Running for President? I have an idea to curb tax cheating that you can steal for your campaign. (Tax cheating is estimated to cost the U.S. Treasury something like 300 billion dollars a year.) Create a national lottery tied only to the filing of tax returns – you file, you have your ticket. The IRS picks the winners randomly, and your refund includes your national lottery winnings. The only catch? You get audited.
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When we bought our house in 1998, our back yard came with what I would call an old metal dog fence; a sturdy, unsightly, somewhat rusted, waist-high construct of woven wire rectangles stretched between metal posts. Our yard is large and the fence ran down both sides and across the back. It was overgrown with ivy and weeds and leaned dramatically in places. The metal posts were topped by metal ball and sunk in concrete at the bottom.
I was thinking more about the upcoming Politics Online conference and remembering my last few “public” appearances and what I tried to say at each of them. At one of the, 2004 Progressive Tech conference, I was asked the question “Is it important to be a Democratic-only firm in this market?”
The 12th Politics Online Conference takes place this week in Washington, DC. This event is put on by the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet and each year it draws a bigger crowd. There will be all manner of speakers involved in Internet politics, keynote speeches with leading Internet and political figures, and breakout sessions on topics including online fundraising, organizing and campaigning. I myself will speak on a panel described as follows:
One of the last things I could have imagined myself doing willingly is any kind of networking or support group, particularly a business-related one. I have thought of myself as go-it-alone fellow. I am also busy and incorrigibly impatient with meetings and fairly unmotivated by financial considerations. So I find it surprising that I have for nearly a year now conscientiously attended the monthly four-hour-plus meetings of a forum in the Young Entrepreneur’s Organization (YEO).
Perspective and the relevance of a old job today
Posted by
Political Mammal
in My personal history, Political Technology
For about two decades now, I have sought to locate myself somewhere in the intersection between computers and politics. In my early twenties, I worked as a programmer for a series of political technology enterprises. Now that I am running a firm in the same niche, I think about the change in perspective that has taken place as I have gotten older and moved from employee to employer.
How to live true to self is a subject upon which I have been reflecting a lot of late, as I try to shape my business and direct my life. How to spend my time left on this planet doing things that I want to do, without neglecting practical concerns like earning a living and keeping my employees employed.
My Winter 2004/2005 Issue of Fine Woodworking (the Tools & Shops Annual Issue) surprised me by having an article “Jimmy Carter on Woodworking.”
My first computer was an Apple ][ Plus. I still have that machine. Its arrival in my house was almost a religious experience. We never had gadgets, and it was clear that this was something new, amazing. I stayed up all night the day it arrived, learning about it, spellbound.
According to Roll Call yesterday, “Some New York Democrats, increasingly confident that they can take over both the governorship and the state Senate next year, are talking openly of redrawing the Empire State’s Congressional lines before the next census — perhaps as early as in 2007.”
New Enterprises, INDN's List, Mini-Society and Ticket Scalping
Posted by
Political Mammal
New enterprises are exciting. I have been thinking about that today for a couple of reasons. For one, I’m always trying to think about my own business as a new enterprise, or one that needs continual renewing.
In the summer of 1985 I knocked on the doors of more than 70 houses a day, canvassing for COPIRG, the Colorado Public Interest Research Group. I learned a lot about people and neighborhoods and political persuasion.
Today’s posting is triggered by another piece of memorabilia: a flyer for an organizational meeting of "Yale Students with Hart" for April 15, 1987. A friend and I had printed on the flyer: "Learn more about Senator Hart’s positions, and how you can help around the country this summer, next fall, and in 1988."
My First Paid Programming Project, 1984
Posted by
Political Mammal
in Company history, My personal history
I continue to go through old papers and was amused to find another item that represents a very modest milestone in my circuitous path to small software company owner. I have next to me a handwritten contract from 1/13/84, which I think was the first time I was paid for a computer-programming project.
When I found my college transcript last week, I was reminded that three of the courses that I took as an undergraduate have particularly influenced me. I have written about the other two in previous posts. The third was a class that I took with Professor Edward Tufte – it was called Statistics and Data Analysis for Public Policy.
On Friday, Connie and I went to the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. We were taking Ella to the pediatric ophthalmologist that she was seeing for the second time.
Though I majored in computer science, and took very little political science in college, I got very involved in a few projects for undergraduate courses in American Politics.
Campaigns May Wield Redistricting Tools, Revisited
Posted by
Political Mammal
in Company history, My personal history, Political Technology
NGP Software stands for National Geographical and Political Software, and emphatically not, as some have charged, for my initials (Nathaniel G. Pearlman). Occasionally I am asked where the “Geographical” part of the company’s name comes from, since it seems to be the least emphasized part.
This morning I continued the nostalgic task of organizing old papers and came across my Yale college transcript in a red folder labeled “Me.” The transcript is diagonally stamped “RELEASED TO STUDENT” in large block letters.
Exhortations
Posted by
Political Mammal
in Company history, Entrepreneurship, My personal history, Values
I incorporated NGP Software on January 15th 1997, after giving up on a search for a whimsical or clever corporate name for a new Democratic political campaign software firm. I started by loaning $10000 to the newly formed entity, wondering how long I could go without a paycheck, happy not to be working for anyone else.