Two Nerds, One Big Idea

Compromise and election-year messaging are often lightning bolts streaking in opposite directions. Congressional Republicans, intent on uprooting President Obama from the White House, have felt the tension. And so has Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, who teamed with House Budget Chair Paul Ryan on an improbable proposal to reform Medicare.

Congressional Republicans buckled to election pressures as they agreed to a compromise last week to extend a payroll tax cut, continue jobless benefits and block a Medicare fee cut to doctors.

But Wyden has no reason to buckle. A Democrat, he was re-elected comfortably in 2010 and remains one of Oregon's most popular political figures, in part because he is willing to work across the political aisle. Seeking bipartisan solutions on controversial issues is viewed today as the act of a political maverick in much the same way as Senators Wayne Morse and Mark Hatfield opposing the Vietnam War.

The Potomac Watch column in the Wall Street Journal ran a piece describing what it called the Democratic establishment's "War on Wyden” for his Medicare collaboration with Ryan. It noted New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called Wyden a "useful idiot" to Mitt Romney's presidential election bid. House Democrats, according to WSJ, "hissed the plan would end Medicare as we know it." And a former Senate staffer complained Wyden undercut a key argument for Democrats regaining control of Congress.

Even Ryan's Democratic opponent jumped on the pig-pile. The WSJ quoted Ron Zerban as saying Wyden's co-sponsorship of a Medicare plan with Ryan gave the controversial Republican political cover. Zerban added, "Wyden is no longer a Democrat."

Not following party orthodoxy is nothing new for Wyden. Branded a young liberal when he brashly defeated sitting Congressman Bob Duncan in 1980, Wyden immediately set about building a reputation centered on job creation (a new lock at Bonneville Dam) and health care reform. The former head of Oregon's Gray Panthers knew a lot then about the strengths and weaknesses of Medicare, gathered by talking personally with hundreds of men and women covered by Medicare.

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The Digital Divide

Digital freedom and privacy are surging onto political platforms, legislative agendas and court dockets, with sometimes overlapping impacts.

In the wake of a massive online protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) last week, U.S. congressional leaders shoved the "online piracy" legislation favored by traditional media interests into a broom closet. Protecting the intellectual property of movie makers and book publishers was trumped by cries for Internet freedom.

Meanwhile, many of the same online giants who backed last week's Internet blackout protest may be looking at tougher online user privacy legislation in the European Union. The New York Times reports the EU will introduce a measure requiring Amazon, Facebook, Google and others to obtain explicit approval from their users before sharing personal data with advertisers. They must also scrub personal data permanently from their databases at a user request or face heavy fines in what one EU official called a move toward "online transparency."

The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in with a narrow ruling, with vast implications, indicating law enforcement officers must obtain a warrant before placing a GPS device on a suspect's vehicle. Justices hinted it may be time for Congress to act to clarify just how much privacy citizens can expect in an age when banks, retailers and social media sites routinely mine online data. The court's ruling pumped new life into legislation Oregon Senator Ron Wyden introduced last summer to clarify privacy protection involving police use of electronic surveillance equipment.

The specter of Big Brother tracking your whereabouts by tapping into your smartphone signal is scary. But it is in some ways just a police app for FourSquare, which allows a user to note where they are so friends can find them. Yes, the intent is different, but not a 180-degree difference.

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