Blogosphere Pioneers Outline New Prospects for Politics in Cyberspace

By Nathan Hamme

Do you feel indifferent about politics? Does it seem that democracy is becoming less and less about individual people and their values and more about special interests and hard currency? Wasn’t modern technology supposed to help bridge the gap between everyday people and those who hold the reigns of legislative and executive power?

It turns out, fortunately enough, that the Internet revolution is only beginning its massive reconstruction of the way America does politics. So there may be hope for all those disillusioned and discouraged voters who are looking for a movement they can proudly stand behind.

Certainly, the Internet has already drastically influenced the political sphere. Politicians are able to contact millions of constituents immediately through mass e-mail. Political parties are beginning to wield a powerful fundraising tool in instantaneous web transactions. Special interest groups and non-governmental organizations can systematize, manage, and direct their members in a variety of different ways using a personal computer and phone jack.

But how revolutionary are these bourgeoning techniques? Candidates have always motivated followers by sending out mailings; the blues and reds have always financed campaigns by mailing out donation cards; and third parties have done well using telephone and snail-mail (namely, old fashioned Post Office mail) to instigate action.

It is arguably the most unrecognized of these Internet offspring that will make the most drastic alteration to the political fabric: the popularity of “web logs” (known, simply, as “blogs”) may prove increasingly transformative. The possibilities for using this new tool to bring politics back to the grassroots level are astounding. At least that’s what some of the country’s most popular political "bloggers" would like you to believe.

In fact, two of the most recognizable names — perhaps not in the sense of the names on their Social Security cards but rather at the head of their websites — have written a book to discuss this web-based shift in the civil landscape.

Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics , written by Jerome Armstrong (of www.MyDD.com, started in 2001) and Markos Moulitsas (of www.DailyKos.com, started in 2002), is a manifesto that describes how one political party has succeeded where the other has failed.

The book is by no means a partisan endeavor, even though both authors have an extensive background of involvement with progressive organizations and causes, and both are attempting to instigate a revival of old-school progressive values in the contemporary Democratic Party. Nonetheless, advocates on both ends of the spectrum would be wise to heed this universal bloggers’ call.

On Monday, the authors were featured in a discussion at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. Simon Rosenberg, liberal strategist and founder of the NDN, a “progressive advocacy and political organization,” served as moderator for the two bloggers as they discussed their book and answered questions from a predictably youthful audience.

The initial round of the discussion hinged on the past few election cycles and the general question, “What were the impediments to a Democratic majority?” In response, Jerome and Markos outlined several key failures they discovered conducting interviews with approximately 200 people in 20 states. Their findings included: (1) the inability to draw stark distinctions between the Democrats and their Republican counterparts in power, (2) the lack of a strong platform of solutions to current problems, and (3) a failure to illustrate their shared values with voters at the grassroots level.

Partisanship aside, there is something within the context and method of this book that generally resonates with politics and the role of blogs in wielding influence. The use of blogs as an outlet for commentary originated with citizens at odds with the establishment. Just as the authors argue that the success of the GOP in recent years has stemmed from serving for so long as the minority party, blogs are presenting themselves as an impetus for progressive political change. In the case of the Republican Party, appearing to be “on the outside looking in” gave its leaders an opportunity to formulate a platform of issues and a proclivity for selling and marketing their message.

What makes our era particularly unique is the way technology expands access to the dissemination of ideas. Traditional media outlets have often failed society by adhering to private interests in their coverage and conforming to government regulation. They are also co-opted by their desire to stay mainstream and avoid taking sides on issues, pressured by the need not to alienate major advertisers.

Blogs occupy a space that fills the voids left by packaged news outlets. Because they are individually produced and available to all varieties of participants, they can be both personal and authoritative. Any individual with a minimal understanding of computers and the Internet can create his or her own website where any number of issues can be discussed. Most importantly, a single blogger can rally and organize an untold number of activists and supporters for a cause or event.

Despite their popular status, Jerome and Markos both drew upon the fact that there is a larger audience for small blogs than for all of the 100 most popular sites combined, theirs included. Political blogs at the local and state level are undergoing the same rapid development national blogs went through two or so years ago. And there is significantly less refuge and higher turnover in carving out one’s place as a respected blogger than in more conventional media.

While there is admittedly some negative connotation to the position of “blogger” within the political community — largely because of the capacity for “Astroturf blogging,” wherein authors use false information to argue points because they cannot always be held accountable — most practitioners consider themselves writers and authors in an electronic medium. They are serious about their ideas and proud of the way they collect material and garner attention. In this sense the network of blogs (often called the “blogosphere”) captures the essence of democracy, where all citizens can view the thoughts and ideas of all others across the entire political spectrum and geographic expanse.

It is no wonder then that, despite all the criticism directed towards bloggers, politicians keep abreast of what is being said in this new digital forum. Blogs are read by all varieties of political organizations, utilized by parties to gauge the temperature of issues, and developed by elected officials on their personal websites to offer (seemingly) comprehensive access to highly restricted legislative debates.

It is worth noting that, in the same way they are personal, these blogs are also transparent and can evoke a feeling of one-on-one interaction with the reader. This quality is supplemented by the procedure of having message boards on websites allowing viewers to respond to commentary.

This attribute seems most unique to the blogging phenomenon. Jerome and Markos compared the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee websites and contrasted their usage: while the DNC allows anyone to post their comments on its message board, the RNC has typically censored postings to avoid the use of words such as “privatization” that may poll badly.

The expansion of what the authors call “netroots” will precipitate a movement towards taking issues off-line and into real life. The networking capability of blogs and bloggers could usher in a new era of activism, protest, and increasingly direct democracy through exposure.

One can imagine what the future holds for bloggers—the growing use of video and audio webcasts, the ability to upload data from even the smallest websites to hand held devices, and gradually simplified procedures for creating new blogs and sites. With increased publicity and quality, audiences will only be further affected by the phenomenon.

As familiarity with technology and the skills required for blogging are developed, it may be possible to affect government more significantly from the grassroots level. The exchange of ideas accelerates and the ability to organize and reach farther into social cleavages intensifies. Then, hopefully, the magnified voices of constituents will move politicians to feel more responsible when they cast their votes, and less isolated from the masses.