I just emailed a local councilman about a law he proposed that I felt was unfair. 20 mins later he responded. 20 mins after that I responded. We were having a conversation, in quasi real time. My voice was being heard. His voice was being heard. Did we agree? No, but that’s beside the point. I applaud this councilman for using technology to talk with the people he represents.
But that is just an isolated event. One personal response out of the hundreds of emails that I have sent to government officials (yes I’m one of those who actually writes my government officials). Today we live in a world where millions of people can vote fairly and accurately for who they thought the best singer was on a TV show. All via their cell phone. We live in a world where I can post a message on a website and minutes later have someone read that comment on live TV. We live in a world were about 100 people will visit a website just to see what I have to say (that means you reading my website). You have left comments on my site, you tell me what you are thinking, where you agree, where you disagree. I make realtime adjustments to my website based on what you, the reader, wants, because I’m here for you! (visualize Uncle Sam pointing at you).
Why then, can’t our government figure this out? If you look at it we have a system of government that is approx 2000 years old (think Roman government here people, stick with me). In the time when a representative government was formed, people chose figures to be present for them and to speak for them when they couldn’t. Their means of communication dictated that they had to have someone there to speak for them. For thousands of years this worked in an ideal fashion in most cases. Until now.
Today we still have the same 2000 year old form of government, but something has changed. Communication. With this 2000 year old government we are still using 2000 year old communication. We rely on our elected officials to speak for us, but today it’s not out of necessity, it’s out of convenience. We just elect someone who thinks the way we think and then turn them lose on Washington to do as they please because we think they will respond in a manner in which we think we would respond. Where has this gotten us? Well just ask any John Doe what they think of the current government and you will have your answer.
Because we are too lazy to take an active role in our government we are in the situation we are in where people feel like the government has lost touch with the people.
Imagine this. Once a week you log onto a website. On that website is a list of items to vote on. There’s a section of the site for debate. Open debate, and expert analysis. You can add your own comments and then read what experts in that field believe on both sides. You make your choice and vote. The next issue comes up. You repeat the same process. In an hours time you have researched and voted on a number of different bills. You have just taken part in your government. Your voice has been heard. Your voice, not someone you hope will vote the way you want them to. And it took one hour out of your week. Probably the same hour you would have spent watching wannabe rock stars be berated by music industry has-bens.
Is this over simplifed? You betchya. Is it feasable? Absolutely! Will some professional politictian have the guts to make it happen? Only time will tell. Most politicitans will see it as a threat. That reason alone is enough to make you think change is needed.
March 22, 2007 at 9:04 pm
YEEAAAAAAY!
why won’t they get this idea going? I think it’s their fear, the politicians, because then they would have an informed and politically active people, which would potentially work against them, and FOR the “average” person. then they’d be out of office in a hurry, loss of power by individuals not suited to be in powerful positions in the first place. money and favor shouldn’t be ruling this the country.
between y!a and finding your blog, I think you may have seriously answered what’s wrong and come to light with, and expanded on, a (less eloquent) idea I had a while back. if people had no entertainment (think sports events on tv and cable), or no beer (suggested by some comedian), things would change awful quick just to get things back to ‘normal’. what if, for half an hour a day, (rebroadcast/reopened in six hour intervals,for availability to all shifts,)all media would be involved in direct processing of political issues and things up for vote, a lot of people would be more up on things in general. there of course would be a number who would forego that opportunity for other activities. but I think that the results from communications between the people and the government would make themselves eminent in a reasonable period of time, and would thus attract more people who typically would avoid the activity. and we might have a more functionable democracy. hell, something’s gotta work. is there any way to spread new and different ideas to the point where things might actually change for the better? since they do a lot to distract us from possibilities of hope for our country, and faith in the process.
March 22, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Angela,
Thanks for your comment.
I agree that the power struggle in Washington has a huge roll in why this is not active today, but I also think there is a lot of apathy towards the workings of the government and what a positive government can do for it’s people.
The other thing is that we in the US have become removed from what the US used to stand for. Think back to those grade school and junior high social studies classes. It was just over 200 years ago that this country was founded on ideals that would rock governments around the world.
Not since the civil war have we as a country been tested and forced to fight in what we believe. Forced to fight to preserve our way of life. I don’t say this to discount all the men and women who died in every war since the civil war but no war since then has so directly impacted American government. People today take what rights we have for granted and don’t fully understand what it means to exercise those rights.
So no only is the problem a power struggle in Washington, but a struggle with the people. A struggle to make people understand what it means to live in a democratic society.
The issue at hand is that you cannot force a person to take part in a democracy (because at that point it stops being a democracy). So how do you show people that it is worth caring about? We as westerners get so distracted by the glitz and glamor of life, or get bogged down by the tedious and mundane of the everyday, that we don’t pay attention to something that doesn’t seem to either entertain or impact us directly at that moment.
So now the question I will pose is how do you make people care?
January 22, 2008 at 10:40 pm
[...] you look back to Feb 2007 you will see a post I made about having a government that uses technology to listen to the people and gets the people directly [...]