E-Rulemaking

"Simply put, our goal is to make your government more accessible to all Americans."  
-President George W. Bush, March 2002

Thesis

Although E-rulemaking has its flaws, it nevertheless warrants a try because it will help to legitimize democracy.   E-rulemaking promotes the legitimization of democracy by lowering information costs, increasing public participation, and improving deliberation and communication between different members of society.  
Until recently, information technology has been serving an ancillary role to democracy.   The word "democracy" is defined as "government by the people, either directly or through representatives."   With the advent of E-rulemaking, however, the playing field for democracy has been irrevocably altered.   A marriage has thus been formed between information technology and the very concept of democracy.  
By definition, democracy is not government by a selected few.   If only a few participates in a decision making process that affects them, democracy will be falling far short of its ideals.   Thus, in order to have effective government by the people, a few key elements ought to be satisfied.  
First, there should be public participation.   Without public participation, it would not be a government "by the people."   Second, the public should have reasonable access to the information that is essential for the issues at hand.   The public cannot make good decisions when denied relevant information.   Moreover, without knowing which laws will be affecting them, the public would not know when they need to participate and when they should participate.   Currently, through the use of online commenting, the internet is the best way for the public to provide input to the government. Consequently, the internet is arguably the best way for the public to receive information relevant to rulemaking. However, there is one caveat.   Unless the "digital divide" problem can be solved, true public participation will not exist.   On this point,... [continues]

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