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"We get all kinds of press releases here at Mashable on a daily basis.  Some of them are for startups that maybe a small chunk of our readers are interested in, and some of them are wide-reaching press releases that alert us to things that most if not all our readers actually interested in. Some of them (believe it or not) we just let slide through the cracks, because frankly, no one is interested in Yet Another Social Network about some inane niche that four people are gonna end up joining during the life of the company.\nTonight, I was sent a press release to evaluate for coverage here that was interesting for a couple of reasons.   When I'm not here at Mashable (which is increasingly a rare occurrence), I cover the politics and technology beat for my blog and podcast. One thing that I've noticed over the last year or so is the increasing convergence of those two niches, both in terms of government regulation, and in terms of campaigning. The takeaway here, at least the one that's pertinent to the press release that in question, is that more often than not, I see tech organizations aligning themselves with liberal and Democrat affiliated candidates and groups.\nThe event in question is the 2007 Empower Change Summit taking place this weekend, and it's sponsor is Going.com, a company we've talked about here at Mashable before. The organization behind the political event is the American Democracy Institute, an organization that over and over pledges its non-partisan nature, and aims to \"educates citizens, engages activists, and develops leaders who work throughout society to create social change.\" In interviews online and off, they've talked about the power technology to empower young people to affect change within the political system - a concept in its broad sense that very few people could argue with. Truth be told, I've never attended an ADI event, so I couldn't tell you exactly what goes on there, but I can get a good idea from the roster of speakers their PR person so graciously provided us.\nThere's Gene Nichole, the President of the College of William &amp; Mary. This is a college with an admittedly rich history that has become so enamored with the liberal precepts of political correctness that they've created an online anonymous reporting system not to prevent crime, racism, or even terrorism; no, the system in question is to prevent bias.  Just bias. Like, if something offends you for any reason what-so-ever, and you think it's caused by an opinion held by said person, you report it.\nThen there's Wendy Carrillo, a disc-jokey at Power 106 Radio Station, a \"advocate                for social justice causes\" frequently broaching the topics of \"grass roots                organizing, women and LGBT issues.\" And then there's Melissa Fitzgerald, whom you may remember from West Wing as the press secretary's assistant, also known for her political and social activism.  There's Jonathan Greenblatt, the former VP of Starbucks, and five year veteran of the Clinton Administration's U.S. Department of Commerce. There's Isabelle Rodriguez, Former Director of Advance, also for the Clinton White House. There's Adrian Sexton, former Lionsgate Films bigwig, responsible for the production of many films like Fahrenheit 9/11, An Inconvenient Truth, and other left-leaning documentaries.\nAnd for the grand finale, they have former President Bill Clinton speaking as well.\nI could make a tired point about PR folks misrepresenting that which they're promoting, but that's a tired route to go, and at this point in time, I don't think anyone amongst us would be surprised, shocked and dismayed to hear that a marketing or PR guy told a white lie. The larger point I'd like to get around to is my wonderment at why tech seems to align itself so readily with the left, and why being on the right side of the spectrum is frowned upon thing (and don't kid yourself on this one, Going.com is more than just sponsoring it, their CEO is speaking at the event as well).\nI'm going to come out and say it here, brand me how you like, but I lean libertarian to conservative in my political beliefs, and on my personal blog and podcast, have made no bones about that. It's given me a unique opportunity to meet other folks in high tech, folks that you know and have heard of from big time reputable companies and Web 2.0 startups, and who's services you likely use. Many of these same folks have in confidence have told me that as a conservative, they don't really feel comfortable publicizing their political affiliations for fear of it affecting their business negatively.\nFolks on the left seem to have no problem with that.  Not but a couple months ago on John Dvorak's Cranky Geeks, Marc Canter cut loose with harsh words for anyone who's ever voted Republican in their life, with the  comment \"Republicans have cornered the market on criminal activity,\" and then later said that all Republicans deserve to go to hell.  Granted, it's  a slightly extreme example of what I'm talking about, but demonstrates the willingness by many in tech to express their liberal leanings without qualm. Perhaps this is why conservative business leaders might be hesitant to express their politics?\nOr maybe it's because of this that conservative politicians shy away from fully utilizing Web 2.0 in their campaigns. If the impression that the old geezers inside the beltway have of tech-folks is that we're a bunch of polemic, wingnut liberals, then I can understand their reticence (because let's face it, regardless of political affiliation, if there's one thing politicians of all stripe have demonstrated, it's a lack of understanding of technology and anything more than surface familiarity with its culture).\nI'm not sure what the answer is here.  Perhaps, if you're conservative, don't be ashamed?  Maybe, as someone involved in Web 2.0 business, you should pass up some of the low-hanging fruit in the political world, and try to recruit more balance in your client base?  I do know that, as a conservative (and someone who never votes straight Republican),  Marc Canter's statements on that episode were offensive to me, and color everything he says even as a technology pundit from that point forward (despite his reputation in technology and long history of tech punditry). I don't mind political disagreement, but I do mind being pigeonholed politically as something I'm not simply because I'm a technology enthusiast and involved in Web 2.0."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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