Internet and Elections
Two items…
- At least one of the eight candidates for the HD 22 seat in north Alabama (Republican John Warren) already has a campaign web site up.
- A guest piece in the Washington Post hits on why the Political Parlor named the internet an election year winner here recently. The internet has empowered citizens to become active seekers of the truth (and its promulgators) rather than merely passive recipients of campaign claims.
…in 12 short years the Internet has grown to include more than a billion users worldwide and has empowered ordinary citizens to become engaged, active and highly influential participants in democracy, instead of passive consumers of campaign rhetoric.
[…snip…]
In modern American political history, perhaps only the coming of the television age has had as big an impact on our national elections as the Internet has. But the effect of the Internet may be better for the long-term health of our democracy. For while TV emphasizes perception, control and centralization, Internet-driven politics is about transparency, distribution of effort and, most important, empowerment and participation — at whatever level of engagement the consumer wants.
The article mentions key national races whose outcomes were arguably altered by the internet.
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