Well Informed. Democracy 2.0

In this week's well informed on Democracy 2.0 Pia Mancini explained how we are using a system from the 19th century to decide who is in charge and leads us, along with making all of the important decisions for our country.  Mia in Argentina along with her colleagues have designed software that is available through an app on the phone.  The app was made to bring the average citizen into the legislative process and to get candidates to represent and listen to the citizens more.  The main idea is that the way a democracy and its system works is just extremely outdated and it just kind of keeps all the citizens who do not have crazy amounts of money involved without devoting their entire lives to becoming a politician themselves and not just in the dark with what is happening.  Many people might think this is an amazing idea, but on the other hand it is a very risky thing.  It is risky because how can it be ensured that the app can not be hacked and pulled in the exact opposite direction of what majority of the citizens wanted?  Another worry is what if the app is just a way to make people think they have a voice and it just really does not mean anything.

I think Pia is onto something, but I personally do not think it will solve the problem we have with the democracy and it's system.  I get how the system works and that all the representatives are suppose to speak for majority of what the citizens vote for, but how do we know that is what is really going to happen?  I feel like for the government to be a government for the people by the people it should go off of the popular vote because, for example if i was a democrat and i lived in Utah there is just no reason for me to vote for the president, because Utah votes Republican every single time,  but if the  election was based off of the popular vote and there was a way to prove that everybody's vote was really counted for and counted right, then everybody's vote would truly matter and to me that is what a democracy should be.  Everybody's vote should have relevance and everybody should have some kind of a voice.

I do not think technology or the internet is the answer to our problems.  I do think that it does and can have a very strong influence on the government and the people by influencing the way peoples political views will go, but to me I just feel like it is just not completely reliable, technology has proven itself to fail over and over again.  It has gotten better over time, but it is just not where it needs to be to represent people and their votes.  I feel like it can be hacked/  I think information is easily lost in technology and to me it is just not reliable.  If government files can be hacked then so can an app that gives the citizens a voice and if that is the case it can be disastrous.  " President Obama struck back at Russia on Thursday for its efforts to influence the 2016 election, ejecting 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives from the United States and imposing sanctions on Russia’s two leading intelligence services."  These files are suppose to be the secure and if our president has to take action against Russia it just goes to show that technology is not completely reliable.  I feel like all it would take is the wrong person to disagree with the people who has a lot of power to have the app hacked and everything changed.  Technology is just a sketchy unreliable thing and i do not think it can solve our problem and give the citizens the voice that Mia is hoping for,