Post 12

I am sure that most citizens of their respective countries could agree that a major portion of the population is not represented in government. Even in a country where the Constitution attempted to give a voice to everyone, regardless of race, creed, color, or economic standing, many are still not equally represented. How can our democracy represent the general public better?

One proposal that Woodhouse suggests in Chapter 10 is to create a so-called “Internet-Based Democracy”. This means that all voting and decision-making would occur through the Internet. This would also mean that the citizens could interact with the elected officials on local and national issues through some forum or similar tool. The basic advantages of creating an Internet-Based Democracy are that people will not have to leave the comfort of their homes to vote or debate on issues. The adoption of the Internet in democracy would force the government to keep its citizens up to date on matters and thus hold them more accountable.

But an Internet democracy cannot be left open without some form of moderation or supervision. Otherwise, during voting sensitive information could be compromised and election results altered. Another reason why moderation would be necessary is because a few individuals would misuse this platform for posting inappropriate media or irrelevant material when perhaps an important discussion on a local community’s taxes is being discussed. A moderator would probably have to review most if not all posts before they are published for everyone to see. A moderator would also have to be compensated by either the government or the people he or she “regulates”. Ideally, this person would probably hold some degree or at least interest in computer science and be willing to work practically full-time.

Another possible complication with Internet democracy would be that certain comments would be repeated, especially with a system that would account for “time published”. People would repeat or contribute ideas that are now clearly in the past. Again, the need for a moderator is evident in this system. But, each moderator should try and avoid bias when “allowing comments to be published”. If there is bias, then another whole side of the argument could be ignored and lead to rash and irrational decisions. Internet Democracy has many positive aspects and could possibly be the future of how government is run. But, there are many obstacles such as security, equal accessibility, repetition and stealing others’ thoughts that might hinder this idea.