The advent of the Gutenberg Press sounded the death knell of the church monopoly on information and clearly pointed out that the Vatican had no clothes. Could the advent of the internet do the same for governments? by Larry Warrick
(libertarian)
Sunday, July 19, 2009
"A state without a viable and controllable information methodology is eventually a failed state. There must be believable memes that are subscribed to by the majority of citizens. When, over time, a nation's dominant social themes come under increased scrutiny, the result is eventually a splintering of the citizens' consensus about how they ought to be led and by whom. A theme that is currently under attack in the Internet age is central banking -- and such attacks may eventually lead to a gold or silver standard within the larger Western world. But that may only be the beginning."
News travels fast these days. No longer word of mouth and subject to the whim of the teller, the printed word brought about a revolution in the way religious leaders were viewed due to the action of one man and his printing press. Enter the age of the internet with its villains and heroes whose exploits are literally transmitted to those paying attention at the speed of light. This is truly 'change you can believe in'.
A State that cannot control its own means of communication both internally and to the mass of citizens is doomed to failure. Effective communication is the lifeblood of every modern day human enterprise, including government. Once upon a time, the masses were given the 'official line' by the town crier and they believed it. News traveled by literally being yelled out in the streets for all to hear by a paid government mouthpiece. When Martin Luther visited Vatican City and saw the opulence and splendor surrounding those in power, he was not impressed, he was not intimidated, he was outraged. The last straw came when he discovered that for a fee, it was possible for a rich man to buy a 'pass' into heaven. No more need to heed your biblical teachings, we took care of that. Just gimme the money! And so he and his Gutenberg press went to work..
Fast forward some 500 years. Anyone can type a few keywords in a browser window and literally thousands (or even millions) of web pages are offered in response. This is truly information at your fingertips. It's no longer a search, now we just say 'google'. Keeping up with a hot topic is as easy as adding your email to a delivery list. You can even keep up with your favorite people on Twitter and Facebook - no charge.
No, the problem of government is not in keeping the lines of communication open, it is in controlling those lines and keeping those 'believable memes' believable in the face of ever increasing scrutiny. If my government tells me something, I can google it and have hundreds of differing points of view in milliseconds. What I believe does not have to be what the government tells me anymore, now I have the ability to find out what they're really up to and get 'the rest of the story'. And if I don't like what I see, I can tell the world literally at the speed of light. This is more than a splintering of consensus, it is being shattered into 300 million pieces and there's nothing the government can do to stop or control it. As it turns out, true freedom is, truly, free!
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If not for a free internet, I probably would never have seen this. Tennessee state legislature passed a bill (H.B. 1796) exempting arms manufactured and/or purchased in Tenn. from federal law. This was the feds response. http://www.tfaonline.org/downloads/ATFfirearmsfreedomact.pdf
Posted By: Jake, the Champion of the Constitution
Date: 2009-07-20 12:08:30
Larry -
Good point in this piece. Check out the discussion features at TowneForCongress.com. I plan to implement a more souped-up but similar forum as Congressman.
Posted By: Joel S. Hirschhorn
Date: 2009-07-20 17:45:09
Considering the last election results and the obvious lack of a real populist rebellion, not to mention mass rejection of the two-party plutocracy, I find the optimistic thinking of this article contradicted by reality.
Posted By: Joel S. Hirschhorn Date: 2009-07-20 17:45:09
"Considering the last election results and the obvious lack of a real populist rebellion, not to mention mass rejection of the two-party plutocracy, I find the optimistic thinking of this article contradicted by reality."
Joel
To be sure things could be better. But if we only focus on the gloomy side we'll all just give up and go home. If we do that there is no way we can win. We have to keep trying and keep trying. We need some optimism to keep us going.
I couldn't help but to chuckle at daddysteve's comment about giving up cable before the internet because I feel the exact same way. Technology has really enabled us to do what we once couldn't do.
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