# Iceland Sets A Precedence for the future of Government/Internet



## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

There are so many people online with time to write. Just look at wikipedia, just look at iPhone apps - no company could hire enough people to do all that work as well. No government/company can put enough people in desks to compete with what an internet crowd can produce.

http://mashable.com/2011/07/29/iceland-crowdsourced-constitution/

I keep connected and on top of so many things with my smartphone. There's no reason why the government can't participate in this as well.


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## LondonHomes (Dec 29, 2010)

This method really puts "We the People" in this document doesn't it.

Would be interesting to see the outcome of this sort of document in the US.


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## SpiritSentient (Jul 28, 2011)

Absolutely brilliant. I'm thrilled to find out about this, and spread the news to my network. The power of group-think is massive, any appearances to the contrary aside. (see The Wisdom Of Crowds by James Surowiecki )

Talk about getting the People involved in their Government!


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

Wow and here I was thinking our Condo Corp was behind the times only having meetings once a year I thought, you know a webpage to present ideas and vote would be very useful. I was told I was crazy -- and here an entire country is doing it!


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## financialnoob (Feb 26, 2011)

I'm not sure which Winston Churchill quote works better here.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

or

Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Either way, I think it's a cool precedent. I don't know if I'd want to go as far as creating a Wiki constitution, but I do think there's significant room for our political system to change. The structure of everything is so old and archaic, and hasn't changed much over the last century. 

Politics needs to become more modernized. Voters are no longer totally disconnected from the rest of the country that they rely on an individual in each riding to speak for them. The technology is there to connect quickly and easily with anyone who wants to nowadays.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

In democracy everyone has an equally weighted vote. A few of the problems with this is all the people who don't take the time to educate themselves and tactical voting etc. Sure there are problems with democracy but that doesn't mean we shouldn't use technology to gather ideas etc

Like you said the technology is there to connect people with government and to inform/enable people better so that they can make an educated vote/decision. The sky is the limit here and like you said the current setup is archaic not to mention corrupt with tactical voting and media angles etc


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## el oro (Jun 16, 2009)

A couple of excerpts from the english-translated draft constitution:

_All who need it, should be guaranteed the right to social security and social assistance, such as unemployment, maternity, old age, poverty, disability, illness, disability or similar circumstances. _ 

_The law may provide for the appointment of church government._ -wonder what that means exactly.

Interesting concept.


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