The next phase for me will involve more direct involvement with politics and government. That’s one of the reasons I’m in New York City today to attend the Personal Democracy Forum, the conference where those who are into the cross-connects between technology and politics/government gather each year.

I had spent close to four years directly involved in this space as the director of the New Politics Institute, which helped those in Washington transition to the new way of doing politics over the Internet. That was in the 2005-2008 Presidential cycle, which ended with Obama’s masterful use of all the tools and approaches that we had helped refine and promote for years.

The last four years I have been focused more on what I would call the civic space, which mostly involved think tanks that are developing ideas that could eventually have political consequences. But I have not been directly involved in what has been happening with governing in Washington, and in the evolution of politics.

I feel the need to get back into that space. I left it in that giddy time when many of us thought the politics might really change and government might be entering a new phase. It goes without saying that much of that promise has not yet been realized. There still is much to do, and maybe I have to do my part to help out again.

We’ll see.

Pete