Sleep And Water

Rep. John Culberson of Texas is a true small-gov’t, let-Texans-run-Texas, conservative. He’s also a social media badass, was one of the first, possibly the first, federal legislators on Twitter. Certainly the first one I knew about, and I followed him on Twitter for a long time.

Today a couple of Supreme Court justices (Thomas and Breyer) were testifying before a House committee that Rep. Culberson is on, to ask for more money for the Court’s website. Culberson started pushing the Court, as many have, to let cameras into proceedings, and to stream arguments as they happen. When the justices resisted, as they always have, he actually busted out his camera and started streaming the hearing live, using Qik. See it here:

This LegalTimes analysis describes what happened afterwards, as the other members of the panel joined Culberson’s call for light to be shed inside the hallowed Court. (The guy who speaks to the camera at one point is saying that John “can let your constituents see what a liberal looks like.”)

Now that is how “web 2.0” is supposed to be used. People like to hate on social media sites and their tendency to be used for the inane, but if you’re going to go down that road then you’d better start hating on letters and the telephone. Qik and Twitter are tools for empowerment, and Culberson understands that.

In fact, one of the few cases, maybe the only one, in the last couple years where I’ve preferred a Republican proposal over a Democratic one, is when the House was altering its rules surrounding social media, to let legislators use Twitter and Qik. The Republican proposal was much less restrictive, and was basically: let John Culberson use Qik how John Culberson wants to use Qik. And in the Democratic-controlled House, where the minority is routinely trod upon, the Republicans won.

So this is my salute to John Culberson, one of my favorite Congresspeople. When I first visited DC in July to discuss tech and transparency with House and Senate offices, his was the only Republican office I made an appointment with. And thanks to Dan Schuman for pointing this out to me on the Sunlight blog.