Contest and Consequences

By Jan Frel, AlterNet. Posted January 13, 2006.

It was supposed to be one of the Service Employees International Union's leaps into bottom-up online consensus building, but the community blowback at the Since Sliced Bread project that broke out this week has all the appearances of being an online revolt.

Since Sliced Bread is a $100,000 contest inviting people to send in ideas to improve the lives of working people in America. As described by SEIU on the site: The contest encouraged ordinary Americans, policy experts and economists to enter fresh ideas on how to create the kinds of jobs that allow people to raise families, obtain affordable health insurance, pay for college and save for retirement."

The design of Since Sliced Bread appeared in many respects fairly open and bottom-up oriented. Anyone could send in proposals. Visitors were encouraged to participate in the community blog.

A staggering number of ideas -- more than 22,000 -- were submitted in a matter of months. After the deadline for submissions passed, a group of "diverse experts" winnowed them down to 70. Then, each of the contest's judges, who come from a variety of fields and across the political spectrum, voted for 21 finalists, who will all appear in a "Since Sliced Bread" book with an introduction by SEIU president Andy Stern.

But oddly enough, of the 21 finalists, few would appear out of place in the playbook of even the least revolutionary of Washington think tanks -- like, say, that of the corporate-funded, pro-business Democratic Leadership Council (DLC): Teaching schoolchildren how to be fiscally responsible, or creating a ProdiMae/ServiMac: "similar to FannieMae/FreddieMac's mission, but for [small and medium businesses (SMBs)] -- provide an efficient secondary market for equity/debt so SMBs can get funding through local funders who would then sell those instruments in the secondary market -- unleashing national sources of capital for SMBs."

Indeed, Marshall Wittman, now a staffer for the DLC, an organization widely loathed by Democratic activists outside of Washington who believe it has sold out the party to corporate interests, is one of Since Sliced Bread's featured bloggers. Wittman is also a former legislative director for Ralph Reed's Christian Coalition and speaker for the conservative Heritage Foundation and Hudson Institute.

Universal health care is on the list of 21 finalists, but it's hardly a new idea: Harry Truman put it in the Democratic Party platform more than half a century ago. While the list includes an idea to blanket the United States with wireless internet access, it doesn't accurately reflect some of the more radical concepts the entrants put forth, such as a suggestion to "annually ostracize a lobbyist," something that, in the wake of the Abramoff scandal, doesn't seem entirely out of place, or using computers to ensure that all Americans participate in the political process.

But winnowing out the 21 finalists was left up to the "diverse experts" and the judges' choices were … final.

And then, as the contest put it, "[s]tarting at 9 a.m. EST on Monday, January 9, Americans began the first round of online voting to choose the best three ideas from the 21 finalists."

Voters are encouraged to cast a ballot for up to three ideas. After a whittling down process, involving a series of votes, on Sunday, Jan. 22, the "three ideas that received the most votes will be submitted to the judges, who will pick the first-place winning idea and the runners-up." In order to sweeten the pot, "the creator of the best idea since sliced bread will receive a $100,000 prize, and the two runners-up will each receive $50,000 prizes."

But only a few days into the voting process, things started going terribly pear-shaped. In a nutshell, the big contention is that the judges picked a bunch of rather unfresh and tame ideas.

"NO VOTE FROM ME! All these ideas suck. I wouldn't pay $5 for any of them. What a waste of time," went one commenter's response. "I too am very disappointed in the lack of originality and diversity in the final selections," wrote another. "Three selections out of 21 involve national health care, which may be a great idea but is hardly original. "

These comments came in response to Andy Stern's call for appreciation of the ideas that were chosen after the initial blowback: "I confess -- I'm a bit surprised at the hostility meeting the 21 ideas announced yesterday morning," he wrote. "Let's take a minute to appreciate the work of the 21 people who are finalists -- they are amazing ideas that deserve discussion and consideration."

Jan Frel is an AlterNet staff writer.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »