across the country.

Star LinkUp Organizers could hope to receive a national audience. Kind of like having your own TV show.

The LinkUps would feel more national that way.

The social bonding would get enhanced.

Screen Time does not take away from Face Time, it contributes to it.

This idea would also lessen the pressure on the Pre MeetUps, and the After MeetUps. Such gatherings could then afford to be more social and less business.

For members to get to know each other as individuals is important.

Audio, Video, Photos.

Once we have this unit going, we could then work on the blogalaxy idea. This is one star. A galaxy is many stars.

From atoms, you can make molecules, compounds, and bigger things.

A LinkUp plus its blog is the atom.

Takes Two Arms And Two Legs To Swim

This is my attempt to recoincile my stances on free trade, and education and health.

The Failure Of The Global South In The Recent Global Trade Talks
Race Relations, Personal Relations, Free Trade

There is sound economic theory behind free trade. If America had $1 in 2000, 33 of the cents got created in the Clinton 1990s. And understanding the essence of free trade was key to how Clinton achieved the longest peacetime economic expansion in history. And he did more for education than five presidents before him though still not quite enough. He fell short on health, far short. It was not Hillary, it was Bill.

Free trade is like moving your arms while swimming. Education and health are a leg each. You need all four limbs to swim well. The body is the economy.

Bill Gates voted for Clinton in 1992. Warren Buffett is a Democrat. Larry Ellison has always maintained he would not mind paying higher taxes. The two Google founders are diehard Bill Clinton fans. Those are just a few examples.

My point being the true entrepreneurs are all progressives. Progressives dream up the industries of tomorrow, they create the companies of tomorrow, they create the jobs of tomorrow. They create socially progressive corporate cultures. Progressive entrepreneurs are our allies. Only the fake entrepreneurs bribe presidents for tax cuts to pad up their bank accounts. All Nobel Prize winning economists disagreed with the George W. tax cuts. But then the guy is also a creationist. Talk about worldviews. (Dumb And Dumberer: Creationist Bush)

Bill Gates is a huge fanatic when it comes to public education. That is a progressive right there.

And I wonder if we should not pass a constitutional amendment such that noone should have to pay more than 40% of their income in taxes by all levels of government put together. That would take tax cuts out of the political equation and the Republican regressives would be deprived. George W. never saw a problem whose solution did not lie in tax cuts.

Who pays how much in taxes is a legitimate part of the political conversation, but once that money has been paid, that collective money belongs to all 300 million Americans equally. The one person, one vote mechanism has to be perfected to help the poorest Americans feel that sense of ownership.

Corporate welfare is a major drain.

I imagine a world where the global per capita income is $20,000 and growing. Free trade is fundamental to such a vision. And we have to watch out for right wing alarmist rhetoric on India, China and other emerging economies. If India grows richer, Indians have more money to buy American products and services. That is good news. It truly is a win-win situation. There is room for everybody. Wealth is literally created out of thin air.

Legendary network marketer Bill Britt once said there is enough marble just in West Virginia to build a mansion for every family on the planet. But we have to come up with the political, social, economic infrastructures to make that happen. We progressives come into that infrastructure part. We are in the business of building that political infrastructure to unleash the human potential.

Lifelong Education

The information age asks for it. Education can never stop for anyone. And it has to be reimagined. It has to be broken free of geography.

Think of this cocktail: free, wireless broadband plus all books online for free, all, textbooks, fiction, non-fiction, all.

Free Wireless Broadband, Reenergized Microsoft
In Defense Of Google Digitizing Books
Into the Nitty Gritty Of WiMax

Google has come up with a business model whereby a company can offer free wi-fi and make money through ads. It also has taken the lead on digitizing books, although the idea really needs to be thought through.

The book industry as we have known it will likely disappear. And that is just fine. If technology brings the price of books to zero, then so be it. Don't fight the technology. Not even Google has taken the next step. But I believe the next step is for a company like Google to become a digital publisher. Books are put online that readers may access for free. Money is made throuugh ads. Google and the author split the money. Google could suggest 50-50. If Yahoo says 60-40 in favor of the author, there is competition right there.

And the hardware industry needs to make the computer screen friendly to the eyes.

Print books become antiques and cottage industries.

Universal Health Care

There should be a two tier model: public health care centers that work on a drop-by basis for anyone inside the geographical United States that keep expanding in scope as the economy expands, kind of like minimum wage, although that wage has stagnated too long. And the private sector health care with reform. Let's face it, the private health care sector is not exactly in tune with basic market forces, or it would have taken the lead on adopting information technology in all aspects of its operations. Something is going on. Daal mein kuchh kala hai, as they say in Hindi: there is something dark in the lentil.

I think the total, transparent democracy weapon would work great for another major effort for health care reform. Blog it all the way. Let all voices be heard and archived, even those opposed to any reform, especially theirs, so our grassroots volunteers can see for themselves where the clots are. We want Steve Forbes on record saying a flat tax is a cure to all health care reform.

And you expand the insurance coverage.

So, have a bedrock of public health care, reform the sector in general, and expand coverage through insurance with the goal being universal coverage down the line.

And a major cultural shift has to be engineered, from an illness-focus to a wellness-focus. You score points when you do what it takes to stay healthy. Are you sleeping your six to eight hours? Do you drink your daily water? Are you physically vigorous for at least half an hour each day? Go walk. Follow me. Do you eat a balanced diet? Do you eat your fruits and vegetables? Do you stay away from smoke and alcohol? The city hall should pass a law and make bars serve mango lussee. Do you get your multi-vitamins from my online shop?

And, last but not the least, do you vote for doctors?

More On Organization

An Email From Headquarters

Luigi.

I hope you are okay with my keeping public our conversation. This is the transparent democracy part.

I just wanted to add a few things in response to your email.

I am not asking the question if Dean will run in 2008 or not. I have met him twice, and it is all over his face. He will. I knew that even before I met him. If he does not run in 2008, then 2004 was sham. And I know it was not, I was part of it.

I am not even asking the question if he will win. Victory is guaranteed. He will win.

The question I am asking is what if 2008 is more like 1776, a year when democracy itself gets reinvented. Will we have the orgnanizational framework in place to handle all that outburst of energy all over the map? That is what I think about. The grassroots organizational structure that will elect him will become even more important after he is in the White House. The very idea of governance stands to get reinvented.

When the goofy white men invented democracy in 1776, they did have many deficiencies, when looked at in hindsight and compared to the future, but it was a total revolution when compared to the past. 1860 expanded upon the idea. Then women got voting rights. In 1932 organized labor gained some sort of a victory. 1960 saw JFK really bring the focus onto the primaries. 1992 was also a watershed. Bill Clinton claimed he was the first person to get himself elected president solely based on his network of personal friends, Friends Of Bill. He said he became president because he had more friends than anyone else in America.

The original idea was of a republic. The people vote for these hopefully wise white men, and they take care of business for the next so many years. That idea stands to get challenged through DFA. Citizens organized at grassroots levels participate in the democracy on a monthly basis. That is a fundamental departure. The country moves from being a republic to becoming a democracy. Are we up for it? That is the question.

I think we are on our way to direct elections for President. Bye bye electoral college.

So the organizational framework is of fundamental importance.

You are right, most of what I am talking about is political and organizational, not technological. The technology already exists and is available for free online for anyone who might want to use it. And it is only going to get better.

I am very impressed with DFA Link.

Maybe you have the people and the resources, but I would be wary of DFA becoming too technology centric. We are not a technology company, we are a political organization. It makes sense to do some things in-house. But I think we should be leery of trying to do everything in-house.

If you think you are up for it, by all means do the blog aspects in-house. But I am kind of thinking, why would we want to compete with Google? They show signs of becoming the successor company to Microsoft itself. They have billions in the bank, and more coming. Why not just use their Blogger? They also have audio and video options. And they keep improving the whole thing. Blogger is as close to word processing online as it gets.

Instead we focus on having a framework. A mechanism that puts all Deaniac blogs on one map, a mechanism for Deanics to vote for blogs and blog entries. That way we still do the core work, but what can already be done online for free, we don't duplicate, and instead pour our resources into political and organizational work.

Just a thought.

We will keep talking.