02/23/08 :: [Election] Flash-Oriented Democracy: Lessig08 [permalink]
I almost fell off my seat a couple days ago while drinking my favorite caffeinated beverage. Larry Lessig is now considering running for congress. After endorsing Obama, he is now on a mission to fix Washington (DC).
If none of "we, the people" could disagree with him on his assessment of the political system, he is as usual fairly sparse on how it should be fixed. From a foreigner's perspective, it looks like the US have invented, pragmatically, legalized corruption, while in other countries corruption exist anyways except that it's not legal and sometimes -rarely- people get caught.
So if Larry probably considers himself one of the "better" people, on a mission change a bad system, I would advise him to think twice about what democracy really means, because he seems to have forgotten some of the basic fundamentals. Democracy is not about words flashing subliminally on some kind of screen, democracy is not about somebody coaching a warm "Yes You Can", democracy is not even about character, democracy is about accountability and integrity. Democracy is about pushing candidates to define their vision in the most excruciating details possible, democracy is about testing their values, their thoughts and beliefs to the greatest extend possible. This is why primaries are such a great democratic system. This is why the Web is such a great tool to strengthen the democratic process. As with any tools, some will choose to use it in the opposite direction, Larry Lessing is one of them.