Assignment 6

Is optimism regarding the political potential of the Internet warranted?

We are just at the beginning stages of using the Internet politically and with some experimentation we will find where the process is limited. From the essays read from Rebooting Democracy, I would argue that the Internet is a useful tool for educating the citizenry. Julie Barko Germany argues that the people need to reach out to the information that is provided to us and use it for its political potential. The Internet allows for conversations. Although these conversations might not be with a person from the opposite side of the ideological spectrum, it is still essential for the process to work that everybody makes there political voice’s heard. Some of the essays warn against direct democracy. Direct democracy would be the ultimate use of the Internet for politics; for every decision you just have to fill in an online survey. A major issue Zack Exley points out with direct democracy is that the American people are capable of completing basic opinion polls and therefore could determine that a majority of them are against a current law, but would not know how to begin creating a new law. In my opinion, the Internet is beginning to allow online supporters to frame the issues through social networks and blogs. After we experiment with the limitations of these forms, we will move on to other forms of communication to better become involved in  campaign and platform formation.