Legislative Website
I was attending a seminar today on law and technology, when out of the blue the speaker gave a ringing endorsement of the legislature's website, noting in particular how someone can register interest on a particular bill, and, anytime that bill is changed, e-mail notification will be sent.
It is exciting to be involved in government at a time when such disintermediation is possible. Though government keeps getting bigger and more complex, technology increasingly allows my constituents to inform themselves, contact me, monitor my votes, and support me/throw me out of office. And they can do all this by themselves -- without relying on the traditional information filters of media and political consultants/interest groups.
It is exciting to be involved in government at a time when such disintermediation is possible. Though government keeps getting bigger and more complex, technology increasingly allows my constituents to inform themselves, contact me, monitor my votes, and support me/throw me out of office. And they can do all this by themselves -- without relying on the traditional information filters of media and political consultants/interest groups.
posted by steve u. at 12/14/2004
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3 Comments:
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Steve,
Your comments reminded me of an incident that happened at school the other day . A Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations came to speak with us (I can’t say his name because it was a non-attribution presentation, but he does not have a military background). During his presentation he floated the idea of creating an American Foreign Legion. The legion could be used to fight in places like Iraq, with the idea that foreign soldiers getting killed overseas would not upset or get the attention of the American people; thus, in theory, making it easier for the US to prosecute “necessary but unpopular wars.” I was stunned; this guy was actually advocating finding a way to minimize the impact of public opinion on something as critical as waging war. Needless to say the idea was universally unpopular among the class.
The funny thing is, I think that the speaker was expecting a warm reception for this idea (since we were all military officers). He forgot that before we beacame military officers, we were (still are)a part of the “people” that he proposed removing from the process. And, in my humble opinion, the more involve the people are in government, the better off we are. It is the people that make this country great.
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