Extreme Democracy

This concept proposed by Jon Lebkowsky and Mitch Ratcliffe asks what is the future of democracy in the information age:

“Extreme democracy” is a political philosophy of the information era that puts people in charge of the entire political process. It suggests a deliberative process that places total confidence in the people, opening the policy-making process to many centers of power through deeply networked coalitions that can be organized around local, national and international issues. The choice of the word “extreme” reflects the lessons of the extreme programming movement in technology that has allowed small teams to make rapid progress on complex projects through concentrated projects that yield results far greater than previous labor-intensive programming practices. Extreme democracy emphasizes the importance of tools designed to break down barriers to collaboration and access to power, acknowledging that political realities can be altered by building on rapidly advancing generations of technology and that human organizations are transformed by new political expectations and practices made possible by technology.

What I am not quite sure about: Is this a vision about democracy, an interpretation of current developments or both?

In any case I am sceptical about this proposal. Why should people start to be engaged in politics after they don’t even seem to read the local news papers? I think it would already be a huge achievement if the social construction of reality would involve less TV and more conversations.