Vote: The New Economy's First Campaign

Does the Web change the way that the federal government operates?

One of my missions, if I'm entrusted with the presidency, is to bring about a transformation of the federal government. Three years ago, I published a book called Access America, a blueprint for moving government services onto the Web. I challenged each governmental organization -- the departments and the agencies -- to plan a transition to Web-based services and to change its organizational style. The "reinventing government" program that I initiated has reduced the size of the federal workforce by 377,000 people. The federal government is now smaller than it was back when President Kennedy was inaugurated. We've eliminated many thousands of pages of regulations. But that's far from enough: I see it as only the barest beginning.

This transformation will be healthy for our self-government. Ultimately, just as customers are the final decision makers for fast companies, customers of government services have to be able to give instant feedback to the people in government who are making and administering policies.

When our Constitution was finally written in its current underlying form 211 years ago, it was really based on the same revolutionary insight that is at the heart of Web culture: None of us is as smart as all of us. The people who are best able to make decisions are those people who are closest to the subject matter that has to be decided. Our Constitution could be seen as a piece of software -- in metaphorical terms -- designed to collect the insights of 270 million people on a regular basis and to distill those insights into a collective decision about what to do next.

Just as massively parallel computers are more efficient than a single central-processing unit for completing most tasks, we are more effective as a nation when we are in touch with the opinions and insights of the people at the grass roots. And yet this software -- to continue the metaphor -- needs to be debugged regularly, and campaign-finance reform is part of what we need to make our system work the way that it should.

The movement of services onto the Web is part of what's needed, part of streamlining the way that government operates. So are measuring performance on a regular basis, holding key people responsible for achieving goals, rewarding performance, and empowering individuals who are at the edge of the organization. One thing that I tell federal employees is that forgiveness is easier to get than permission is. It's okay to experiment. It's all right to make mistakes when you're trying new things. You shouldn't make too many mistakes, but if you're not making some mistakes, then you're not trying hard enough.

I've encouraged managers to give out "forgiveness coupons" to their employees. The idea is this: Everyone gets a limited number and can cash them in whenever something doesn't quite work out. They learn in the process.

I'll give you a quick example. The city of Portland, Oregon had great success in its antidrug efforts with a drug-sniffing pig, instead of a drug-sniffing dog. The pig's name was Harley, and he came with a bonus: He was not only extremely proficient at sniffing out drugs but he was also an instant hit with the kids in schools. The city wanted to replicate Harley's success, but federal guidelines clearly stated that money was available only for dogs, not for pigs. So I held an event at which I solemnly declared that "with the powers vested in me as vice president of the United States, I hereby declare Harley a dog." I presented a certificate to Harley pronouncing him an honorary dog, and it worked: The program was certified.

The Web can change the way that the government operates, bringing it closer to the people. But the Web can also leave people behind. What do you think needs to happen to overcome the danger of a digital divide?

My number-one priority for investing in the future is to bring revolutionary improvements to our schools. Within that priority, my number-one investment will be to make high-quality preschool available to every child in the country. And that can be done. It's cost-effective. It's the best investment that we can make.

We need to make revolutionary progress in hiring more teachers, giving them adequate training, offering alternative methods of certification, setting higher standards, having accountability, making it easier to fire teachers who don't do the job within due process, rewarding performance, reducing class size, modernizing schools, making college tuition affordable for everyone, and providing lifetime job training. Specifically to close the digital divide, I've proposed the creation of an affordable account that would give every American a personal training fund. I also proposed and helped alter the E-Rate program to subsidize the connection of classrooms and libraries to the Internet. We've gone from 3% of classrooms connected to the Internet in 1994 to 65% today. And 95% of schools are now connected.