Will The Internet Save Democra Essay
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Will the Internet Save Democracy?
Americans are adamant about democracy. Though many people complain of the troubles with politics, they would never dream of doing away with democracy itself. It is the center point of our entire country. Despite the apparent importance of it, relatively few people actually participate in government. People either feel that the government is to distance to affect or they simply don t know much about it. Both of these scenarios create a cynical population. The Washington post published an opinion poll in 1996 that came to the conclusion that Americans who knew the least about government were the most likely to be mistrustful and cynical toward it (Can Technology Save Democracy?). Similarly, cynicism and mistrust can come from [the government s] complex bureaucracy, inaccessibility, and unresponsiveness to the electorate (How to Use and Not Use- Digital Democracy). Our democracy now, is ruled by a group of people who actually participate, forming an almost elitist form of democracy. Will the Information Age change attitudes towards politics? The Internet can potentially have an enormous effect on politics and democracy. It is up to the public, however, to harness this power.
In the attempt to discern the changes the Internet might have on politics, modern American democracy must be analyzed. The two most important parts of democracy are communication and information. Direct democracy is probably the purest in form since it requires maximum communication. All people would gather for deliberation and in this way would decisions be made and legislation be passed. Every individual would have his or her say. Alas, this system is utterly impossible in the modern world. It was even far-fetched when the framers were creating our country. There is no feasible way to gather all the people of our country to have a discussion. In fact, in most metropolises this is even absurd. The dilemma was solved by representational democracy: large groups of people are represented by one or two people who can then deliberate with other representatives. Politics has also become increasingly pluralistic. Interest groups are flexing their persuasive muscles and creating factions among the public. It seems to be increasingly more difficult to access the government on your own. If you are involved in a powerful interest group, then your voice can be heard over the din since it is combined with many others with similar grievances. These changes in politics are merely two ways that America has veered on the course of democracy. Now the challenge is to correct the course.
The media has been proposed to solve the problems of democracy before. With each new technological advance, people cling to the idea that it will create a new kind of active and informed individual. With the introduction of radio, political news could suddenly be transmitted at a much faster rate than ever before. Franklin Roosevelt s fireside chats are a prime example of the hope and faith poured into the medium. But did the radio solve the problem of ignorance among the American public? It is hard to say since the time period that radio was becoming popular coincided with a very turbulent time in American history. By 1935, over half of American homes had radios (Government and Politics on the Net Project). In 1936, voter turnout reached 61% of the eligible voting population, but this is not necessarily the consequence of more communication (History of Presidential Elections). Roosevelt had just begun to pull America up by its bootstraps and the people loved it. Although the voter turnout figure is relatively high for our history, it is still much too low to be a miracle worked by the technology of the time. Again, when television came out and it became an integral part of transmitting the news, people had high expectations of it. Information could be...
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