Most advocates of ETMs [Electronic Town Meetings] … see the technology as a way to supplement, not supplant, the existing system. Yet, could it be possible that we’ve simply outgrown our current model of government? In the early days of the republic, each House member represented about 30,000 people. Today, each member represents an unwieldy 575,000 constituents. To better represent the views of all those people, the U.S. Constitution could be amended to place national issues such as gun control on federal election ballots – to be voted on either electronically or in the conventional way.
Predictor: Schwartz, Evan I.
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article about digital democracy for Wired magazine, Evan I. Schwartz writes: ”The very thought of living in an electronic democracy raises fundamental issues … Won’t it be harder than ever for Congress and the president to stand up for what’s right, rather than what’s popular? Can voter privacy be maintained, or will marketers get hold of everyone’s voting records? Will everyone have access to the latest technology? Will the people really be getting their say, or will the whole process by controlled by moguls like Malone? And perhaps most important, what would happen if votes somehow became binding, rather than just advisory? Most advocates of ETMs [Electronic Town Meetings] … see the technology as a way to supplement, not supplant, the existing system. Yet, could it be possible that we’ve simply outgrown our current model of government? In the early days of the republic, each House member represented about 30,000 people. Today, each member represents an unwieldy 575,000 constituents. To better represent the views of all those people, the U.S. Constitution could be amended to place national issues such as gun control on federal election ballots – to be voted on either electronically or in the conventional way. In fact, there was an ill-fated bill to do just that in the late 1970s. The bill, which never made it to a floor vote, specified that an issue could appear on the ballot if 3 percent of the public signed a petition to place it there.”
Biography:Evan Schwartz was a 1990s journalist with a computer science degree who covered information technology. He was a former editor at Business Week, where he covered software and digital media and was part of teams that won a National Magazine Award and a Computer Press Award. He also wrote for the New York Times, Wired, and MIT’s Technology Review. His books include “Webonomics” and “Digital Darwinism.” (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Democracy
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Direct Democracy: Are You Ready for the Democracy Channel?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.01/e.dem_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney