Calling all Luddites8230;

I8217;ve been thinking of running for high office on a one-issue platform: I promise, if elected, that within four years America will have ...

I8217;ve been thinking of running for high office on a one-issue platform: I promise, if elected, that within four years America will have cell phone service as good as Ghana8217;s. If re-elected, I promise that in eight years America will have cell phone service as good as Japan8217;s, provided Japan agrees not to forge ahead on wireless technology. My campaign bumper sticker: 8216;8216;Can You Hear Me Now?8217;8217;

I began thinking about this after watching Japanese use cell phones and laptops to get on the Internet from speeding bullet trains and subways deep underground. But the last straw was when I couldn8217;t get cell phone service while visiting IBM8217;s headquarters in Armonk, NY.

But don8217;t worry 8212; Congress is on the case. It dropped everything last week to pass a bill to protect gun makers from shooting victims8217; lawsuits. The fact that the United States has fallen to 16th in the world in broadband connectivity aroused no interest. Look, I don8217;t even like cell phones, but this is not about gadgets. The world is moving to an Internet-based platform for commerce, education, innovation and entertainment. Wealth and productivity will go to those countries, or companies, that get more of their innovators, educators, students, workers and suppliers connected to this platform via computers, phones and PDAs.

A new generation of politicians is waking up to this issue. For instance, Andrew Rasiej is running in New York City8217;s Democratic primary for public advocate on a platform calling for wireless Wi-Fi and cell phone Internet access from every home, business and school in the city. If, God forbid, a London-like attack happens in a New York subway, don8217;t trying calling 911. Your phone won8217;t work down there. No wireless infrastructure. This ain8217;t Tokyo, pal.

At the City Hall subway stop the other morning, Rasiej plans to show how one makes a 911 call from the subway. He will have one aide with a tin can in the subway send a message to another aide holding a tin can connected by a string. Then the message will be passed by tin can and string up to Rasiej on the street, who will call 911 with his cell phone.

8216;8216;That is how you say something if you see something today in a New York subway 8212; tin cans connected to someone with a cell phone on the street,8217;8217; said Rasiej, a 47-year-old entrepreneur who founded an educational-technology nonprofit.

Rasiej wants to see New York follow Philadelphia, which decided it wouldn8217;t wait for private companies to provide connectivity to all. Instead, Philly made it a city-led project 8212; like sewers and electricity. The whole city will be a 8216;8216;hot zone8217;8217;, where any resident anywhere with a computer, cell phone or PDA will have cheap high-speed Wi-Fi access to the Internet.

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Rasiej argues that we can8217;t trust the telecom companies to make sure that everyone is connected because new technologies, like free Internet telephony, threaten their business models. 8216;8216;We can8217;t trust the traditional politicians to be the engines of change for how people connect to their government and each other,8217;8217; he said. By the way, he added, 8216;8216;If New York City goes wireless, the whole country goes wireless.8217;8217;

Rasiej is also promoting civic photo-blogging 8212; having people use their cell phones to take pictures of potholes or crime, and then, using Google maps, e-mailing the pictures and precise locations to City Hall.

Message: In US politics, the party that most quickly absorbs the latest technology often dominates. FDR dominated radio and the fireside chat; JFK, televised debates; Republicans, direct mail and then talk radio, and now Karl Rove8217;s networked voter databases.

The technological model coming next 8212; which Howard Dean accidentally uncovered but never fully developed 8212; will revolve around the power of networks and blogging. The public official or candidate will no longer just be the one who talks to the many or tries to listen to the many. Rather, he or she will be a hub of connectivity for the many to work with the many 8212;creating networks of public advocates to identify and solve problems and get behind politicians who get it.

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8216;8216;One elected official by himself can8217;t solve the problems of eight million people,8217;8217; Rasiej argued, 8216;8216;but eight million people networked together can solve one city8217;s problems. They can spot and offer solutions better and faster than any bureaucrat. The party that stakes out this new frontier will be the majority party in the 21st century. And the Democrats better understand something 8212; their base right now is the most disconnected from the network8217;8217;.

Can you hear me now?

By arrangement with The New York Times