Technology Positions in the 2008 Election?
It’s an election year, duh?? So what issues are getting traction - the war, immigration, the economy (of course), health care (again), taxes, the sub-prime crisis. But despite the importance of technology in general and the internet in particular, there isn’t much technology discussion by the candidates. Admittedly they all use the internet extensively - fund raising, information dissemination, organizing supporters, etc. Manufacturing, for example, gets more political attention, despite being a smaller part of our economy. And If any of these candidates are technically savvy, they hide it well. Perhaps intentionally.
There’s no shortage of technology issues that, in my opinion, deserve more attention - Net Neutrality, Online privacy standards, Online gambling, Broadband access, Technology education, Communications infrastructure, etc.
Technology Position Statements
Barack Obama - be sure to read the section on open government
Hillary Clinton - I could use a link here
John McCain - Again, please send me link to his technology position.
March 5th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Take a look at CNET’s assessment of the viability of candidates: CNET’s Tech Voter Guide
Granted, they have some outdated candidates, and it’s a month old, but I doubt that even a politician could flip-flop that quickly. It’s also interesting, as an aside, that none of the State of the Union addresses of President Bush have mentioned Net Neutrality, and references to technology (and in particular information technology) are usually either absent or oblique at best. I hope the next Commander-in-Chief does more than just hand-waving at information technology, or we’ll get lapped.
March 10th, 2008 at 8:27 am
One other notion to add to this: while our esteemed Libertarian Arin Sime would not appreciate it, I cannot imagine that government contracting would not be more lucrative under a Democratic administration than a Republican administration. Existing political realities notwithstanding (yes, that sounds like a dodge), most of the time, Democrats tend to look to government solutions for problems, while Republicans tend to look to free markets to provide solutions for problems. One would expect government spending to be higher, relatively speaking, under an Obama or Clinton administration, than it would be under a McCain administration, with more of a push towards small disadvantaged businesses.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Jason - I wouldn’t make too many assumptions about which party will benefit contracting more than the other. Without delving into politics too much, I’m not convinced there’s that much difference between the two (no surprise coming from me). And if an administration of either party is more interested in outsourcing things (which hopefully would actually decrease the spending on that line item), then I think you can imagine scenarios under either major party where the field of contracting may benefit. Ideally government becomes a little more efficient at the same time.
March 14th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Fair enough. Of course, if federal IT would use more open source then they could save money regardless of the administration. But, alas, they do not appear to be doing so.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:40 am
I’m not endorsing Barack Obama, or any candidate for that matter, but I give him credit for at least enunciating the importance of net neutrality.
For the record, if Arin was running for POTUS, he would have my endorsement.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Matt - that is a terrifying thought.