In Taiwan, years back, some civic hackers created the Gov0 campaign (or g0v) in which they got the domain name g0v.tw (it's a zero in the middle) and created alternatives to every gov website of what they would do if they were in charge. Anyone could see the plans by replacing the o with the 0. - ThreadSky

mmasnick.bsky.social • 118 days ago

In Taiwan, years back, some civic hackers created the Gov0 campaign (or g0v) in which they got the domain name https://g0v.tw (it's a zero in the middle) and created alternatives to every gov website of what they would do if they were in charge. Anyone could see the plans by replacing the o with the 0.

Reposted from Mark Summerfield

Form the equivalent of a "shadow cabinet": have a spokesperson to shadow every significant official in the Administration, and make sure that person speaks out and counters every statement, decision and policy in their "portfolio". Give the media a focus/contact point on everything.

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marksummerfield.bsky.social•118 days ago

My wife's from Taiwan. It was ~2013. But that's not really what Zero Hour Government is about. It runs hackathons, and aims to mine and publish government data to promote transparency and citizen participation. It doesn't 'mirror' gov websites, or seek to be an opposition or alternative government.

marksummerfield.bsky.social•118 days ago

To be fair, it's just the kind of thing you might expect to emerge in a genuinely vibrant and participatory democracy where most citizens still recognise how important and precious a thing that is. So, absolutely, Americans could well take note and learn a thing or two!

arkancrow.bsky.social•118 days ago

Considering the hysteria around the fake made up "Deepstate", I would avoid calling that a "shadow cabinet" 😅

Otherwise, it's a great idea.

Get this guy to explain economy topics.

+ AOC, Jasmine Crocket, Pete Buttigieg.
And they will nail it.

hengymrohebwlad.bsky.social•118 days ago

Timothy Snyder wrote about this last month. It's also how UK opposition parties work i.e. the main opposition party has a shadow defence secretary and so on. So the party has someone whose job it is to talk on the relevant topic and the media know who to talk to.

https://snyder.substack.com/p/shadow-cabinet

supergovernance.bsky.social•118 days ago

And then @audreyt.org became a cabinet minister and helped steer the country into one of most participatory democracies through digital government in the world. She doesn't get enough credit for her accomplishments; IMO she is the global leader of the civic tech movement.

jessijoy.bsky.social•118 days ago

And the defense, I’ve always thought, as horrible as this is, HEAR ME OUT… if we could get Hillary styled bots to just tweet out the exact same thing that he does, it’ll break Maga brains. Hill, sorry girl, but I think your husband is a chud, just 1 more for the team.

mmasnick.bsky.social•118 days ago

They called it a "forking" of the government, but it was super effective.

No reason the Dems couldn't do that. Create the shadow government. Make it easy for anyone to see the alternatives that are possible.

cyndicate.bsky.social•118 days ago

In Australia it's called the opposition, complete with shadow ministers.

garyniv.bsky.social•118 days ago

How was it effective? Sounds interesting.

mmasnick.bsky.social•118 days ago

It was incredibly effective, and basically many of those involved were later elected as part of the DPP winning in 2016.

portfoliocarmel.bsky.social•118 days ago

Ali Velshi @velshi.bsky.social did a fantastic segment elucidating and advocating for a shadow government a few weeks ago. Brilliant and Dems should deploy stat.

Omnipresent, spotlighting what’s going on, articulating alternatives, via compelling communicators like Buttigieg, et al

pqpolitics.bsky.social•118 days ago

Shadow Cabinet. Not shadow govt. Shadow Cabinet is what Canada and the UK have, Shadow Govt will trigger the tinfoilers.

kuspyl.bsky.social•118 days ago

What a great idea!!

cernymuz.bsky.social•118 days ago

Pretty hard work for a party of retirement age people

abenomicon.bsky.social•118 days ago

'parallel institutions' is a feature of many protest movements

silpol.bsky.social•118 days ago

shadow cabinet is norm of political life in UK and adjacent political systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_cabinet

dneto.dev•118 days ago

Yes. This. (Canadian here.)

no-cash-7970.bsky.social•118 days ago

As a web developer, I'm intrigued.

zeruch.bsky.social•118 days ago

I agree, but that would require resolve and leadership that doesn't seem to be there.

aftom.bsky.social•118 days ago

It sure does seem like laziness. There are so many options available to congressional dems, and somehow they choose to only talk about tomato prices?

recentfuture.bsky.social•118 days ago

I like this idea, and also would not rule out that the current administration would put them all in jail. They see conspiracy wherever they meet friction/criticism/accountability, and tend to flip scripts and engage in projection w/r/t their own wrongdoings. They would say this is a coup attempt.

charltonlack.bsky.social•118 days ago

thank goodness, an alternative vision where a student loan debt forgiveness program for Pell Grant recipients who start a business that operates for three years in disadvantaged communities was established

somedonuts.bsky.social•118 days ago

And the Dems, being Dems will get right on it… about six months from now.

4quad.bsky.social•118 days ago

That is so nerdy & cool

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