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The Cluetrain Manifesto is one of the books that really inspired me to take up this proto-career of blogging. I believe that the concept of increasing conversation as expained by the authors of The Cluetrain Manifesto is one of the most important ideas of this decade; it will fundamentally change the way we do business, and everything else. I came across this reference at Doc Searls’ weblog, where the influence of the Cluetrain is seen everywhere.

The proof of the pudding is this post by Liza Sabater at Culture Kitchen, where she describes the revolution of political activity that is coming over the horizon: (Editor’s note: Once again this is about facts and debate and conversation, there will be no discussion of Left vs Right here, rather an examination of the tools, the online environment, the process and how they are changing. If you want to talk about the merits of each side, please do so at your blog and leave a link in the Comments. Thank you.)

The internet is not just changing the way we buy products or ideas. It is changing the basic dynamics of human engagement from how we meet, how we learn from each other, even how we mate.

Of course, the internet has proved to be powerful as a tool for political resource building, but in my book, it has not been used powerfully enough.

Applied to politics, the Manifesto reads as a primer on how the internet squashes any pretences of republic-like politics. Gone are the days in which engagement is only mediated by an elite ‘entrusted’ by the masses with every single policy and political decision making that will end up affecting their lives.

People Powered Politics is just starting in this country, but we are not there yet. Still, I believe 2008 will go down in history as the last Plato-centric, republic-like elections. Yet, after 2008, I cannot imagine the US Electoral college system surviving because people will demand more and more direct engagement in every single aspect of the political process.

Sabater goes on to translate the 95 Theses into a new list for political discourse. Where the original Cluetrain’ described the evolving business environment, this new list describes the evolution of the constituency. The whole world is changing (the original list):

1. Markets are conversations.

2. Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.

3. Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.

4. Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.

5. People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice.

6. The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.

And Sabater’s new list:

1. Constituencies are conversations.
2. Constituencies consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.
3. Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.
4. Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.
5. People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice.
6. The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.

And when you get down into the meat of the list, things really get interesting. For example:

71. Your tired notions of “the constituency” make our eyes glaze over. We don’t recognize ourselves in your projections—perhaps because we know we’re already elsewhere.
72. We like this new constituencyplace much better. In fact, we are creating it.
73. You’re invited, but it’s our world. Take your shoes off at the door. If you want to barter with us, get down off that camel!
74. We are immune to advertising. Just forget it.
75. If you want us to talk to you, tell us something. Make it something interesting for a change.
76. We’ve got some ideas for you too: some new tools we already use, some better services we’ve already produced. Stuff we’d be willing to pay you to use. Got a minute?
77. You’re too busy “doing politics” to answer our email? Oh gosh, sorry, gee, we’ll come back later. Maybe.

This is the kind of intelligent and thought-provoking “conversation starter” that is perfect for Web 2.0, and the logical extension of the Cluetrain’ evolution. What is the next field of human endeavor that will be subjected to such analysis? A Healthcare manifesto? Economics? Education?

I have a suggestion: send an email to your federal, state, and local government officials. Tell them about this. Then send one to your doctor, your banker, your kid’s teacher and principal.

The world is changing, the Cluetrain is leaving the station, you do not want to be left behind.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/64pvau. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen