Howard Dean to teach a seminar at Yale
I have long thought that the big division in modern politics is not only conservative vs. liberal.
The biggest division is in the use of information as it pertains to power. Old school politics vs. Grassroots politics. Insiders vs. Gatecrashers.
The big difference I have noticed between parties and within the democratic party structure it self is this.
One group thinks that holding information is power.
The other thinks that sharing information is power.
All politics is about power, and politicians even the good ones who really do work every day to make the world better, also want to wield power. Otherwise they can't really get anything done.
The people who get the internet, who get the grassroots, who get the big picture have figured out that SHARING information is another path to power. That by empowering people and giving them the information that they need you forge powerful coalitions and can influence the agenda and the outcome.
Howard Dean gets this. Obama gets this.
Many house and senate long term politicos do not.
They believe that holding information is power and that limiting access is power. And these two groups can never really understand each other or come together at least as far as process goes.
So in the light of the above I am not surprised but I am very pleased to hear that Howard is going to teach a semester seminar at Yale.
Dean, the former governor of Vermont and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has applied to teach a residential college seminar, “Understanding Politics and Politicians,” alongside David Berg ’71 GRD ’72, a clinical psychiatry professor at the School of Medicine. But in an interview with the News on Saturday, Dean maintained that his seminar proposal does not signify the end of his days in Washington....
This proposal — which is currently under review by committees in the 12 residential colleges — focuses on giving students firsthand experience interacting with political figures and the world they inhabit. Dean and Berg, two Pierson College graduates who have been friends for 40 years, said they hope to bring together their respective fields of psychology and politics for Yale students.
“It’s intended to be an intersection of politics and the person,” said Berg, who has taught two college seminars. “Howard is the politics side and I am the person side of it. We’ll focus on the individual and how one behaves and interacts with the political sphere.” Yale Daily News
Dean gets it that removing the mystique will empower people. Showing people how it all works and how politicians think will empower people. It will keep people involved in their governance. This is the genius behind the Dean movement. Sharing what you know brings people together to support you and your agenda. Now my only question is, can we get the seminar notes or lectures on line even we if are not students at Yale?
