Democracy in the Information Age

Democracy, especially the kind we have in the US, requires an informed voter base. Otherwise, corporate interests end up making all the policy decisions. While it's good to foster a healthy private sector, no matter how you look at it, the bottom line for a corporation is not always aligned with the goals of a government, which I think are to make lives better for all citizens.

It seems like today's technology like the internet should enable voters to make much better informed decisions. However, most people don't have the time to really go through all the information, and people tend to cherry-pick the information that is aligned with what they already believe. In recent years the news has become increasingly partisan such that there is no news source which reaches everyone. I think now it's becoming clear that decision-making is more about belief than really making informed decisions, especially because of the complexity of issues today.

Liberals such as Paul Krugman, Thomas Friedman, and Frank Rich are frustrated at the rise of anti-government and anti-regulation conservatism in the aftermath of a financial meltdown and oil spill. He writes about how the extreme right has gained legitimacy in his latest op-ed. In other recent op-eds, he's been talking about the anti-regulatory mood of the public. Sex, Drugs, and the Spill and Berating the Raters.

At the same time, all of them realize that people are right to be upset about things. It makes sense that people are upset about the bank bailouts and the subsequent bonuses. All in all, the white collar workers have hardly been affected in this crisis. People are right to be upset about the price of health care, and it makes sense that they're concerned about the extra paperwork and possible inefficiencies from a government mandate for everyone to have health care. People have a feeling that corporate interests are colluding with the government. However, they are not right about what policies they think should be adopted.

I wonder if a better way to run the government is for people to vote on what problems they would like solved rather than on policies. I'm not sure how different it would be from how things are done now. I suppose people mostly vote for politicians they think will be able to solve their problems. Politicians have platforms where they talk about what they think are the biggest problems and their plans. I would hope that if we were more focused on identifying the problems and then giving a mandate to more knowledgeable and qualified people to solve them, that we'd have better policies, but actually, what we might end up with is just more of the same where corporate interests dictate policy.

My main concern is whether people are really be able to vote on policy because while we live in an information age, our lifestyles and jobs are pretty specialized at this point. While people had their specialized professions when the US was founded, at least they still had to do many things for themselves since they could just not hire services or buy things off the shelf the way we do today. Within one company, people in the marketing department don't know anything about engineering and vice versa. Those in the car manufacturing industry don't know anything about the energy industry or construction or agriculture or the health care industry, and the financial sector is a big mystery to everyone, of course. The system we have now is interest and advocacy driven so your piece of the pie is only as big as you can fight for. How can people really make informed policy decisions for the long term well-being of a nation as a whole?

Democracy Activists

interview with a former Chinese Democracy activist

Internet is Full of Talking People

Noam talks about the role of mass media and democracy.



The most interesting part of this video is when he talks about the NED, National Endowment for Democracy, established under Reagan, which funds programs such as Students for a Free Tibet and other programs which used to be funded and run by the CIA. The US government is often involved in politics in ways we do not expect. It really distorts Americans' view of the world. For example, the NED and other groups get money from Congress, which then fund Chinese democracy activists who are exiled from China. In the West, we are given the impression that these people are hugely influential, but in fact, there are not very many democracy activists, and they are largely dismissed in China by the public as idealist radicals.

Repubs Gaming the System

some more stats

Republicans For Hillary

Barack won Mississippi today, but Republicans broke for Hillary in record numbers. They were about 13% of the vote, and they voted for Hillary 85%. In other primaries, Republicans have tended to favor Barack. Sabotage anyone? And to those who say "so what, it's not illegal," democracy only works if people vote for who they actually prefer.

On the other hand, they really may prefer Clinton because they're racist. But that doesn't really make things any better now does it.

be afraid

Rush Limbaugh Republicans

Rush Reps

democracy

email from my dad

Last few days watching Hilary and Obama has actually made me think of that old struggle for democracy in Taiwan. Many people devoted their whole life to the cause and sacrificed personally so much. It took a few decades for their cause to prevail. But when the time comes, the voters said thank you and voted for others, Their war was won, their role was over, they were ushered to the side as the whole society moved on and the young never saw their sacrifice. Some exited nicely, others have been bitter. Clinton is a tremendous fighter, a younger one in the tail end of the generation who fought very hard to push the woman's movement. Expecting to watch her also be swept away by the younger generation, I actually had a lot of sympathy (although never fond of her brutal style). What a surprise she actually survived for now, at least glimpsing from the web news while I am awaiting the flight here.

----------------------------------------------------------

also, on the bus last night, probably 70% of the riders were hispanic, 20% black, the rest white and asian. there was an argument between a drunk black guy and a hispanic guy, that ended with the black guy yelling something about 'all you people living 20 people in one house go get green cards or go get back on the boat' before getting off the bus. the hispanic guy then commented that black **'s like that were why clinton won the (hispanic) vote in texas and ohio, and most of the riders seemed to agree. so much for getting over racial tensions.

Democracy? America?

Nevada Caucus voter problems

What a disgrace.

stupid women ruining it for all of us