ryanwold.net - Civic Tech, Bitcoin, and Open Government Innovation

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Civics is synonymous with the commons.

Public life.

Where people interact in public space, use shared infrastructure, and assume some level of governance to reify some semblance of civil society.

Antomyms might be anarchy, lawlessness, or otherwise descending back toward the jungle, in Walter's Russell's terms.   Our aim should toward the mountaintop.

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As an American, I've been indoctrinated with ideas of freedom and constitutional rights, stemming from 1776, where the child nation splits from its colonizing parent, and establishes new rules - very much borne of a sense of independence, self-reliance, and a belief in getting things done.

Yet, this was offset by violent war. This was on the back of savagely decimated the natives here, who were ironically called 'savages'.  Like a know-it-all teenager, independence was awkward, full of missteps, embarrassing, and inexcusable.

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Civil war happened.

Civil rights happened.

Technology happened and keeps happening.

The stamping marching and mashing onward of "progress."

And over time, the need to coordinate evolved to governance. And governance evolved to government. And government metastasized into the largest jobs program in the world, whose spirit is but a glimmer in the plastic, copper-colored name plaques adorning bureaucratic desks and municipal buildings across the land.

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Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of beauty in the world too, but its glory isn't the subject of this post, so [click here](/) to exit.

This post is about the spirit of 1776; about casting aside the assumptions of human authorities who seek to impose their will and ways of life because they're 2 chapters ahead in the book, or born 2 decades earlier, as it were.  Those people don't know better. Those people don't have an exclusive relationship with God.

The emperor wears no clothes, nor do we do, so let's get on with building and re-building our world with humble arrogance that we can do better and the confidence the we will do better, together.

Issues are what bring people together. 
We must climb Maslow's hierarchy like a tourist climbing Giza before sunset; without permission and with great curiosity and reverence for the natural world.

Moving beyond physiological needs.
Safety security.
Love and belonging.
Self-esteem.
Self-actualization.

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