Digital Matters - Issue 38

In the United States, basic constitutional questions will reemerge: Do we have a "right to privacy"? When does life begin? What is the definition of "health," in terms of national health insurance? Does the right to liberty allow us to break free from the tyranny of wretched schooling? Should we alter the genetic structure of our food? What will happen if a genetic accident spreads across the entire agricultural community?

This year's election will be the last of the "boring" 1990s breed. The next election will be about bigger things, and the one after that will be about bigger things still. Politics today isn't interesting -- but new-economy politics will be astonishing.

John Ellis (jellis@fastcompany.com) is a writer and consultant based in New York.