09 Oct 08 Rethinking democracy in the shadow of an economic crisitunity

Last Sunday I changed my Facebook status to “Appalled by the bail out, crosses fingers for world/ Menzies” following the passing of a shocking plan to save the US economy - and to some extent the global economy. Acting swiftly to solve this crisis surely had to be done, but the conditions of the bill that was passed was to fleece the American public. A theft of their money, and a theft of power from their “Democracy” which is looking less democratic every day.

The dilution of democracy to become a fascist state is outlined by Naomi Wolf in her book “The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot”. These steps include creating a gulag like Guantanamo bay, where normal rights like the Geneva convention and habeas corpus don’t apply; setting up internal surveillance programs - like the ones set up by George W Bush that bypassed the FISA court; establishing private armies like Blackwater; Engaging in arbitrary detention and release like locking up journalists reporting the Republican National Convention for democratic press groups; Suspend the rule of law - The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 gave the president new powers over the national guard. This means that in a national emergency the president now has enhanced powers to declare martial law (which was threatened to get the bailout passed).

If the Patriot Act, The John Warner Defense Authorisation Act, and the changes to the FISA bill weren’t enough to indicate the decline of democracy, then the king making to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson should surely be a clear indication that a pattern is emerging. The Washington Times called it “unprecedented power” and “virtually unlimited power for the entire economy”. 

Even here in Digital Media, Dean Collins noted the loss of the democratic nature of the Internet courtesy of Carriers and ISP’s in the name of censorship. (http://www.digital-media.net.au/Article/When-boys-play-with-toys-8230/174656.aspx) For freedom loving Americans, the signs of ongoing accretion of power after every national shock is alarming, as they are for freedom loving Australians like me.

So what can be done to stop this, and what place does this have in Digital Media? Well, it seems painfully obvious that a lot of the change that is supporting a turn to democratic ideals stems directly from the Internet. As a result, Tim Berners Lee has weighed in on net neutrality debates, and voiced his public concerns over the web being used as a tool for misinformation as much as it is for information.

Yet, despite there being such an obvious correlation between freedom, transparency and open communication systems little has been done to integrate communication technology into our democratic systems to improve them. In fact, noted scholar Lawrence Lessig showed that every time there is a breakthrough in communication technology there is a massive cultural explosion that quickly gets shut down by political intervention, eg the absence of pirate radio today, and the fact we only have 5 television station. Thus far, the Internet has only been used as a support or the freedom of the press, allowing bloggers to set some mainstream media agendas and increasing some transparency.

Why don’t we try and improve the balance and checks on our democracy by building web software that makes participation in a democracy easier and more often. We no longer need to purely rely on representative Government, when there are methods in social media of gaining consensus from the many. We no longer need to rely on “think tanks” and lobby groups to create policy when the tools for online collaboration have shown a new way of working. To a large extent, we no longer need to rely on traditional voting cycles for some things, especially when the adoption of electronic voting seems to be on the rise (Despite the fact I totally disagree with the implementation of auditing controls on America’s current Diebold voting systems, and the fact that there is no transparency on the source code, or any paper trail, I do think electronic voting could be made secure and efficient).

If there was investment in enabling the ability to securely vote online, create and amend policy and have more direct, open contact with representatives - then a new branch of Government with a greater moral authority would emerge. Not only would this improve our own democracy, but it would allow us to export democracy to any country with a connection to theweb, without a war.

However, it seems that currently from the political sphere there is a fundamental lack of willingness for this kind of oversight/ participation, and a lack of understanding of how the web works at a cultural level. A good example of a desire for power without oversight in the digital space is the fact that the public doesn’t have access to publicly funded CCTV cameras. Also, the recent attempt by the Government for youth engagement, the Australian Youth Forum, http://www.youth.gov.au/ayf - is a good example of a lack of understanding. While it is a large step in the right direction, the usability of it, the mechanics of how the discussion works, and the methods they use for marketing it all need to be reassessed if they want real ideas, engagement and change.

We know that democracy is a least worst system, and Australian democracy is very good, yet there is always room for improvement. Despite peoples consummate resistance to change, I think that this type of platform could increase transparency and democracy at home and abroad. I know that this is an idealist view, but it is a worthy goal to strive towards, for ourselves, for America and humanity. If crossing my fingers worked so well for Steve Menzies last weekend, maybe there is hope for democracy too.