Yeah, I think this is definitely true.

There are still some problems though -- it's too easy to manipulate the system. If you could somehow ensure that one person could only have one account, that would be a big step forward. Maybe tying an account to a social security number would work...

I think it's only a matter of time until we get the kinks worked out. In fifty years we'll be passing legislation through some much improved, open source version of CreateDebate.

Well, what's overlooked by a lot of people, the idea behind a representative democracy was that the poor people who make like 90% of our food would have little representation, that rural areas would often be overlooked.

However today, there really is no such thing as a "rural" area. Sure there's poor areas that don't have a lot of communications, but you can find them in the middle of a city just as easy as the hills of Virginia.

So that model I don't believe is relevant any longer.

I would also say that the Senate is currently unfairly biased toward rural America, as less populace = greater direct representation.

I guess that's not so much the point of this though.

I think that the time has definitely come though to do away with hanging chads, and adopt a system of direct representation using technology.

Ironically, if it weren't for the hanging chads, we may have it today :(

A year ago or so I went through what seemed like a week long process to set up a perfect government, it was just a thought experiment. With the tools that we have available today, something new... and at the center of the government (which was socialistic in nature) was the internet... well, to be more accurate, an intranet.

I don't think people are really looking at it as a viable tool, maybe because the way the government works today would be threatened by it... maybe because we don't have a system that is fool-proof. I don't know really, but I think that it should be taken more seriously, this may be the tool that brings about true democracy, or socialism, depending on it's use.

Sure, use a message board but there will still be moderators. There is no way to escape the people who are supposedly assuring you a fair say, they will always be in control.