I started RampRate in 2000, and most of what we've done since comes down to one habit. A client brings us a deal that shows up as a single package at a single price, and we take it apart. What's actually in here? Which parts do you need? Who's carrying the risk, and do they know it?
Lately I've been pointing that habit at something outside our usual lane. America, Unbundled is a two-part essay about politics, AI and energy.
It started with a line I couldn't shake: a political party is a compression algorithm built when information was expensive. You get one bundle of positions and you take all of it or none of it. That made sense when information was scarce. It's cheap now. What's scarce is trust, attention and local knowledge. Gallup says 45% of Americans now call themselves independents, so plenty of people have already stopped buying the bundle.
The part our readers will recognize is energy. I've worked around data centers since 1996, and AI runs on what they've always run on: power, water, land, and neighbors willing to live next to it. Those costs show up in particular counties and on particular electric bills. I don't think you can talk about who governs AI without talking about who governs the grid. In the essay I put it as a test any project should pass: "Every project should say plainly who pays, who benefits, who measures, and who can say no." We ask suppliers some version of that every week.
From there, Part One makes the case for what I call an independent civic grid. It sits on constitutional rights, proves itself locally before it goes anywhere bigger, keeps public receipts, and can take authority back from whoever doesn't deliver. Part Two is the field guide. It includes ten questions for checking how independent you, or your group, really are. Fair warning: it keeps score.
I wrote Part One as a question for the Independent National Convention in September. You won't agree with all of it. I'd like to hear where you think I got it wrong.
