Contents
- Index
1.2. A Solution Under Our Noses? (Top)
The symptoms of an ailing democracy will likely worsen unless there are some fundamental changes in the underlying conditions under which the system operates. The authors' believe that there are such changes in the underlying conditions on the horizon. These changes are manifest in the emergence of grass roots political activity the likes of which the founding fathers could never have imagined and the power of which has only recently begun to be appreciated. There are two main reasons for the dramatic rise in grass roots political activity. They are, first, an increasingly better educated and well informed populace and, second, the creation and growth of an Internet-based communications system that enables citizens to share information and act to express their wishes and will in concerted fashion. The most visible evidence of this grass roots power is the dramatic increase in online political activity through such organizations as MoveOn, Win Without War, and the True Majority.
The authors are asserting that the potential for corrective action exists in the form of a new level of participatory democracy. We offer no assurances that the potential will be realized. The ability of those invested in the status quo to resist change that threatens their favored status should not be underestimated. Moreover, although the prerequisites for the emergence of a truly participatory democracy appear to be in place, there are obstacles to the level of participation, not the least of which are the so-called digital divide that prevents so many who would wish to participate from doing so and a disinclination to do so of many who are positioned to participate. Nevertheless, we are optimistic that a participatory democracy can emerge to correct the course of the nation and that this can occur without the need for changes in the basic structure of the U.S. government.
The unfolding of this grass roots phenomenon provides a rare opportunity to scientifically observe in real time the American political system in transition and to test predictions about the impact of this network on democratic institutions. Is this movement a flash in the pan or does it signal a fundamental and permanent change in American democracy? What will that fundamental change look like? Is this the dream of a separate and independent people's institution that philosophers could only dream about? Will people become active participants in the political process rather than passive bystanders who cast their ballot and hope for the best while fearing the worst? Will this new institution successfully compete with corporations for the attention of policy-makers? Will this new network create consensus on issues and act to check governmental excesses, corruption, and incompetence? Will people act collectively as super task forces, commissions, and think tanks to help government solve complex social and technical issues? OR, will the public be unable to deliberate issues and act as a unified correcting force because of internecine conflict and power struggles or governmental and corporate subversion and repression - in which case, the government will assume its traditional role of "protecting people from themselves" while the system continues to be unable to solve complex and difficult problems and continues its downward spiral?
The objectives of this project are to increase our understanding of the unfolding cyberspace grass roots political movement for its implications for future democratic institutions. The central theme is that from political crisis and technological change comes opportunity. The primary thesis is that the confluence of a large population of information age citizens, new kinds of leadership, the invention of the Internet, and political crisis has triggered a movement in cyberspace that may become a new democratic institution in a new kind of participatory democracy - a democracy in which citizens are sovereign in more than name.
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