App for US Senate 2012!

App is a candidate for US Senate from California committed to making every single vote and political decision based on binding web-based consultations with constituents.
Jan 26 '12

App4Senate’s first candidate for human proxy has been received! Barry Kendall, you are in the running!

Reasons why Barry Kendall is the right candidate for App4Senate:

  • I have a thorough understanding of the requirements for fair and effective public consultation. For three years, I was the executive director of a non-partisan think tank, the Commonweal Institute, which led public dialogues on economic and social issues in both online and offline forums. In the last several months, I have developed deeper insight into the technological platforms and procedural safeguards necessary to bring public deliberations to scale. I serve as an adviser to the tech start-up Reframe It, and we are partnering with the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford to design software tools for educating the public, soliciting their opinions, and fostering community dialogue. It will take a powerful set of software tools – and much more besides – to power the App4Senate experiment, and I have a clear vision of how the whole system could work.
  • I know how things currently work on Capitol Hill. I’ve built my career in politics, working with Members of Congress to propose legislation and advance ideas in the press. During the campaign, the App4Senate project will need a candidate who can speak knowledgably about the kinds of decisions that a legislator faces, and how to structure those questions for public consultation. And of course, when we win, it will be essential to have a Senator who understands how best to use the power of this revolution to disrupt business as usual in Washington.
  • I have strong candidate skills. I am an experienced public speaker, with a special gift for helping different audiences understand the same concept. I have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in both campaign and organizational settings. I’ve built solid experience managing budgets and personnel as the chief executive of three organizations. I have enough traditional campaign experience, but for an unconventional effort like App4Senate, my greatest asset is my background as a performer and director. Our biggest early challenge will be getting attention, and you need someone who understands how to use charisma and spectacle to bring excitement and the media spotlight to our cause.
  • Finally, I have a strong network of connections across California who stand ready to help me and the App4Senate campaign. Unsurprisingly, I know many political folks who could help us staff up a campaign as quickly as possible. My relationships with some of the new generation of tech entrepreneurs and leaders, including early Google employees and successful start-up founders, might prove even more useful, for both technology and fundraising support.

This opportunity is tailor-made for my skill set and experience, and I am very excited about the challenge. Let’s revolutionize the way our representative democracy works!

Tags: humanproxycandidate

Dec 25 '11
App4Senate Seeks Human Proxy Candidate If you are a human proxy candidate to represent App’s constituents in the US Senate, please submit a short statement of why you think you would be a strong representative, and confirm in writing or by video your commitment to systematically honor the electronically expressed will of your constituents in every vote and political decision that you make. You will also be required to live broadcast video recordings of all meetings, conversations, negotiations, or any other politically-related social interactions that you have while serving the App community, to the greatest extent permissible by law and US Senate rules. Human proxy candidates must be at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen for at least nine years at the time of election to the Senate and a resident of the state of California. If elected, the human proxy will receive the full salary and benefits of a US Senator, and will be fully responsible for managing staff resources to guarantee the success of App’s software in continuously and systematically driving every political decision through consultation with the App community. Candidates need not be programmers, but are encouraged to demonstrate a deep understanding of key software tools that will be needed to operate and support the development of App. Image courtesy Flickr user “V&A Steamworks” CC-BY

App4Senate Seeks Human Proxy Candidate

If you are a human proxy candidate to represent App’s constituents in the US Senate, please submit a short statement of why you think you would be a strong representative, and confirm in writing or by video your commitment to systematically honor the electronically expressed will of your constituents in every vote and political decision that you make. You will also be required to live broadcast video recordings of all meetings, conversations, negotiations, or any other politically-related social interactions that you have while serving the App community, to the greatest extent permissible by law and US Senate rules.

Human proxy candidates must be at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen for at least nine years at the time of election to the Senate and a resident of the state of California.

If elected, the human proxy will receive the full salary and benefits of a US Senator, and will be fully responsible for managing staff resources to guarantee the success of App’s software in continuously and systematically driving every political decision through consultation with the App community. Candidates need not be programmers, but are encouraged to demonstrate a deep understanding of key software tools that will be needed to operate and support the development of App.

Image courtesy Flickr user “V&A Steamworks” CC-BY