The civ.works concept Presentation to the Left Coast Forum, August 26, 2018

1. A Privacy-Protected Social Network
for Civic Action
(george@civ.works)

2. civ.works – think of a social network as
a people’s utility.
Sorry about your data and
Trump and stuff. But, not really.

3. First, Thank You!
LA Progressive, Sharon Kyle and Dick
Price, LA Trade Tech, KPFK, volunteers –
and you for being here!

4. civ.works:Facebook alternative
Social Posts, News, Action, Friends, Groups

5. Groups on civ.works

6. civ.works Quote of the Day
• civ.works Quote of the Day

7. You’re That Guy.

8. The Battle of Our Time -What
Concentrated Wealth
VS.
Polarized/Divided Society
Extraction/Plunder for Profit Environmental Stewardship for
Life and Planet
Privatization Our Commons
“Trickle-down” Fraud Economic justice and
opportunity for all
Plutocracy Democracy
Ignorance-fueled propaganda
and hate
Facts, Evidence and Journalism
Win at any cost Internal strife

9. The Battle of Our Time -Who
Obscenely Wealthy (Kochs,
Mercers, Waltons)
VS.
Scientists
The GOP Educators
Some “Corporate” Democrats Progressive Dems
Racists and Xenophobes Human, Women’s and Civil
Rights Activists
Forced-birthers Facts, Evidence and Journalism
Gun “enthusiasts” and the NRA Moms Demand Action,
Everytown, Parkland
Well-intentioned, manipulated,
generational economic despair
Well-informed, pragmatists
Fox, Breitbart, InfoWars News, Media and Journalists
Heritage, Heartland, CATO, AEI,
FreedomWorks
IPS, Demos, Brookings,
Economic Policy Institute

10. The Premise of civ.works is:
In a well-educated, informed and engaged
society …
TRUMP/PENCE could not happen.

11. Key civ.works premise
• In an informed, educated, and engaged
society –democracy (not plutocracy) would
thrive.
• Citizenship is not simply being born at a
specific range of latitudes and longitudes.
For democracy to flourish
it must become a VERB!

12. What is civ.works
• A Project of Civic Works, a 501 c3 Non-
profit org
• Privacy-protected, advertising-free subscription-based
Social platform built for civic action and education
• Public launch Feb 14, 2017
• Move beyond Resistance and Political
Parties

14. Why civ.works
• Key Concepts
– Social Network
• Intuitive features
– Apply advertising science to civic actions
• Acquire and review actions (local, state, national, global)
• Distribute meaningful actions to subscribers
• Engage -societal flash mobs and reward engagement.
– We must sustain engagement
• “I don’t have time to be involved.”
• “Politics are hateful and toxic –I’m out.
• “I know things aren’t good –however I don’t know how to be effective.”
• “I signed the petition –isn’t that enough?”
– Non-partisan –solution-oriented.
• We cannot reject ideas purely on the basis of political ideology
– ACA is an example –initially a GOP/Heritage concept.

15. Background and Context
• A Quick Journey Through
Our Times…

16. 1960’s: Civil Rights, Women, Labor, Peace
Movements

17. When People are United –
Yachts get un-tie-d.

18. 1970’s: The Lewis Powell Memo
Bridging of people’s movements scared the
living daylights out of the obscenely wealthy.
Enter Lewis Powell…

19. 1970’s: The Lewis Powell Memo

20. 1970’s: The Lewis Powell Memo
• Brilliant document which defined the conservative machine
– ALEC (The American Legislative Exchange Council)
• Stand Your Ground, Voter Suppression, “Right to work”
– Think Tanks (Heritage, Heartland, CATO, PNAC, Hoover)
• Climate change denial
– Media consolidation
– Academic funding –more conservative representation
– Reagan and “Trickle Down Reaganomics”
• Destroy Unions
• Concentrate Wealth (and power)

21. From the Powell Memo…
ALEC was born. Voter suppression, climate
denial, racist “Stand Your Ground” and Anti-
Union “Right to Work” Legislation.

22. From the Powell Memo, ALEC

23. Right-wing “Think Tanks”

24. Climate Propaganda

25. Hate Speech and Propaganda

26. Wealth (Power) Concentration
“Trickle-down Reaganomic Fraud”
• Mass fraud perpetrated by the obscenely
wealthy.
– Give your money to them –then you get rich!

27. 1980’s Reagan and Wage Stagnation

28. Wealth Concentration –combined with …

29. Citizens United v. FEC

30. And you get 48% of voters supporting more
wealth concentration, climate damage, corruption
and worse.
• When a party represents the interest 5-
10% of the population –why are
elections so close?

31. Social Media, Behavioral Science and Politics
(The Propaganda Machine)

33. Mercer/Cambridge Analytica/Facebook

35. Countervailing the Powell Machine
• Issue-focused and political advocacy groups
• React/Resist bad policy
– Greenpeace, NARAL, NOW, 350.org, Black Lives Matter, Indivisible,
Action Group Network, Rootstrikers, Sierra Club, United We Dream,
Color of Change, Moms Demand Action, Ceasefire, Everytown, ACLU,
Southern Poverty Law Center, Planned Parenthood, RISE, Moms
Rising, Common Cause, PFLAG, Women’s March, League of
Conservation Voters, Move On, Healthcare for All…
• Political
– OFA, Our Revolution, Democracy for America, Onward Together, PDA,
Wellstone, Emerge, Emily’s List, Rise to Run, Working Families…
• Labor
– SEIU, AFSCME, IBEW, AFL-CIO, Teachers, Nurses …

36. Countervailing the Powell Machine
• LA Progressive, Free Speech TV, KPFK, The
Nation, Rachel Maddow, Thom Hartmann,
Resistance Live/Elizabeth Cronise
McLaughlin, The Guardian, Participant, Brave
New Films
Media
•Greenpeace, NARAL, NOW, 350.org, Black Lives Matter,
Indivisible, Rootstrikers, United We Dream, Color of
Change, Moms Demand Action/Everytown, ACLU,
Southern Poverty Law Center, Planned Parenthood, Moms
Rising, Common Cause, PFLAG, Women’s March, LCV,
MoveOn, Healthcare for All, Public Citizen
Resistance
• OFA, Our Revolution, Democracy for
America, Onward Together, PDA, Wellstone,
Emerge, Emily’s List, Rise to Run, Working
Families
• SEIU, AFSCME, IBEW, AFL-CIO, Teachers,
Nurses
Political
and Labor

37. Tres Amigos
• What do you get when you cross a youthfully exuberant
activist, a cranky old man and a CalTech trained
mathematician?
– Also, a diverse Board that I’m very proud of.

38. civ.works: the democracy machine
• Started as a concept “SmartALEC or People’sALEC”.
• Sustained, Meaningful Civic Action.
• Eliminate organizational boundaries.
• Civic Action Aggregation and Distribution
– 1,000’s of Local, Regional, State, National, International
– From organizations addressing climate action, peace, education,
voter rights, civil rights, justice system reform, healthcare,
reproductive rights, economics, gun violence prevention,
immigration reform/DACA, LGBTQ and more.
• Meaningful actions –not “Mitch McConnell just
sneezed! –sign this petition and send us money”

39. Sustained, Meaningful Civic Action

40. Sustained, Meaningful Civic Action

41. Sustained, Meaningful Civic Action
• “Spectrum of Civic Actions”
– Town hall meetings
– Candidate debates
– Letters to the Editor
– Elected official communications (tweets, email, letters,
calls, office visits)
– Meetings and Rallies
– Issue education,
– Model legislation
– Campaign volunteers
– Run for office

42. Sustained, Meaningful Civic Action
• Action – Subscriber matching:
• Subscriber chooses issues they are focused
upon and their zip code.
– Timely actions appear in their civ.works “activity
feed” or,
– The subscriber can receive them via email.
• Our subscriber can then perform an action
and mark it as complete

43. Sustained, Meaningful Civic Action
Issue Categories: Criminal Justice, Economics, Education, Elections/Voting Rights,
Environment, Equality, Government, Gun Control, Health Care, Immigration,
Infrastructure, Reproductive Rights, Animal Welfare, Global Peace.

44. Gamify for “center” –Digital Currency

47. Media Partnerships

48. On civ.works
• Model law and policy (Public Leadership Institute,
State Innovation Exchange, Represent.us)
– Anti-corruption, Transparency, Education, Environment,
Immigration, GVP, Health, Public Safety, Reproductive
Rights, Taxation, Voting/Elections, Economics and more
• Civic and issue education (1-2 minute films)
– How to attend a townhall
– How to write a Letter to the Editor
– Elected official communication
– The legislative process

49. 2018/19 Engineering Priorities
• “SmartAlec”
• NewsWorks
• TownWorks
• Mobile
• Core Improvements

50. 2018/19 Engineering Priorities
• “SmartAlec”
– An indexed, accessible database of model
law, legislation and citizens initiatives
• State Innovation Exchange
• Public Leadership Institute
• Represent US

51. 2018/19 Engineering Priorities
• “NewsWorks”
– Trust rating system for news through potential
partnerships with
• Politifact
• Snopes
• The Trust Project
• ProPublica

52. 2018/19 Engineering Priorities
• “TownWorks”
– A private virtual space where a subscribing
elected member or agency can interact with
only their verified constituents
– Upcoming issues, votes and schedule
– Constituent polling, sentiment and comments.
• Evolve toward Participatory Budgeting

53. 2018/19 Engineering Priorities
• Mobile Platform
– Key civ.works features
• Core Improvements
– Continue to improve our core Web offering –
stability, security, performance and
experience.

54. Join and support civ.works –the
people’s social network
Sorry about your data and
Trump and stuff. But, not really.

55. Noam Chomsky
“It is a great pleasure to welcome civ.works. It’s a
wonderful idea, with great promise to provide a
platform for meaningful civic action without the
severely distorting interference of concentrated
power, private or state.
Civ.works is insulated from the forces that have been
so destructive of functioning democracy and is
readily available for the kinds of constructive use that
are so badly needed today.”
--Noam Chomsky, December 5, 2017

56. Thank You Again
•The END!