We've just witnessed a pretty significant sea change in how the political machinery of the US works with the culmination of upheaval via the Obama Campaign. The unprecedented grassroots activism and fundraising enabled by internet and technology changed the way we elect representatives, hopefully forever. Never before have citizens been able to express themselves in such a unified way through not only their votes but also their financing of the campaigns as well. People voted for Obama with their wallets, and DailyKos, MoveOn and other sites regularly enable us to do the same by giving us opportunities to vote with our wallets.
But in this age when we have unprecedented input into the process of electing representatives, I have to wonder... shouldn't we be doing more than just electing people to represent our voice? We have found our own voice. Shouldn't we be demanding that that voice be heard in new ways in the actual operation of the government, not just election of representatives to run it for us?
Representative Democracy was surely a good idea in our history. And there have been many critiques of Democracy and the United States unique blend of Democracy and Capitalism, which some people say are impossible to reconcile. But maybe they're really not, as evidenced by the voice expressed through the Obama and other grassroots fundraising.
Now let's take it one step futher. Let's say the United States is waging 2 wars simultaneously, there's a huge economic crisis, federal deficit, and the only way to stay afloat is to add a new tax. But those folks who get taxed are going to be pretty resentful that their money is being taken away and used in ways they do not get any input on.
What, however, if we gave those who had to pay an option to vote with their tax dollars? Our representative government could assess where the biggest needs are, and describe them to the taxpayers. The taxpayers could then choose an area (or stack ranked areas) where they want their new tax money to go when they file their taxes each April. Alternately, they could allocate it based on percentages. In any case, it's up to the tax payer to vote with their dollars on what the most deserving area is. What better way to reflect the priorities of the tax payer more directly than having them decide?
Surely there would be some ramifications to this. Some popular areas would be funded with this new revenue, others would be ignored. And perhaps more interestingly, the tax payers would get an annual opportunity to hold the government accountable, by moving their taxes to other areas if they feel funds are being wasted. And those government agencies would need to make their case directly to the people.
In conclusion, I have to wonder whether the current tax code model and much of our system of representative democracy has outlived it's usefulness. Rather than spending hundreds of millions, probably billions, waging expensive political campaigns on a national stage, wouldn't those moneys be better going to the exact governmental needs we all want to support?
So, we've had politics 2.0 in 2008. Will 2009 be the year we get Democracy 2.0?