Democracy in the air....

It is no surprise that there are lots of democracy-related items floating around out there. The US mid-term elections are coming up, and the media-driven anxiety is generating reflections as well as concerns. Three items struck me as particularly interesting.... NPR ran a series last week about our political language during the war on terror, and among the words focused on by Guy Raz was "democracy". Interesting stuff.... American Public Radio's Future Tense ran a piece last week on the idea of a "government-run voting portal" (in the mode of e-Democracy) put forward by Allison Fine, the author of Momentum. Interviewer Jon Gordon did a terrific job of asking tough questions in what otherwise might have been a five minute "puff piece". And on Weekend America, most of the two hours this week was devoted to election related stories, but most interesting was story on the impact of place on voting.... As for me, voted absentee this AM since I will be in New Hampshire (where I work) from dawn to 10PM tomorrow. Given the trends and inclinations in Massachusetts (where I reside), my vote will hardly make a difference. But this is a year when voting is less a rational act than an expression of anger or frustration (see here for interesting coverage on voting)Publish. I think the turn out will reflect that more than the outcome.... Tags: voting, democracy, politics, US politics, 2006 elections, NPR, Future Tense, Weekend America, Jon Gordon, Guy Raz, Allison Fine, e-Democracy, accountabilitybloke, Mel Dubnick