We’re back in an election year, which means it’s time to check in on Sean Tevis, an information architect from Kansas who ran for Kansas State Representative back in 2008 and lost by a handful of votes in his district. Not to be deterred, he kept working throughout 2009 and now he’s back and better than ever—this time running for U.S. Congress, Kansas 2nd District.
He came to fame through a series of xkcd-like comic strips posted on his website, which were highly effective in helping to raise funds for his campaign. This year, he’s not looking for funds for his campaign so much as he is trying to change the way we think about the political system and hopefully restructure it into something that fits our needs.
The idea is to form a “First Nation” that will offer its members benefits, but also ask them to weigh in on issues occasionally. Hopefully this will create consensus and allow people in the United States to make decisions, allowing the country to move forward. Of course, my description is greatly simplifying the issue and not describing it in full, but that’s why Mr. Tevis has created a special comic explaining the whole concept.
I take issue with the name of the group, since “First Nations” (plural) is the collective name given to the aboriginal peoples of Canada (and it’s interesting to note that Tevis’ original concept used the native tribes of the United States as an example) but overall the concept seems sound and it’s worth a look if you’re interested in political change, hate the current polarization of the country, or just find the economic theories of Mancur Olsen dead sexy.
