The Mouse in the Sky Keeps on Clickin'

It's a long way to go for the post title, but I'll get there. Just bear with me.

So I'm driving home this weekend from a road trip, and I had a thought. With plenty of time to develop it, it turned into a stream of thoughts.

The argument could be made that America's form of democracy has outlived its usefulness.

Let me insert a disclaimer here - I'm proud to be an American, even though my name is NOT Lee Greenwood. I'm not saying that we should scrap democracy, but 200 years is a long time for one form of government in these times where we've seen so many developments in just the last generation. This as compared to a time when multiple generations could go by without significant technological advancements. Athens could not support a direct democracy after growing to a critical size - I'm just suggesting we tweak a bit.

We have already proven in 2000 that the electoral college is flawed, and in 2004 the impact that modern communication technology can have on the outcome of an election. This year, the close race on both sides of the ballot, and the fact that one of them will come down to superdelegates, proves that America has outgrown a primary calendar and staggered votes. Or at least the idea that those early voters are indeed a representative sample of the populace and will choose what the nation would choose.

In a word, it comes down to technology. Technology has finally allowed us to catch up with democracy. All the safeguards built into the Constitution can now be negated. The time between Election Day and the Inauguration covered time for the electoral college to travel to cast their ballots. That can now happen in a day, without travel. The electoral college was established to protect the nation from an uninformed electorate. That was a day when not everyone could read, and word traveled by horseback. Not so, these days. Education is a basic right and infomation is disseminated with the click-clack of a keyboard. Anyone who wants to be even more informed can seek it out for themselves, from one of a number of sources.

Tradition can go by the wayside as well - candidates can get their message out with the telephone, the television, and most importantly, the internet. Online forums replace debates in some cases, as candidates can participate from anywhere as long as they have broadband or wireless. Therefore, why do they need to fall back on the idea of a scheduled set of primaries, focusing on a set of states that, in actuality, do not provide a representative sample of the American public. Yet we maintain that system, with a nominee decided by Super Tuesday, and those states who fall after that date having no say in the selection process, whether they like the nominees or not.

The closeness of the race this year underscores that point. The fact that the Democratic race could come down to the final primaries and even, perhaps, the superdelegates, shows that the entire electorate deserves a voice, and not a less-than-scientific sample established mainly bu tradition.

These thoughts were swirling in my head when I found this article from the Washington Post. A Click-ocracy! How perfect! Opinions, information, and social circles, all transmitted by internet. Point, click, live a life unfettered - all online. Could "Vote" be next?

The Mouse in the Sky Keeps on Clickin'.....
Don't know what I'll read tomorrow...

See... isn't Journey awesome???