As election day looms, Al Gore is trying to revive his campaign by emphasizing the high-tech economy. But the Vice-President doesn't see that the economy he touts helped cause his administration's demise. By highlighting the benefits of individualism and decentralization, the Internet age has helped discredit Gore's governing philosophy.

The Gore campaign's stump speech now features a plan, centered around tax credits for research and development, to keep the high-tech sector afloat. "The Internet economy is like the goose that's laying silicon eggs," Gore recently reminded a Pennsylvania rally. He promised, if elected President, to ensure a "new age of innovation and investment in America." But Americans have learned that entrepreneurs, not presidents, are the turbines driving today's economy.

This lesson, reinforced on the Internet and by the mass media, is reviving the American belief that individuals and small associations can solve the nation's most pressing problems. In the process, it is slowly turning voters against the activist government approach favored by Clinton and Gore, based on principles of, as the Democratic candidate describes them, "central organizing." During the last eight years, the technology industry has demonstrated why decentralization is a beneficial force.

As the bureaucratic corporations of the 1980s stood idly by, small, ingenious firms laid the foundation for the Internet boom. They toppled traditional business models while elevating their iconoclastic founders into the upper echelon of wealth. And in a unique twist, mass culture began emphasizing the message that individuals, not centralized organizations, are the most dynamic source of innovation.

Today, many Internet leaders occupy a place in the public eye normally reserved for entertainment stars. Entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Shawn "Napster" Fanning are regularly featured in the popular press. The fascination with these celebrities reflects citizens' desire to break convention and act alone to achieve their goals. The Internet itself is convincing them this is possible.

A large segment of the American population regularly ventures online. As these individuals steer through cyberspace, making purchases and, increasingly often, investments, they act as their own moral and economic authority. Because this individual action is central to the online experience, the Internet promotes self-reliance. In the process, it contributes to a broader understanding of exactly why citizens, freed from central control, can improve their own lives and those of others. This understanding is one of the reasons for Gore's puzzling inability to connect with voters despite the current prosperity.

In tune with the reigning individualist spirit, voters are rejecting Gore's bureaucratic policies. If the federal government is allowed to maintain its budget, he argues, it can save education, Medicare, and Social Security while decreasing racism, poverty, and violence. This ambitious message worked in 1992 and 1996, but polls indicate it is now losing more power every day.

The Bush campaign is gaining ground by promoting themes that have failed Republicans for a decade. Bush argues that, by empowering individuals, small businesses, and local governments, a decentralized approach can guarantee economic growth while resuscitating federal programs. "Our economy is strong today because we're a land of dreamers and doers," he told Tennessee supporters last week. "We want you to be involved without our bureaucracies throttling your compassion and trying to change your mission."

The sudden resonance of this decentralization message reflects the beliefs the high-tech boom has revived and promoted. A new individualism, empowered by the Internet economy and culture, is dawning. Citizens understand that individuals, as leaders of local governments, business, and their personal lives, can discover solutions government has failed to unearth.

Increasingly, a candidate's success depends on his power to liberate individuals, not dictate to them. As the Gore campaign flounders, politicians should heed this warning or await their own demise.

*Justin Matlick is a Senior Fellow in Information Studies at the Pacific Research Institute. To learn more about PRI and the Center for Freedom and Technology, see www.pacificresearch.org.