What is the impact in the Internet age when the lines of traditional structures of communication, authority, or chain of command and policy making procedures become horizontal and non-sequential?

In “Twilight at Monticello,” author Alan Pell Crawford recounts Thomas Jefferson’s fear that “America was fast becoming a republic in name only, where power may have been derived from the people, but where they possessed it ‘only on the days of their elections.’ After this it is the property of their rulers.” President Obama’s first [...]

“…while all these “apps for democracy” are assumed to be a good thing, are they necessarily what are being sought after by the general public first or foremost from this new relationship structure?”

Washington Post Staff Writer Dan Balz provided an analysis of Tuesday’s elections across the country.  His story is titled “Contests serve as warning to Democrats: It’s not 2008 anymore.”  Using the outcomes of two gubernatorial elections (New Jersey and Virginia), Dan summarized that yesterday’s elections “demonstrated that, at this point, Republicans have the more energized [...]

If given a wish today, I’d be selfish and ask to be placed in the front row of all the discussions underway at the Personal Democracy Forum ’09 underway in New York. I am trying to keep up with the “tweets” around hash tag #pdf09 on TweetDeck that run in the double digits upon each [...]

Building Blocks to Help more Women Achieve their Political Aspirations   Did you know there are only seven women governors, and that women make up only 17% of the members of Congress?  Only 10% of women have ever thought about running for office, compared with 20% of men.  And while more men are online than [...]