We're seeing some really good efforts which use the Net to get citizens engaged in real governance from the grassroots to the White House. I think the Obama administration will see this really happen, kind of the fire-side chat for the 21st century. Here's a new effort in that direction, worth checking out:
BigDialog.org, a cross-partisan partnership of academics, bloggers, and e-communities invites President-Elect Barack Obama to answer the people's questions. The eCitizen Foundation along with its partners and supporters are asking people to pose and prioritize text and video questions for Mr. Obama. The questioners behind the top three questions will be flown to MIT in mid-December to participate in a physical outgrowth of the forum. Additionally, the public will be asked to vote on Mr. Obama's replies, establishing a structural incentive for true dialog. In an age of alleged media bias, it is important that we are able to ask critical questions of our leaders without questioning those who ask the questions. This is a way to get the people's questions directly to their President.
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