For those of you who have spent years adrift upon the oceans of the internet, you've most likely come across a little website called
Fark.com. Founded by Drew Curtis, Fark is a news aggregation site where users submit real news articles with slightly skewed headlines. An article quoting George W. Bush might, for example, mention that he said this hypothetical thing while accomplishing a mission or wearing a flight suit. As one of the first news aggregates, Farkers (it's difficult to pronounce in polite company, I know) developed a robust politics section, and links approved by community moderators get incredible media coverage.
Today, the Politics section featured this Youtube video, wherein Curtis announced his bid to become Governor of Kentucky. Check it out, or at least let it play in the background while you join me after the jump for some thoughts.
As the video suggests, Curtis isn't running with either major party. He's confident he can succeed because he has both witnessed and participated in the "disruptive technologies" that the internet affords people. He's seen independent or third-party candidates like Gary Johnson, or the more-successful Angus Kings of the world, seriously impact races they run despite - or, perhaps, precisely because of! - a lack of major political juice.
In a generally-Red state, his proposed plan of attack includes "not spending money we don't have." He talks about limiting experimental laws, planning to and all of these things sound like extraordinarily conservative viewpoints. "If we don't know it works, we won't try it" is just about the definition of conservatism, and is arguably it's greatest weakness...
Except that he's not ruling out change. His greater plan involves having government reach out to it's people and find out what they could be doing better, actively seeking out problems to fix instead of waiting for something to completely collapse. Or, worse, waiting for some company to write legislation for him.
The apparent catch-22 of his idea is that, as he further elucidates, eventually his emissaries will encounter problems without obvious or even speculated solutions. In cases like this, it isn't inconceivable that another jurisdiction has tried possible patches. A good example might be, "Well, does decriminalization of drugs help the problem?" The answer might be found in Portugal, which has seriously loosened its drug laws.
He knows the odds are against him and that the money will be tight, but nevertheless he's willing to put up a fight! He might well disrupt Kentucky's next gubernatorial election, and that is most certainly a starting point for fixing our political system.