It’s a relief, after all the heavy-breathing nonsense from pundits like David Brooks about Markos Moulitsas as some kind of “kingmaker” and Lee Siegel about “blogofascism,” to read a smart essay on the way that the “netroots” are changing politics–or actually on how the emergence of the “networked public sphere,” to use Yochai Benkler’s signature phrase, is starting to transform political debate and open the system to non-elites. Henry Farrell, writing in the Boston Review, says this about the progressive bloggers who have emerged as a new force in Democratic circles:
What they are is an example of how the Internet can foster new ways of conducting argument and building social cooperation among diverse groups and individuals. In other words, they are the harbinger of structural changes in the relationship between technology and politics. Contrary to the predictions of social scientists like Robert Putnam, the Internet is making people more likely to be politically and socially engaged, not less. As Yochai Benkler has argued, information technology has made it radically easier and cheaper to engage in certain kinds of cooperation.
This has important implications for political parties in general and for the Democratic Party in particular. In the past, much of the political agenda has been set by elites—senior party officials, elected representatives, and a congeries of policy wonks and public intellectuals stationed in think tanks, universities, issue groups, and political journals. While activists have played an important role in politics, especially in the Republican Party, they have usually taken their cues from well-connected leaders such as Grover Norquist and (before recent scandals) Ralph Reed. This is changing. Elites are losing some of their agenda-setting power as a much wider set of actors begins to influence the terms of public argument. A sea change is taking place in American politics. Debates that used to be the preserve of a small, self-perpetuating group of pundits, pollsters, and policymakers are now being opened up to a much wider group.
The netroots are also important in their own right, even if their role in winning or losing elections is sometimes exaggerated. The availability of Internet-based communications and community-building technologies has allowed people from quite different ideological backgrounds to come together, to identify points of common interest, and to build a community of action.
Farrell is an assistant professor in the department of political science and the Center for International Science and Technology Policy at George Washington University. He is also a founding member of the academic blog Crooked Timber, which I’m sure has a lot to do with his understanding of the blogosphere. Well worth reading the whole thing. And a useful piece to give to people who need a primer.