Politics
Entries related to things political.
My reflections on the State Chair race
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 01/11/2005 - 15:06Reflections on the State Chair Race
After the November elections, many people have been reflecting on the direction of the Democratic Party, both nationally and in Connecticut. Nationally, the November 3rd theses set the tone. Another friend wrote about the issues that the Democrats face here.
Locally, Democrats in Connecticut did okay. It was great to see the victories of Ed Meyer, Deborah Heinrich and Gayle Slossberg. However, there are still more Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives than there are Democrats.
Jim Maloney's letter to members of the Connecticut Democratic State Central Committee
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 01/10/2005 - 18:52Our Democratic Party is at a crossroads. Nationally our party just lost an election against the most politically deceptive and socially destructive Republican administration in our life times.
Here in Connecticut we haven’t elected a Democratic governor in 20 years, and the majority of our “Blue State” House Congressional delegation is in Republican hands. Thankfully, we have long had strong majorities in our General Assembly. As former State Party Chairman John Bailey quite correctly used to stress, however, the focus of ability to move a political agenda in Connecticut is found in the “Corner Office”.
Running for State Chair, updated 1/10 5:45 PM
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 01/10/2005 - 13:59Back on December 22nd, I wrote a blog entry about rumors that George Jepsen might not be running for re-election for State Chair. I mentioned that my wife suggested that I run for State Chair. Within a few days, the rumors were confirmed and an exciting race for State Chair has emerged.
People online picked up on this, such as Jerome Armstrong at MyDD wrote about it on his blog, and sent me a note encouraging me to consider running. It was picked up on Democratic Underground, and I’ve been getting messages from around the country about this.
Questions for Connecticut Democratic State Chair Candidates
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 01/10/2005 - 13:54What are the key issues that you believe the state party faces?
How do you intended to address these issues?
What is your leadership style?
How do you believe this style will help you lead the party?
What examples can you give of this leadership style from previous leadership roles?
To get to specific issues that many of my friends are concerned about:
How do you envision getting more people actively involved in the Democratic Party?
As an aside, I encourage you to read the November 3rd Theses and provide your comments on them.
Also, who do you believe should become the next DNC Chair, and what are your reasons for supporting your choice?
Is the blogosphere good?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 01/10/2005 - 10:52Yesterday, friends came over to dinner and I introduced their daughter to MOOs. To quote the Wikipedia definition, “MOO is short for MUD object oriented and is a type of MUD text-based virtual reality system”. I am a big fan of MOOs, and it was the geek term that I used most often to glaze over the faces of my interlocutors before I started talking about blogs.
A lot has been written about MOOs. My Tiny Life, by Julian Dibbell, Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace, by Janet H. Murray, and Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet,
by Sherry Turkle each provide an interesting glimpse into MOOs. A friend of mine, Prof. David Jacobson teaches a college course on Social Relations in Cyberspace that goes into MOOs, as do many other professors, and has had many articles published in scholarly journals about the topic.
