An Open Letter to My FB Friends, Red and Blue alike…
Let me start by saying THANK YOU for tolerating my political oriented status updates, posts and comments. I decided very consciously this election to take place in the what our President called “Arguments that are a mark of our liberty”, via social media. I did this for two main reasons:
First, I love this country with all of my heart and soul. I was raised to appreciate the sacrifices both of my Grandfathers made in military service to this country and was aloud to come to my own political conclusions. My parents NEVER told me who they voted for until I was old enough to obviously come to that conclusion. They allowed a freedom of thought and decision that I now realize is rare in many American households, where children are programmed to follow lock step in their parents political footprints, regardless of any conflicted personal feelings. I am incredibly lucky. And I cannot sit quietly by and still repay the debt of gratitude I have for being an American and being given the freedom to decide my own politics. (For those that don’t know me well, or my family, I am the lone blue crayon in a family pack that colors in mostly shades of red)
The second reason I decided to engage in political banter on FB and Twitter is because I believe that these social media channels are indicators of a new beginning in American politics and media. The affects of social media (and Big Data - hello Nate Silver!) on this election and future elections is hard to imagine. We stand on the edge of a cultural and economic shift that is going to be so huge and so profound, that I am incredibly excited to wake up and go to work everyday. As we begin to find new ways to unite, connect and engage via the Internet, we move more from a knowledge economy toward a social economy and the value of “social capital” will never be higher. I will spare you my full social capital / social currency speech here, but last night while watching the election returns and live tweeting with America, I was reminded specifically of some of my research, particularly Alexis de Tocqueville - a nineteenth century French political thinker / historian. Monsieur de Tocqueville was the first to loosely define the phrase “social capital” in his 1835 Democracy in America - He observed that Americans were prone to meeting at as many gatherings as possible to discuss all possible issues of state, economics, or the world that could be witnessed. The high levels of transparency caused greater participation from the people and thus allowed for democracy to work better.* (*Wikipedia) - let me reemphasize, HIGH LEVELS OF TRANSPARENCY CAUSED GREATER PARTICIPATION AND THUS ALLOWED FOR DEMOCRACY TO WORK BETTER. - No longer bound by geography, race or socio-economic level, only by wi-fi and cell service, we have more places to meet and have these discussions than any time in history, lets take these opportunities to continue to dialogue as a nation, as Americans, not just red and blue states. This is what can make democracy thrive.
Forward.