Join in the Bailout

The financial crises threatens the world economy and experts call for immediate action. Are we facing bad times for (e-) democracy or are we on the verge of a revolution in participation in government?

The logic is simple: In case of emergency there is no time for long debates and the right measures have to be taken immediately. In the case of the financial crises the subject is that complicated, that these measures have to be determined by experts since average citizens have no clue about the complex mechanisms of the financial market and the various interdependencies of its products. Following this logic the U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has asked the congress to authorise him for a bailout of 700 b Dollars on the basis of a originally three page long justification.

As we all know the congress refused this request and was blamed for acting irresponsible. But wait a minute, wasn’t it the experts who could not prevent the economy to drive into this mess? Wasn’t it said again and again that he market do not need any regulation and is working perfectly fine? And who guarantees that the same experts all of a sudden know the way out if this miserable situation?

These kind of question are asked by many people and these people have learned to make their voices heard, especially during the last couple of months in the election campaign. These people have started to look for explanations of the proposed legislation on the white house website, to email their Members of Parliament and to look for alternative solutions.

The fact that the congress did not approve the proposed legislation is also a reaction on the public opinion which has been shaped in email campaigns, discussion forums and blogs. From this point of view the congress’ vote is a sign of a functioning democracy or as Micah L. Sifry from personaldemocracy.com puts it: “for one day, at least, democracy beat plutocracy”.

However, I do not pretend to know whether or not the bailout package will help to prevent the financial markets from collapsing but I do not believe that it is a good choice not even to debate about the consequences and to ask for blind trust. Micah again:

The bailout bill, and the process by which it is being jammed through Congress, is an affront to those democratic values. We can do better. And the vote Monday showed, in nascent form, how the same forces that are eating away at the underpinnings of “broadcast politics,” the capital-intensive way of electing a President whose demise we’ve been chronicling here at techPresident, are also starting to unsettle “business as usual” on Capitol Hill.

As the credit crises has already reached the European Union it is high time to prepare for this debate. Why not develop plans in a more open fashion using all the tools we have been provided with by the Internet. Like the Telecom Package the credit crises is an excellent opportunity to involve the public in a legislative process that really matters.

Some interesting examples from the US:

Public markup.org (sunlight foundation)

Read it first (sunlight foundation)

No Blank Check For Wall Street

Tags: bailout