The Ripon Forum

Volume 48, No. 2

Spring 2014 Issue

Republican Reboot

By on July 17, 2014 with 0 Comments

How Lincoln Labs is getting Silicon Valley to think differently about the GOP

by GARRETT JOHNSON, AARON GINN & CHRIS ABRAMS

We founded Lincoln Labs in 2013 to bridge the gap between the technology sector and the conservative political sector. Our mission is to create and support a community of like-minded individuals who desire to advance liberty in the public square with the use of technology.  Since we started, we have hosted hackathons, special events, and had a large presence at the 2014 SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas. We’ve created a national database of over 3,000 “conservatarian” technologists, built a community based on issues, and are narrowing the communication gap between conservatives and Silicon Valley. In less than one year, Lincoln Labs has emerged as the preeminent organization mapping and supporting a liberty-based technology community all over the nation.  Despite the narrative peddled by the media or inside the Beltway, the tech sector has a vibrant conservatarian community eager to engage. The relationships we build will better position conservative campaigns and causes to continue to solve problems, not complain about them. We are the only group taking action at this critical intersection.

Republican Convention in Tampa, FloridaDespite the narrative peddled by the media or inside the Beltway, the tech sector has a vibrant “conservatarian” community eager to engage.

Through our events, and specifically through our first annual conference this summer – which we are calling Reboot and will feature keynote addresses by Senator Rand Paul and House GOP Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers — we are taking on the exciting challenge of gathering and engaging many of the country’s brightest minds to discuss how we bring the best of tech and politics together. The generational gap between the conservative political community and the technology community is vast. But it is not unbridgeable. We are building the connection between policy makers and technology shakers to bring about informed and relevant policy. 

If there is one thing we can all agree on, is that many of our most pressing public policy issues need new and innovative solutions. We only need to look as far as the latest headlines to know that government, even in the early 21st century, still relies on old ideas, old beliefs and old solutions to solve modern problems. 

Rand_Paul_142Think about any large and long-standing government program – Social Security or Medicare – all of which perform poorly, are highly inefficient and rife with waste, fraud and abuse. Technology can and should be a critical component in modernizing some government programs – increasing effectiveness, reducing cost and ultimately making sure they perform as well as possible for citizens and taxpayers.

Technology can and should be a critical component in modernizing some government programs – increasing effectiveness, reducing cost and making sure they perform as well as possible for citizens and taxpayers.

In the past decade, conservative and libertarian causes have been slow to adopt and develop technology products to communicate with their key constituencies and make their efforts more effective. We desperately need some of the bright young minds available in Silicon Valley and in other tech hubs around the country, to help revitalize our movement and give conservative values a new face and new perspective.  The technology sector – and technologists, be they developers, designers or any of the new roles being created everyday, is a uniquely optimistic environment. It is a solutions-based world in which problems are examined, dismantled and fixed with often simple and elegant solutions.  We hope Lincoln Labs and our efforts are a starting point for what libertarians and conservatives can and should do with technology. Now is the time to address our country’s biggest problems and utilize the tech sector to do it.  We are very excited at the prospect of being at the vanguard between conservatarians and Silicon Valley. Our problems may be large and complicated – but utilizing technology to help solve them is key. The solutions we can create are only constrained by the limits of our imagination and the energy we’re willing to commit to solving them.

RF


Garrett Johnson, Aaron Ginn and Chris Abrams are the founders of Lincoln Labs.

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