Internet politics: because democracy is not a spectator sport

Steven Johnson's Can the web give ordinary people a shot at true populism?, in Discover magazine, looks at internet politics and Howard Dean. Read this and the Wired story (How the Internet Invented Howard Dean) to get a quick overview of the Dean-and-internet story.

Here's Johnson looking at where internet politics goes after this:

But something crucial is missing because so far, electronic populism is still largely about getting out the vote. The candidates have excelled at using the Web to organize supporters and raise money in new ways, but the more tantalizing possibility—that ordinary people might collectively help shape the substance of what their candidate stands for—remains a dream.

[...]

Critics will argue that open-source methods may only exacerbate the malaise of poll-driven politics and turn candidates into nothing but empty vessels, ready to be filled with the latest whim—California-style politics for the entire country. But polls are crude tools designed to detect simple yes/no positions, while groupware allows for more intimate and nuanced debate. A collective "statement of principles" would no doubt give a candidate a much richer feel for understanding the public than the random pressing of flesh on street corners.

There are already signs that the doors to more substantive contributions from the grassroots level are beginning to open. The Dean campaign held an informal competition on its Web site to coin a slogan for its New Hampshire and Iowa positions. Traditional campaign slogans tend to be shockingly bland, like "Building a Bridge to the 21st Century." But the winner in the Dean competition was refreshingly different: "Because democracy is not a spectator sport." That slogan has real personality. It's the kind of catchphrase that most candidates of any party would pay big bucks to get from a professional media consultant. The question for the 2004 election is whether people will be willing to live up to it.

In the UK, Your Party (disclosure: rodcorp works on it), is trying to do exactly that: an experiment in which ordinary people can participate in a deliberative (ie not merely an opinion poll) process to shape a manifesto for a political candidate(s).

And, operating in an improving-the-social-fabric sphere that's slightly wider than politics, the BBC's iCAN is helping people find information, other people and tools to "change the world around you", and MySociety is reviewing projects submitted by the public, all of which would bring real-world benefits.

Johnson also blogged his Discover story here, and there are two particularly interesting comments. Aaron Wall suggests:

Most politicians fear a timestamped trail of their statements. On the way to power it is worth the risk, but after you are already there it is doubtful the reward outweighs the risk.

That "fear of a timestamped trail" is the reason why the Public Whip is such a great idea. It tracks MP voting patterns in the UK parliament, giving constituents a chance to hold their MP accountable for what they do (rather than say they'll do). And here's Jason Kottke:

Another interesting question related to this is what happens if Dean doesn't win the Democratic nomination? When he concedes and throws his support to another candidate, how does that include the web properties? Does the Dean blog start posting stuff about Wesley Clark? Do the Dean Meetups become Clark Meetups? Does he donate the software he and his campaign team have created to the Democratic nominee in the best interests of beating Bush? The blogs and the Meetups have created stronger ties between the candidates and their constituencies than more traditional tactics used in the past, and when the time comes, it might prove difficult to shift that connection to another candidate (which may prove troublesome for the Democrats come election time).

Comments

[Charles Wimber]

Internet politics as direct,electronic moral soveriegnty (initiative, referrendum, recall)
that comes from the bottom-up and then supported from the top down as follows:

Civic Virtue Network Commons

1)mutual benfits Guild vs profits through firing

2)distance learning Academy vs debt prosperity
taxes

3)hands-up Councils vs racial and religious
bigoty

4 shared responsibility Co-op vs media cartel
immorality

This could be a home-based, insourcing, opprotunity society that integrates work (Guild)
with parenthood (Academy) and civic life (Councils), electronically (Co-op).

In 2004, the USA is the largest debtor-nation
that makes slaves out of its citizens. How do these citizens overcome, restore and renew from
such a burden of debt? Do the move away?

Here are some examples of direct, electronic, moral sovereignty of, by and for the citizens of the USA to overcome corporate debt, institutional debt, mortgage debt and consumer debt:

1) Guild, federal investment tax credit (home-
office)
2) Academy, state tuition tax exemption (home
school)
3) Councils, corporate private voucher systems
(house church)
4) Co-op, household time-talent-treasure (home
area network)

What we have in the USA in 2004 is unrestrained,arrogant greed that influences criminally-irresponsible and willfully-ignorant
power with the result of a consumer religion enforced by an entertainment ethic with cheap sex, violence and a dehumanizing, anti-moral agenda (sex and violence sell).

What this can mean are these policy tools that
Howard Dean could use as President with the need coming from the bottom-up:

1) Guild: need into equity federal credit
2) Academy power into parity state exemption
3) Councils: greed into charity corporate voucher
4) Co-op: isolation into unity household fair-
shared sacifice of time-talent-treasure

1) Guild: skills sessions, buying/barter club,
debit/savings union

2) Academy: mixed-media library with on-line,
mentor-tutors

3) Councils: cultural literacy meals with a
voting-record/direct democracy
society

4) Co-op: desktop production and distribution
strong, moral content

1) Guild: phone-faxing with office suite
2) Academy: Internet with browser
3) Councils: talk-radio with groupware
4) Co-op; TV with a portal Web site

Guild as need into equity worker-owernship

Academy as power into parity scholar-ownership

Councils as greed into charity citizen staketholdership

Co-op as isolation into harmony and unity
member-owner-subscriber ownership

In 2004 the USA is dominated by media cartel,
electronic highway robber barons who want to make us slaves to entertainment, buying, banking, information and education.

The Granger movement in the USA was a response
to the hardship caused by the Industrial Robber Barons. A Great Womens'Movement and William Jennings Bryan brought the Granger Cases to the U.S. Supreme Court that caused Congress to pass and the President to sign the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (Microsoft Cases)

The concentration of wealth (Mammon) and power (Caesar) in the USA faces The Author of History who uses necessity to craft virtue from extreme sin. Consider the following:

1) manufacturing recession (CEO's exporting
jobs)

2) engergy crisis (power grid blackout, high gas
and gasoline princes

3) pandemics like AIDS

4) drought with wildfires

5) tech-telecom bust

6) war against terrorism

7) corporate, institutional, mortgage and consumer
debt

Hence local-control and co-operative self-help development to overcome, restore and renew from
need (God) overcoming power (Caesar) and greed
Mammon)

Yes, there is a God, He is our Creator and He
owns our souls. "In God,We Trust."

CVW - Civic Virtue Network Advocate