[10744] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
The Triumph of American Democracy
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vigdor Schreibman - FINS)
Mon Oct 21 21:13:28 1996
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 18:03:05 -0500 (CDT)
From: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
----------------Original Message Posted in Multiple Lists-----------------
-------Republication is Authorized Only When Message is Kept Intact-------
FINS: Communicating the Emerging Philosophy of The Information Age
FEDERAL INFORMATION NEWS SYNDICATE
Vol IV, Issue No. 22 (122 lines) October 21, 1996
CLOSING THE "VALUES-GAP":
The Triumph of American Democracy
By Vigdor Schreibman
The pervasive breakdown of American democracy is visible
everywhere, but difficult to grasp and pervasively denied
because of the calamitous implications for the American myth.
This is not the case for young Americans, however. The
youthful ideals of the youngest American voters do not even
include democratic politics. "Most citizens under forty-five
have withdrawn from politics and, indeed, never entered that
realm of American life," says William Greider, renown news
reporter and author of "Who will Tell the People" (1992).
A "Democracy Teach-in" was proposed recently, to be held on
University campuses around the country during mid-October,
addressing the topic "CAN WE PURSUE DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL
JUSTICE WHEN CORPORATIONS ARE ALLOWED TO CONTROL SO MUCH
WEALTH AND POWER?" [Fins-PaN-30]. A report emailed to FINS
Sept 12 states, "In surveying the faculty on most campuses
here and inquiring re: student interest, we are finding very
few faculty willing to speak out in public, fewer who will do
so on their own campuses and a basic lack of any student
interest or activities on campuses (except in sports ...)."
It would be easy enough to dismiss the ambivalence and
cynicism of voter dropouts except for the fact that their
numbers are steadily increasing, particularly, among young
voters who, at an overwhelming rate, do not vote and have no
civil faith. Scholars conclude that these young Americans are
simply facing the reality that there is no rational purpose
for them to participate in a rigged and lopsided political
system. There may be other explanations, but the bottom line
is clear: when the next American generation becomes this
nation's leaders, in the absence fundamental reform, there
will remain not even the ancient dream of democracy.
In spite of their bleak survey, coordinators of the "Teach-
In" expressed confidence that they will be successful in
helping students democratically present and discuss the
issues, which are "relevant to corporatization of education
and democracy." That task is formidable, perhaps, impossible
to achieve without a structure, or "tools for democracy," to
use Ralph Nader's phrase [Fins-NC4-16, Fins-CS-06].
During the past 15 years, or so, the structure for democracy
has been relentlessly degraded. In excess of $300 billion was
"thrown away" on information technology by Congress, according
to official reports, largely as a wasted subsidy to empower
public officials and industry. Public funds allocated for
public information systems, such as the depository library
program (DLP), which empowers Americans with information about
the conduct of their Government have been cut, in real terms,
by more than fifty percent. Control over the dissemination of
public information for the free use of the general public has
also been lost to an epidemic of lawless "fugitive documents,"
affecting, perhaps, as much as half of all public information,
and by copyrighting public information for private gain.
Now comes the President with a surprising election eve gift
for the people. An "e-rate" has been proposed [Fins-TI-16].
This could assure free "basic connectivity, transmission
speed, and Internet access for the nation's schools and
libraries." The proposal requires approval by the Federal
Communications Commission, Federal-State Joint Board on
Universal Service. Payment for this free public access, would
include the costs, together with the profit industry may
demand through "competitive bids." The total would be added to
the amount otherwise paid by telephone ratepayers, under the
"universal service" provisions of the Telecommunications Act
of 1996 (47 USC sec 254), approved last Feb [Fins-NC4-03].
The primary success story of "tools for democracy," has been
the Internet, which was realized not under the market system
but free from profit pressures through global cooperation. The
multi-billion dollar public investment was, nevertheless,
privatized by the Clinton Administration. But the rush to
privatization was contrary to the long-term vision of an
infrastructure "for broad support of the Nation's intellectual
activity" (along with distinct general commercial use),
offered by the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy in Bush Administration [Fins-II-02, para B.3].
The likely exorbitant cost of commercial control of the
infrastructure is the least of the problems posed by these
events. Total private control over the images of reality,
threatened by this structure [Fins-NC4-04], would sanction
opportunistic information systems with a direct feed right
into the schools and libraries of the nation. This would
likely lead to the most egregious excesses derived from the
unprincipled expansion of market powers in the new media.
William Greider provocatively suggests in his book, cited at
the outset that, "Americans are about to learn whether the
American experiment was truly unique--capable of defying
history--or simply another chapter in the rise and fall of
muscular nation-states." Put to a real test, the ultimate
triumph of American democracy is dependent upon genuine
dialogue. A fierce commitment is required to carry this
mission forward, without clarity of means or ends, save the
vision of democracy adapted to invent a sustainable future.
============================================================================
ESTABLISHMENT OF A DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE--dNII Now!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GET 24 issues of your own email copy of Fins News Column + Special Reports
+ Fins Information Age Library + Internet Press Gallery Project, for $2.95.
Payment for subscription by check or CyberCash. Include your email address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Federal Information News Syndicate, Vigdor Schreibman, Editor & Publisher,
18 - 9th Street NE #206, Washington, DC 20002-6042. Copyright 1996 FINS.
Internet: fins@access.digex.net. Browse Fins Information Age Library at the
inforM system of the University of Maryland. HTTP: //www.inform.umd.edu:
8080/EdRes/Topic/CompResource/CompSoc/FINS/; Gopher to inform.umd.edu:
EdRes/Topic/CompResource/CompSoc/FINS/.
============================================================================
