Overwrite the Urge to Overwrite
BY BEN WIKLER
CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF WISCONSIN
For the Overwrite Tomorrow editorial series, contributors were welcome to give submissions in any form they wished: essay, artwork, illustration, even Twitter thread. The following thread by Ben Wikler, a Webby Awards Judge and Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, explores what practices need to be change within political infrastructure.
Want to feel old? The @TheWebbyAwards are celebrating their 25th year. The Webby anniversary theme is “overwrite tomorrow”—to spur thinking on what in our society we need to overwrite. Here’s one thing: let’s stop overwriting political infrastructure, and build long-term instead.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) January 15, 2021
Campaigns and viral moments come and go. Institutions and people endure. So over these next 25 years, let’s invest in institutions and people. Let’s invest in institutions and people who can lift up and energize campaigns, undergird movements, and shape moments.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) January 15, 2021
The cultures and business models of our institutions shape the outcomes they produce and the the people they touch. And the values and mindsets of the people within them shape our institutions. Let’s focus on those.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) January 15, 2021
But parties often fall off the map of public consciousness shortly after a major election. Not this time. Let’s overwrite the urge to overwrite—and commit to the patient and urgently necessary work of building infrastructure that reflects our values.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) January 15, 2021
See The Full Series:
See the full Overwrite Tomorrow editorial series, featuring words by Ben Wikler, Colleen DeCourcy, Tamara Alesi, and more.
