Iconoclasm: The economics of hope

Last night, Barack Obama claimed his victory in the Iowa caucuses, not for himself, but for the people. For the people who supported him, and for the people (Democrat, Independent, Republican, and third parties) who supported him with votes, conversation, time -- and hope.

Today, the papers are full of horserace reporting on the New Hampshire primary, coming up on Tuesday. Nearly all the reporting is talking about financials, but this is old school -- where is the reporting that is talking about engagement?

Howard Dean's campaign last cycle was fueled by feet on the street -- a whole corps of new political volunteers who had never, in many cases, engaged in political volunteering. Although the press torpedoed Dean's run in Iowa, four years ago, his popular support in a revived Democratic rank-and-file brought him to the (sometimes stymied) position of chair of the DNC.

Two years ago, this same popular and progressive groundswell brought Deval Patrick to the governor's office in Massachusetts. John Walsh, Patrick's campaign manager and a longtime party activist from Plymouth County, became the transition chair of the Massachusetts Democrats, easing a rusty old machine into the youtube age of politics.

Today, Governor Patrick is stumping for Senator Obama in New Hampshire, and in my own neighborhood in Davis Square, dozens of volunteers are making hundreds of calls to organize busloads of volunteers from the commonwealth to travel to NH to work for Obama.

Hiring campaign staff? Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mounting a recruitment campaign in Massachusetts from call centers in idle office space? Pretty cheap. Getting those volunteers -- thousands upon thousands nationwide -- to advocate with neighbors, in caucuses in Iowa, at house parties in New Hampshire -- people with hope who had never considered, in some cases, their role in the political system?

Priceless.

Yet it is exactly that contribution which is not being reported in the press when they describe the resources of the front runners. How do we know what the value is of the human capital being mobilized for Obama, Edwards, Clinton, or any of the other candidates for whatever party? How do we evaluate the effectiveness of a campaign's volunteer force?

If the focus is always on money, we are specifically devaluing the greatest contributions an American can give in this race -- time, advocacy, and hope.

In 1998, I taught middle- and high school youth a class in community and political organizing. One young woman leaned against the wall in the back of the room -- a goth fashion plate, with a perfectly made up frown accented by a lip ring.

As I explained how the political system really works and how social change is accomplished on the ground, her posture softened. The shoulders relaxed, allowing her defiantly crossed arms to fall, her stance to open, attentively.

At the end of the ninety minute class, she came up to me and told me, "I'm seventeen, and I wasn't planning on registering to vote next year, because this whole 'your vote is important' bull---- seems like a Big Lie to me. But now I understand that I don't have to wait until I turn 18, and if I get out and change ten people's minds, I have that much more power than my ma, who mails in her ballot and sits on her butt."

That is a kind of fierce hope we need in America. You can't put a price ticket on it, and it's going to strain the press to evaluate it.

May we all be surprised by hope -- again -- on Tuesday.

--

Shava Nerad, News and Opinion Correspondent:

Shava's column, Iconoclasm, published irregularly and frequently to Gather Essentials: News, is an examination of the provocative ideas emerging in media and world culture behind the news.

ShavaNerad has been working on the Internet for over twenty-five years, atthe boundaries of Internet and social issues. She is CEO of Indigenis, a consulting group working at the intersection of virtual worlds, social networking, and gaming communities, and recently lefther position as development director of The Tor Project to help found a youth journalism initiative and to work on a book tentatively titled How to Raise a Risk Taker.

Shelives in Somerville, MA with her teenage son, her fiance (aprofessional magician and fundraising coach), and a corgi/dachshundmutt named George.

Opinions here have nothing to do with my consulting and so on.

You can find all of Shava's Iconoclasm columns at http://Iconoclasm.gather.com

Keep up with Shava's other postings and Gather activity by joining her Gather network -- just click hereand select the orange "Connect" button on the left-hand side of thepage (colleage connections only please, unless you know me on thestreet!)

You'll find Shava and other News Correspondents, plus celebrity content and plenty of other News experts at News.gather.com