I've been reading a bit about commons, prompted by wanting to understand Lawrence Lessig's use of the term in his notion of the Creative Commons.

A common thought runs through most of the current discussion of the information/knowledge economy. That thought is how best to advance creative innovation. It resolves into a question: does a centralized system or a decentralized one promote innovation better? In the communications sector, the models for the centralized system is the old AT&T monopoly. The end-to-end, stupid network design of the Internet is the model for the decentralized.

On The Agonist today was a reference to an article by Pat Buchanan on The American Conservative site where he calls Colin Powell the true conservative hier to the Reagan/Eisenhower agenda. My reaction was:

No wonder the Democrats are so ineffectual recently. The two major foreign policy positions are both being staked out by the Republicans.

On one side are the interventionist/activist neocons. On the other are the traditional isolationist conservatives. Bush is in the luxurious position of being able to wrap himself in either mantle, whichever serves his purpose at the time.

What real, vital position can the Dems carve out and will this position be appealing to voters?

Well, maybe the difference is between the two network models. Republicans, whether interventionist or isolationist, are in favor of central control by corporate interests. Democrats favor government intervention to ensure the flourishing of the end to end model.

Republicans tend to see a rivalrous world and Democrats tend toward nonrivalrous models?

More as I think it through.

19 May 2003
Just had a thought: we grew up with a certain cynicism about right-wing screeching about secret communist cells ready to pounce from the halls of the State Department. The current screeching about terrorist cells embedded in our neighborhoods suffers by comparison. Is the current administration whipping the nationalist fervor or is there a real, verifiable threat?

Doesn't it suck that such a question is germane?