Victory Night Party

I only went to one party Election Night. I spent most of the day doing poll work. Then came dinner. I made it to the party around 9 PM.

The first person I recognized was Terry Lierman, former chair of the
Maryland Democratic Party, now Chief of Staff for Majority Steny Hoyer.
We exchanged a few friendly words. He left for a party in Annapolis.

I wandered around, saw people lined up for free food. Since I had dinner, I skipped the food. I did buy a glass of wine for $4 + $1 tip.
I ran into a few people from the Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt
Democratic Club (Greenbelt). One of them offered to watch my coat and
extraneous camera gear while I went around and took photographs.

The first real conversation I had was with Paul Pinsky. We're both
runners. I mentioned doing the Marine Corps Marathon back in 1996. He
seemed impressed. He's only done 5Ks and 10Ks. I mentioned that was my
usual length for a race. I joked about doing another marathon
eventually. Paul's a very friendly guy. One important thing in
politics for Paul is livable communities. I asked Paul if he was going
up to the big party in Baltimore. He reported that he planned to leave
the Prince George's County party after about an hour and go home and watch the
rest of the returns there.

Every time Obama won another state a cheer went up from the crowd. Lots
of people said this change was a long time coming.

I got into one lengthy (well, lengthy for the setting) conversation with
a middle aged African American man. I brought up the party in Baltimore
with him as well and said both our Senators -- Mikulski and Cardin --
would be at that party. He told me how both of them made frequent
appearances at labor events. I told him how I got involved with the
Mikulski reelection campaign in 2004 because of my interest in space
exploration. I said Senator Mikulski held views similar to mine. She
strongly supports NASA, but speaks up when NASA screws up. I also
mentioned how the report of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board showed all sorts of problems that some of us who had worked at NASA had
noticed years before. I did add that Senator Cardin was also proving to
be a thoughtful legislator on science and tech issues. We both
wholeheartedly agreed that both senators were fine people. We hoped
they would stay in office for many more years.

Around 10 PM I decided to forget the Baltimore party. It was 45 minutes
away. Home was only 8 minutes. Staying at the Prince George's County
seemed more sensible. I stayed around awhile longer. Somebody bought
lots of pizza for the crowd. I had a small slice.

Most people were really excited about the results. When it became
evident that Obama was going to win a major victory we all became
excited. When results of various state contests were announced we
cheered every Democratic victory. I really cheered when I found out Kay
Hagan had beat Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina.

I left after 11 PM. I wanted to be home at a decent hour. I saw both
McCain's concession speech and Obama's acceptance speech at home.

It was a truly exciting evening. I'm glad I was able to be a small part
of it.

I've posted all my photos here.

Anxious with Reason Panel at New America Foundation

This was a most interesting panel discussion featuring Carl Van Horn and Cliff Zukin from the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. David Kusnet, author of Love the Work, Hate the Job, also contributed to the discussion. Kusnet's book looks at events in 2000 at four Seattle workplaces. Tech industry is well represented in the book with Boeing and Microsoft.

The conflict at Boeing was between technical people and financial people. Technical people were focused more on quality, financial people more on control. After the conflict company headquarters was shifted from Seattle, where the company is located, to Chicago. I will say this does not appear to be a good move. It isolates top management from the people who do the work and lessens communication between the groups.

Kusnet reported that workers liked the work they were doing, but hated the job. He described a breakdown of the old social contract where loyalty was rewarded with security and commitment to work in return for respect.

Zukin and Van Horn discussed research performed at Rutgers about The Anxious American Worker: New Work Trends Survey of U.S. Workers Reveals Deep-Seated Concern About their Futures.

Some of the things that Zukin stressed included:

• On the job training is valued most.
  
• Americans think they need more training for their jobs.
  
• There is lots of dissatisfaction with employment and levels of training.
  

Van Horn made a number of points as well:

• Unemployment is getting longer and longer.
• To create a competitive economy we need competitive workers. I will note that this means not workers who will spend lots of time at work, but people who are actually good at what they are doing.
• Education and training are misdirected.
• College is not for everybody. I think this needs to be stressed today. Van Horn noted that vocational training is of considerable value.
• We need more focus on employer based training.
• More accountability is needed regarding the educational establishment. I will note that all too often ideas are rolled out and then not checked. Failure is too often blamed on students and parents, not schools or educational doctrine. That might be changing.

Van Horn noted that large company CEOs don't think they have a workforce problem. HR does. Small and medium sized companies see the problems up close.

I will note that we need to see greater connections between those at the top of hierarchies and people at the bottom. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board report on that disaster noted that people further up the hierarchy did not listen to people lower down. This is a classic reason why highly authoritarian organizations fail.

Democracy and Violent Rhetoric

Yesterday evening Jeffrey Feldman, author of "Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy" gave an excellent talk promoting his views and book.

Early in his talk he brought up a tragic incident in Tennesee where a man killed a few people in a Unitarian-Universalist church. Right wing pundits first characterized the attack as an attack on Christianity. Then the real story came out. He was a violent right winger -- somewhat mentally unbalanced -- who hated U-U because it was too left wing. Hmm. I know at least four U-U members. They are all rather intelligent, and tend to be friendly. Normal people -- even conservatives that I know -- respect and like these people.

Feldman says we need civil arguments -- ones in which all participants try to listen to each other and treat each other with respect. Small groups seem to favor such discussions. I will say it is easier to learn from each other and have civil, even friendly, discussions in small groups. He states, quite correctly, that people who engage in violent rhetoric that demeans others frustrate, even end, the kind of discussion we need for a healthy, free, democratic society.

After the talk I raised a question about reasonable, responsible conservatives. I know more than a few via professional and social connections. The way I raised the question was by citing a forum in the National Review titled The War on Drugs is Lost. I mentioned that I have long opposed the war on drugs and welcomed this forum. The National Review people even included at least one liberal Democrat, Kurt Schmoke, then mayor of Baltimore. Other people represented a variety of viewpoints. To me, this forum seems responsible and free of the violent rhetoric that Feldman condemns. The forum even got me to occasionally glance at NRO for a few years. Some of the pieces made my eyes roll. Some also seemed rather thoughtful and informative. I will admit I don't look at NRO much these days. I do think we need a calmer discussion -- and include people of all persuasions in that discussion.

When I got home, I read the preface to Feldman's book. While I generally agree with what he wrote, one essay he mentioned got my eyes to roll when I first read it. After the Virginia Tech rampage, E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post wrote a column in which he asked why can't we be sensible about guns the way we are about airline security. While Dionne's column was indeed moderate and thoughtful in tone, it also displayed the man's ignorance -- at least to those of us who know too much about the TSA. In fact the TSA is a failure. When they test their own security by trying to smuggle guns through, over 90% of the time the guns get through. Last September at a Women in Aerospace program on the state of aviation security today I also learned that there is a college student who has smuggled high explosives onto airplanes just to show he could. This is the kind of information that gets lost in the highly charged rhetoric we hear today.

Burnt Out in DC

People keep talking about the blunders Presidential candidates make. As is typical, they usually name the candidate opposing theirs.

I wonder how much people around the country know about DC culture -- especially the power elite's.

It's getting increasingly crazy around here. Traffic is extraordinarily bad and getting worse. People weave in and out of traffic, cutting off people who don't follow at less than 20-30 feet. I've lost track of the number of SUV drivers who want to get in front of me, even though I drive a much higher performance automobile.

Then there is workaholism run amok. When Bush's first chief of staff, Andrew Card, resigned people said he looked burned out. The Post reported his schedule. He got up around 4 AM, reported to work a little after 5 AM, worked until 8-9 PM and would take calls after that. I'm surprised he didn't die from that schedule. There are too many stories like that floating around. There are people out there who actually think even 100 hours of work a week is doable in the long term. They like to think of themselves as"tough."

Pot, Kettle

It can be difficult being independent in the United States today.

Today a man from the academic part of society told me how Goddard Space Flight Center was collegial while Hampton Roads had a more military, top down style of organization. Those of us with some knowledge of social psychology would tend to call the first democratic, the second authoritarian.

When I worked at Goddard I was part of a group dominated by a Ph.D. scientist who was extremely authoritarian. I know some military people through various connections. Some of them can be quite democratic.

What's wrong with this picture?

Politics and My Technical Career

I started a discussion on two Linux lists by asking how much in demand for Fortran programmers there was today. I received the answer I expected -- that there wasn't much demand for this specialty these days. I also made reference to a political angle. This posting is about the admittedly rather unusual angle.

I am what is called a polymath. I am reasonably good a variety of significant different things. This is because I was brought by parents in a more 19th (and earlier) century manner than most people. My grandfather was Rutgers College class of 1890 -- degree in chemistry. His father was a corporate attorney. His mother is how I am related to John Donne. Educated people back in the 19th century were encouraged -- if not required -- to be more broadly educated than today. That attitude -- plus the necessary skills -- was imparted to me by my parents, my father especially. There are other ways of becoming a polymath. I'm just telling you how I became one.

Other things my parents taught me were to listen to and respect others, stand up for myself and try to do my best to help my fellow humans.

When I was a child I became quite interested in science and technology -- especially space exploration. My parents encouraged this interest. They also encouraged me to read widely. My childhood wasn't all Erector Sets and books about technology. My parents also encouraged me to read classics like "Treasure Island" and "Black Beauty."

Still, though, my initial interest in science and technology carried me through first a degree in physics from Rutgers, some work in the field and some graduate study (somewhat simultaneously). I, of course, picked up Fortran as my first computer language at this time. During my second year in grad school, I became increasingly dissatisfied. I thought I was becoming tired of physics and technology.

When I graduated from Rutgers, my parents gave me a really good 35 mm camera outfit. No one expected me to meet up with some artists and get really into photography, but I did. This definitely exposed me to the world beyond technology.

Because of the artistic influence, and the dissatisfaction with physics as a career, I began a search for a new life. I wound up in social psychology, studying at the grad level at Columbia University. This career path went well for a time, then also soured. I've written an account of why I left that field and academia in my posting Why I Am Not A Social Psychologist. Still, though, I learned a great deal about humans behave, especially in organizational settings.

While doing this grad work, I encountered the book "The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space" by Gerard K. O'Neill. I was fascinated. My interest in technology was reawakened -- this time when I was a mature adult. I joined a couple of groups to promote O'Neill's ideas. By organizing things like New Jersey Spaceday I even became a leader in the L5 Society and later the American Astronautical Society's Space Times. I was hired in March 1990 to work at Goddard Space Flight Center.

The group I joined was a mess. Communications skills were sorely lacking. Management had trouble keeping staff. The larger group was dominated by a civil servant who was sometimes described as a "brilliant scientist" and "tough." In actuality he was an abusive bully who did not listen to people. "Yes" people got ahead. More independent people were kept out of formal leadership positions.

Still, though, I was more happy than not. The work was interesting. Most of my relationships were with people outside our group who used our group's services. I was also part of the larger Goddard community via such things as the Goddard running club and the theater group. The latter group really appreciated my services as a photographer.

The management of our group went from poor to disastrous. A woman manager was brought in who tried to control staff in all sorts of ways. One man -- about 40 and recently married -- was told to forget about his marriage and concentrate on work. I was hauled into a conference room with the accusation of using government computers for personal business. The proof? A piece of spam from a Internet pornographer. What I had actually done was to forget to update a .forward file on a little used computer that was receiving spam.

I started looking for a transfer. One was not forthcoming. I do not know why.

In 1999 I was subjected to extreme disciplinary action. I was told to either fall into line, find another job or be fired. This was after years of generally positive job reviews.

Since IT was still hot in 1999, I was able to quickly find another job. Still, though, I was very unhappy. Compounding that unhappiness was going to a high school reunion the Saturday after I left Goddard -- and finding out that one of the most wonderful women in our class had gotten really screwed up and committed suicide. She had just taken a job as a New York City school teacher the last time I met her.

When I was forced out of Goddard in 1999, I started showing up in old haunts -- the National Space Society, etc. People were happy to see me again, but wondering what had happened to me. I did tell a few people a bit.

Late in 2002 I came up with the idea of writing a paper on what I had seen at Goddard and presenting it at the Princeton Conference on Space Manufacturing. I thought this way I might be able to draw attention to what I considered serious problems.

Then Columbia burned up upon reentry in 2003. People started talking immediately about NASA management. I converted my paper into a lecture which I gave at Central New Jersey Mensa Regional Gathering (think weekend long convention) in March. My talk got top reviews.

The next my friends in CNJ Mensa invited me back to give a follow up now that the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report was out. In the audience was a career NASA civil servant named Steven Yaros. We'd never met. At the end of my talk, he stood up, told us who he was, and endorsed everything I said. He also said people at NASA were reading the report. I was stunned. A new path seemed to open. Steve later on encouraged me to find work in the agency.

Later that year a professional lobbyist gave a talk to the Rutgers Club of DC. During the talk he mentioned that professional lobbyists did volunteer work for campaigns to build relationships with politicians. Another light went on. In August I drove to Mikulski reelection headquarters in Baltimore and volunteered. Senator Mikulski has been known as a strong supporter of NASA -- and willing to say when things had gone wrong. I liked both. By doing this, I gained admittance into mainstream political circles in Maryland. I am glad I did so.

In 2004 I also joined the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. I hit it off well with the people I met. I wound up, among other things, becoming the Baltimore Section's webmaster and public policy officer. I've been leading Team Maryland during the annual Congressional Visits Day and attracting interest to our concerns that way.

Then in January 2006, a notice came to our section that Maryland's Governor's Workforce Investment Board was holding an Aerospace Summit as part of the Aerospace Initiative. I and other section members went and had an interesting day.

In June I received a invitation to a follow up meeting. I went and participated in the Industry Collaboration Committee. There was some talk about starting a Maryland Aerospace Association. At the end of the meeting government representative Art Taguding said we needed a chair to continue leading the group. Everyone looked at me. Art asked if I was surprised. I wasn't, given the way the meeting had gone.

I got our group off to a good start. We put together a proposal for an association over the next several months. Lots of people told me they were impressed with our work.

Then in December 2006 I had an interesting set of encounters via the Maryland Space Business Roundtable with a man who had been an executive at the company for whom I worked at Goddard. He asked me if I would be interested in taking a job with the company he now worked for -- in Hampton Roads, Virginia. This raised my eyebrows a bit. It would mean uprooting my life, leaving behind my community and political connections, etc. -- just for an undescribed job. I did send the man my two resumes -- the tech oriented one and what I call my civic leader one. I heard nothing more from the man.

The plan for a Maryland Aerospace Association failed to gather support. I had no direct contact with the people who did the rejecting. I was told by one man that one person had rejected our proposal without even being aware of what my group had done.

Throughout all this I remained quite active in AIAA affairs. People seem to respect and like me.

I am now telling people I need a more normal career. Taking on bits and pieces of work is neither satisfying intellectually nor economically rewarding enough for me.

People at the company who broached the idea of moving to Virginia have done so a few times since, rather informally. I'm not really interested. They haven't really sold me on what I would be doing there.

A few days ago I casually checked out the company's website. On their careers page, I found advertisements for Fortran programmers -- at Goddard, a few miles from my home. A job like that could get my attention. Technically it would not be ideal, but it would be a big improvement for me at present. I'm wondering why no one has thought of contacting me about this work. A political motivation seems like it might be at work.

Some managers like to refer to people like me as "disgruntled former employees." That really isn't a fair description of me. I am a change agent, seeking to reform practices that have been clearly shown to be dysfunctional. I can actually put on a social scientist hat and recommend changes that are clearly thought out. It's not unreasonable to think that some people who are benefiting from the old status quo don't want me around. These days I am quite active in advocating reform in tech industry. You can get some idea of what I am talking about by reading a few other of my blog postings:

• Aerospace Workforce Issues
  
• A Few Observations
  

July 10th Justin Ross is holding a fund raiser locally. Governor O'Malley will be attending. I could go and make a fuss. I'm wondering what to do.

New Social Contract

I'm live blogging a meeting at the New America Foundation meeting on the topic of the new social contract.

CSPAN broadcasting.

Room not really set up for blogging. SFF did much better last July.

Room is packed. Few empty seats.

New era of American politics? Post partisan? Progressive? Comeback conservatism?

Post partisan -- advocated for deficit reduction. Normal partisanship unable to cope with long standing problems. JFK Jr. -- George reference.

Now Schwartzenegger, Bloomberg. Republicans and Democrats working together to bring forth new ideas.

Americans becoming more partisan, not less, according to polls. Partisanship rising among youth as well. Millenials have been formed by exposure to out of control individuals. Parents have emphasized cooperation, prosocial behavior. Open minded, keep focused on big picture. New generation looks for respect, comity, etc.

Rutgers prof Cliff? up. Middle aged, grey beard (literally). Political culture and issues of day quite different.

Issues will be played out in political culture. Core values will underlie.

Core values:

1. Society favors equal opportunity to succeed. Committed to altruism, also self reliance, entrepreneurism, etc.

2. Commitment to public sector, also wary of it. Ambivalence about major institutions.

3. Americans have firm belief in God. 80% see themselves as believers. Religious beliefs shape our politics.

4. We believe we should have aggressive place in world. Opening for space: Charles Elachi.

5. Social security and retirement income. People no longer believe it will be there for them. No trust in government retirement plans.

6. People believe they are overtaxed. Think taxes are unfair, complicated. Replacement could be worse.

7. Health care an important issue. People concerned about cost.

8. Job satisfaction OK. (Didn't ask me.)

9. Environment a second tier issue. Finance and economics can affect.

Good for next social contract. Crisis will produce change. People tired of Bush, war in Iraq. Concern about economy has hit major proportions.

Public ready to put 9/11 behind us.

Cliff stops. Liked working with NAF very much.

Younger people less likely to be interested in politics. More leisure oriented, more entrepreneurial, more cooperative.

Interesting thought -- what about cooperation among individuals? Out of control individuals more a symptom of failed authoritarianism than democratic societies.

Millenials have sense of us, not of they.

11:45.


Mark? Panel of people from whom I have learned the most about Congress. Singularity point in American politics. Does he know of techie "Singularity?"

I'm wearing a suit. Lots of people more casually dressed. Lots of young people. Fair number of middle aged folk. They tend to be more business dress.

Mark thinks we can't go back to governing like we did in 1980s and 1990s. 1994 wiped out Southern Democrats. 2006 wiped out northern Republicans. Democratic Party now the liberal party with base in north and west. Republican party now conservative party with base in south.

Question is now how do we govern the country. Reading liberal encomiums to Buckley. We need a liberalism that can engage with conservativism. Obama has this approach. Mentioned Dionne. Laugher: Dionne once used TSA as an example supporting "sensible" gun control.

K Street project of conservatives. Courts have been shifted. Conservatives have had some policy victories.

Democrats still in Bill Clinton era -- big government is over.

Susan: Republicans have created new agency, Federal intrusion into education, new benefits. Can't happen now -- majority is too thin. Personalities, e.g., Delay, Rove also played role. Shift to Senate led to House style being tried in Senate. Electorate taking control back. McCain would not have been pick of Republican leadership. Hillary according to theory should have been shoe in. People tired of partisanship. Much larger turnout inn 2008.

Susan says demographics driving elections. Hmm. Why do people from NYC move to Nevada?

12:15. Battery at 57% -- 1hr, 45min left.

Powerful communication tools at service of politically active.

12:30. Panel scheduled to start at 12:15.

Savings have been eroded. Housing a problem.

Tax benefits will flow to people with higher incomes, more wealth. Need an inclusive savings policy. Must be life long. Left focuses on opportunity, right on ownership. Universal 401k, savings plans that start at birth.

David Gray -- work and family issues. Under the radar issues: foster care, child care. Work family imbalance. Stress, two earner couples. 81% want better work life balance. People feel stressed at work. Democrats all had work life proposals. Tight labor markets leading business to accommodate desires, needs. States taking a lead. War forcing administration to take a look at work life balance. Lots of stress on family life for military. Back to 18th century? Baby boom retiring. Want to work flexibly. Older people want flexibility in work place. Fiscal crisis will also push flexibility.

Maya: budget issues. Need to update and raise revenues. We need fundamental tax reform. Percent of total economy an important line for many people.

Only a few of us live blogging. Some people taking written notes.

Now switching to dead tree note taking. Keeping the laptop on my lap is not that comfortable.

Here are my dead tree notes:
Len Nichols: Why now? Why optimistic? Cost of doing nothing is very high.

China, India make it impossible to increase prices. (What will happen if China collapses?)

Reality: Need 70 votes in Senate for a proposal to get the 60 you need. (Mikulski does bipartisanship well on aerospace issues.)

Need to buy smarter. (We need discussion of what is possible and what is not.)

Incentives are for much health care.

Political parties.

David Frum: Coalition of 70s and 80s declining. Republicans not doing as well. Movement to Democratic Party real and strong.

Bush aimed at reassembling Republican coalition.

9/11 elevated nationalism.

Lack of success in Iraq has been painful.

Collapse in Republican identification among young.

Open door at end: party shift, not political shift.

Typical voter quote: "If Eisenhower were alive, I'd vote for him." (Susan Eisenhower has endorsed Obama. She's also married to Roald Sagdeyev -- one time head of Soviet civil space program.)

Johnathan Chait: Issues moving to left. People in antigovernment mood. Democrats are shills for home state industry. Left creating an institutions on left to counterbalance ones on right.

I left at 1:47.