Jim's Journal

I missed Srinivasan’s diatribe back in October 2013 and recently herd of it as the inertia builds among the newly rich people who build the stuff I sell. You can watch it here on YouTube I read a great article in Fastcompany that described what I think was a satirical view of A Futuristic Look At The Nation Of San Francisco.
I am a rainmaker in the world of Silicon Valley technology and I have an amazing respect for their minds and energy. That’s why this Balaji Srinivasan infuriates me. He is one of them, an elitist educated engineer that wants to run away rather than change the world he lives in. The one that made him who he is today. His idea of a Radical Dream for making techno-utopias a reality;of running away and creating a new country with light regulation and a leadership of rich intellectual technocrats. Did he completely skip every ounce of literature written that most kids read in high school? Does he not remember what the aristocracy in England, Cast system in India, duhh. Maybe he needs to play Bioshock and consider this as Rapture or Columbia!

Marcus Wohlsen’s article in Wired gives a voice to Andreessen who tries to backpedal on his choice to ask him to be a part of his powerful VC firm. Saying Srinivasan was misquoted; but the fact is you can listen for yourself, he didn’t say secede, he said “build an opt-in society, ultimately outside the U.S., run by technology.” He gets all excited about the frustration he feels with our government. Voice vs. Exit – he is giving up on Voice – his dad exited India and gave him the chance to be here. His comparisons to people fleeing Nazi Germany is hyperbole. It is no different than the crazy right wing nut jobs that build compounds in the woods or cults in secrecy. They are all chickens and babies, the real answer is to change through the amazing constitution that built this country. Exit isn’t the only way to amplify voice – in fact in a society like ours there is the hard work to get people to listen to you by making intelligent arguments. He talks about Exit creating alternatives, people leaving in droves – that’s fine in a monarchy. He even states “without getting involved in politics” – why not? Because its hard work, not impossible like it was in 19th century Europe, but just hard work.

Referencing the immigration that made this country, the emigrants that came from places that wouldn’t change. That is even more close minded and selfish. They came to America because they had no freedom to change the place they were. Those governments were oppressive by design, based on ancient monarchy and nationalistic, religious isolationism. If he would take a step back and think about what is happening here, the mere fact that he can say and write all of this freely is why he can also change the way we think. The reason I can write this with no fear of reprisal. He can do what others do and simply leave to live in another country that doesn’t have the restrictions – that is his idea of Voice, but instead he doesn’t want to make that brave choice – he just wants his cake and to eat it too. He is an idealist, living in a dream world that would work as well as the Soviet Union did.

I couldn’t have said it better than Sam Biddle does in his Valleywag blog post: The Silicon Valley Secessionist Clarifies His Batshit Insane Plan – its batshit insane. And here he talks about he actually doesn’t want to secede, just create a unregulated zone within our wonderful country. His idea that we all don’t want his technological innovation is ludicrous. How on earth would Google or Apple be where they are today if we didn’t. We all can’t wait for Google Fiber! If he feels the government is the problem, then vote them out. If he thinks the lobbyists are the problem, then outspend them – for goodness sake, we all buy your shit, we would listen to a valid argument and respond in the polls. But with an isolationist point of view and the idea that you want instead to succeed from the Union – then I just think you are a big coward and an idiot who doesn’t care about anyone but people who are just like you.

Great men and women in our history have been ones to affect change. Great captains of industry with money and power didn’t run away, they built the societies he wants to build within their world. They changed the laws and rules to suit them, but only by changing the government that ruled us, by convincing the populous that voted them in to believe in them. They created companies that built houses, and facilities, and infrastructures in cities. Heck they built cities! And people liked it there and desired the same things. So they bought those things and made their own cities and neighborhoods like that.

The beauty of this country is that it has the formula for creating the utopia he suggests. The magic is that it also has the checks and balances to prevent the dystopia that will come from a “benevolent dictator” Saudi Arabia is like that – but we all know behind the scenes things aren’t as they seem. That’s why women leave and make magic here in America. Dubai is amazing but really – would you want to live there?

I sincerely hope that what he is trying to do is get reactions from people like me. That he is looking to provoke and not create a cult of babies. I worry that the new generations coming out today are fearful drones that lead in their cyber worlds but ignore the populous. Just as much as I am sad that our parents, their grandparents are rapidly becoming just as isolationist in their gated retirement communities. That was the Greatest Generation – who defended freedom, now hiding from the popular liberal views out there. This cyber baby group of innovators seems to be the same, but they want to run away rather than change for good. Don’t they realize how many of them there are, that if they simply voted, walked around outside a bit in the rest of the country, talked in a coffee shop in Chicago or Boston, they would find like minds? Maybe it is the “Paper Belt” – but if he were to look at the paper, there are a lot of blank pages waiting to be written

Get dirty, dig in, and make change – this is still the best country in the world to do it. I am so tired of people referring to the US Government as something that is somewhere else – we are the US Government.