Let’s reboot democracy

I’ll be presenting at this years Reboot conference in june. Here’s the intro to my session:

Let’s take back politics
Most democracies are showing serious strain, including distrust of politicians, disproportionate lobbyist influence, low voter turnout and media spin. In the face of this many people simply give up, feeling that “there’s just no way I can make a difference.”

It’s time for us to take back politics. Let’s discuss how we can use existing web technologies to create a political process where you and I can contribute directly and regularly, instead of just voting every four years. Because politics is too important to leave to the politicians.

Mitch Kapor has apparently been thinking the same:

The internet, if kept open and accessible to all, is a tool we can use to reform our politics and create new democratic processes and institutions. By using the internet and building upon its open decentralized architecture, we can help give every person a voice and offer them a forum to participate in creating a healthy politics. The internet provides the tools to build bottom-up systems that are both globally interconnected and locally controlled.

I have a deep feeling, that introducing a new, bottom-up political process is the best way to solve many of todays problems, and the only way to really develop our societies. Let’s do it! I wrote about this previously here and here.