WP: ...When a National Political Machine Can Fit on a Laptop

The headline identifying this article on the Wash Post homepage is: "The Decline of the Two Party System?" A few paragraphs are not sufficient to convey the writer's theory of the possible emergence of a new American political system. A very interesting read --


Q: What will happen when a national political machine can fit on a laptop?
A: See below

By Everett Ehrlich
Sunday, December 14, 2003; Page B01


Back in 1937, an economist named Ronald Coase realized something that helped explain the rise of modern corporations -- and which just might explain the coming decline of the American two-party political system.

Coase's insight was this: The cost of gathering information determines the size of organizations.

It sounds abstract, but in the past it meant that complex tasks undertaken on vast scales required organizational behemoths. This was as true for the Democratic and Republican parties as it was for General Motors. Choosing and marketing candidates isn't so different from designing, manufacturing and selling automobiles.

But the Internet has changed all that in one crucial respect that wouldn't surprise Coase one bit. To an economist, the "trick" of the Internet is that it drives the cost of information down to virtually zero. So according to Coase's theory, smaller information-gathering costs mean smaller organizations. And that's why the Internet has made it easier for small folks, whether small firms or dark-horse candidates such as Howard Dean, to take on the big ones.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58554-2003Dec12.html

The control of information is disrupted by the internet.
It becomes extremely difficult to keep much of anything secret,
expecially over time, and it is next to impossible to enforce laws
that attempt to restrain the flow of information.

This undercuts everyone who relies on special knowledge to make a
living, middle men, salesmen, accountants, lawyers, etc. and
undercuts state and corporate power.