I have often pondered if we could follow a political agenda that favors wealth redistribution, health care, environmental solutions as well as laxer regulation at the same time.
Accordig to a New York Times articles a study that is currently being peer-reviewed shows that tech giants are working on exactly that kind of agenda:
Tech giants create their own political movement between Democrats and Republicans
Re: Tech giants create their own political movement between Democrats and Republicans
Software engineers have been known to have (over-represented vs typical) views that do not fit neatly in any political party (e.g. Ron Paul 2008/2012 or their ability to get along with anarchists, socialists, and capitalists.. "libertarian in the streets, progressive in the sheets"). I'm sure other groups of people could say the same thing. It's a shame that probably a plurality of people in the US don't have a political party that they can largely agree with or feel happy voting for (at least in this last US Presidential election)? Actually, that's not exactly what I mean by "a shame;" maybe more along the lines of the voting/districting system being so poorly representative.
From the images, I didn't see any such agenda or political movement being worked on?
Re: Tech giants create their own political movement between Democrats and Republicans
Yes. The parties exist to gain ground for themselves, like all beaurocracies. They do not exist to represent constituents or a specific set of beliefs. In fact, I don't think beliefs enter into it at all. Both the elephants and the donkeys will adopt any stance there is as long as it forwards the aim of protecting or expanding their own power.
Re: Tech giants create their own political movement between Democrats and Republicans
@bryan:
I think you are not wrong on both accounts:
A healthy discussion is not supported and the plurality of society is underrepresented if you only have two real options to vote for.
Also, one can question the end result of flawed voting/districting systems (that favor the ones in power and can lead to results where not necessarily the candidate with the most votes wins).
Sorry, I didn't mean to convey that they collectively work on an official agenda. The study is based on a survey of more than 600 tech elites (however that might be defined) and suggests "that over time, given technologists' money and influence over media, they may have the power to subtly alter Democratic lawmakers' views". Also one co-author states: "You would think that people with enough money to influence the political system would obviously use that influence to incrase social and economic inequality in a way that benefits them".
So it's less about directly setting up a joined movement but so far more about indirectly influencing perception of the public and influencing policies.
I think you are not wrong on both accounts:
A healthy discussion is not supported and the plurality of society is underrepresented if you only have two real options to vote for.
Also, one can question the end result of flawed voting/districting systems (that favor the ones in power and can lead to results where not necessarily the candidate with the most votes wins).
Sorry, I didn't mean to convey that they collectively work on an official agenda. The study is based on a survey of more than 600 tech elites (however that might be defined) and suggests "that over time, given technologists' money and influence over media, they may have the power to subtly alter Democratic lawmakers' views". Also one co-author states: "You would think that people with enough money to influence the political system would obviously use that influence to incrase social and economic inequality in a way that benefits them".
So it's less about directly setting up a joined movement but so far more about indirectly influencing perception of the public and influencing policies.
Re: Tech giants create their own political movement between Democrats and Republicans
I just realized the bad quality of the photos of the article that I had to scale down to post them at all - sorry.
Here's the link to the article.
Here's the link to the article.