The Amateur Revolution

Rich Glasgow has an interesting post here, about an article titled "Amateur Revolution". According to the author, Charles Leadbeater, amateurs are taking over from the professionals in a number of fields. He calls them "Pro-Ams":

"committed, networked amateurs working to professional standards. Pro-Am workers, their networks and movements, will help reshape society in the next two decades."

Leadbeater lists rap music, astronomy, and banking among the fields being revolutionized by high-achieving amateurs. Rich takes it further, including homeschoolers, home improvement do-it-yourselfers, and bloggers.

Had a little shock of recognition after reading this, realizing that my family fits all three of Rich's categories:

we homeschool, which means we aren't relying on professional educators;

my husband has done virtually all of the work of finishing off the basement himself, including rough carpentry, electrical, and plumbing, only calling in the professionals on the drywall and finish carpentry (partly because of the inordinate time it would take him to do those things); and

we're bloggers. Even out here at the fringes of the blogosphere, we did our part to challenge the MSM professionals (here and here).

Also consider this recent Instapundit post which wonders if we're witnessing the end of capitalism -- in the sense that the means of production are no longer just in the hands of a few wealthy capitalists -- and you get an even clearer picture of the new economy. More evidence for this can be found here, in the stats on the number of self-employed and entrepreneurs.

That's why I think that Bush's emphasis on an "ownership" economy, especially in terms of portable benefits and changes to Social Security, is coming at exactly the right moment in time.