What The Internet Has Done To Politics

I think we are finally starting to see that the internet has fundamentally changed politics in America forever. In the last couple years we have seen a big wave of Democratic victories around the country, and unlike in past elections it wasn't a one-time event, because we are set to do it again this year, and longterm estimates show us likely picking up even more wins in 2010. A lot of this is thanks to the horrible job Republicans have done running this country for the last eight years, essentially running it into the ground while them and their corporate pals got rich. It's been a real race to the bottom with them. So obviously we would expect to see Democrats gain power as part of the backlash, but I think we are seeing more than just that.

For those of us who have more or less grown up in the age of internet and computers we may be inclined to take such technology and unprecedented access to limitless information for granted, but we need to keep in mind that the technological revolution is an amazing feat for democracy. Never before have we had such easy access to so much information about current events, and past events. Before we had to rely on the mainstream media for current events, so we only got the corporate-filtered news, but in the last few years this has really started to change with the rise of the blogosphere and progressive media alternatives like Huffington Post. Now it is much easier to get REAL information, and as they say, knowledge is power. They can't keep the blinders on us any longer. Sure, many people still only listen to corporate MSM news, but there is an uprising, and enough people are plugging into the internet for their news that a fundamental change in our information intake is inevitable.

The best part is the ease of looking up historical information, and we see the benefits of this every single day in John McCain's campaign. He says one thing or does one thing a couple years, or a couple months ago, and then flip-flops and says something completely different on the campaign trail, and the magic of the internet lets us quickly go back and compare new McCain to old McCain, and the magic of YouTube often lets us juxtapose the two. As recently as 10 years ago that wasn't really possible, at least not like it is today. 20 years ago it would have been impossible without rummaging through archives and libraries and microfiche, and you couldn't just enter a search term, you had to scan it all with your EYES. The things we take for granted nowadays.

Another example, yesterday and today Rudy Giuliani has been running around saying we have to break the Constitution and violate the most sacred tenets of our justice system and American values to effectively fight terrorism, yet through the unprecedented power of the internet we quickly find out that back in the 90s he said that the law was our greatest weapon in the fight against terrorism. And thus Giuliani's hypocrisy and fakery is quickly exposed. Ten years ago that wouldn't have happened, unless someone had happened to remember a certain quote from 15 years earlier, correctly remembered the date, and went to the library to scour for the actual quote through tons of articles. And then what would they do with it? Tell their friends? Call their mom? At most write an op-ed article in the paper, but in the end no one would know about the quote, and even if they were told, they'd have to take the person's word for it. Now, all you have to do is click here for the quote. Now that is the beauty of the internet. And now the quote is flying around the blogosphere, and truth triumphs over lies and hypocrisy where only a decade ago truth wouldn't have stood a chance. Really, stop and think for a moment about what that really means, and how revolutionary such a simple thing is in the context of history. It's amazing.

And every single day McCain or Bush or some other Republican do something that can instantly be mythbusted and exposed for the lie/hypocrisy/distortion it is. Add to that unprecedented access and transparency in things like campaign contributions or government spending (thanks Obama!), and the power, for the first time in history, is with the people. It is clear Bush and McCain and Giuliani and the rest of the Republicans can't win on the issues without deception and lies, and with the advent of the age of internet that is going to be a lot harder to pull off.

I know a lot of this is obvious, but most people don't really stop to ponder it, to really appreciate the opportunity such amazing access to information brings to democracy. It is truly historic, and I really think that the liberation of knowledge is going to change everything, and I think we can already see a lot of those changes taking shape from coast to coast, where people are waking up to the reality that they've been played for fools by the Republicans for decades, and they aren't going to be fooled any longer. Does this mean a permanent end to the power of the Republican Party? Can the Republicans compete with the Democrats in an informed electorate? I don't see how.

Viva la internet! Viva la conocimiento!

Please share your thoughts. Liberae sunt nostrae cogitationes.