Popular Sovereignty

I find it very interesting that in today's day and age anyone's voice can be heard provided they have access to the Internet. Look at this blog for example. I'm not an acclaimed author nor am I a professional journalist, and yet I can type out my ideas for everyone to read. This can be very helpful and it can be very harmful when people are writing about politics. Either way, though, it is changing the way we conduct our policy making and adding another check and balance on the political system - the public opinion.

Internet politics are giving more power to the people by allowing their voices to be heard. When they like a law that has been passed, the lawmakers will know. When there is overwhelming opposition to a law that is going to be passed, the lawmakers will know. SOPA and PIPA are perfect examples of this. When the bills were being discussed, the public showed their discontent online. Reddit, Wikipedia, Google, and many more popular online destinations spread the word. Guess what? The people heard and took action. E-mails and letters were sent to congressmen, articles and blog posts were written in response, and even statuses were updated to attempt to stop the bill in it's tracks. And guess what? It worked.

Another great and current example is President Obama's newly proposed budget that has been "dissected" by blogs on both the conservative right and the liberal left. On Politico, Tim Mak writes:

"Conservatives in the blogosphere found much to pick at in the President Barack Obama’s proposed budget, objecting to specific items such as subsidies for the Chevy Volt, the lack of money for the D.C. education voucher program, funds for social security “program integrity” and special interest tax credits."

He later notes that the leftist blogs supported the budget:

"Meanwhile, liberal writers took to their blogs to praise the president’s initiatives on things like space exploration, the arts, LGBT rights, and cutting oil company tax breaks."

Not that the Internet is going to change everything about our political system, I mean the left and right wings are still going to bicker (see above), but I think we are in the middle of a new age of politics. When even the smallest of the "little guys" can voice his/her opinion, those in charge need to be aware that they are serving rather than ruling. After all, they are elected officials. It is like Benjamin Franklin said, "In free governments, the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns." I believe the Internet is pushing our nation closer to the initial idea of popular sovereignty on which it was founded. John Locke and Thomas Hobbes would be proud.