Senator John Edwards is one of the big guns here today at Gnomedex. You should see the number of flashes hitting the stage.

The online world is the strongest tool for changing democracy. For creating a meaningful dialogue among people and with government.

Where are we? How should we move forward? How can we create a meaningful dialogue for the country?

Side note: funny that I’m writing "we" when I’m Canadian. ;)

Blogs are about authenticity – speaking in a human voice – but in politics we don’t get this voice. We get spin and misleading phrases and party not personal opinions and soft statements. Being normal, real and authentic in politics requires shedding the political conditioning and getting out of the safe zone.

Being ‘normal’ is easier in a person to person situation, but it’s harder in an environment of pressure – surrounded with the press. Being cautious and guarded is the training of politics – John Edwards believes the next President of the United States will be the one who speaks most like a human being.

My sense is that enough PR specialists will take wind of this and retrain politicians to speak in a more human voice – although this may just be another front. A more devious one for its apparent honesty. Honesty is much harder to pinpoint under the guise of apparent openness.

How does democracy based on location (state) work when people are mobile now than ever?

What is the government role in monitoring the Internet? John states it should be limited and careful – but that some areas, child exploitation being the example, require it.

What are people like John Edwards trying to do about the "reframing" in politics. This is semantics – the framing of the war in Iraq based on the language of fear – "terrorism" being the big word – and there is major danger in this. "Homeland Security" "Patriot Act" Politicians right now spend a good deal more time on framing situations rather than dealing with them.

Unfortunately, language does matter. And the party or politician who commands the language most effectively, wins the race. The language of fear is currently winning the day. The government, in my opinion, is using the language of fear to support a continued budget leak that is killing the US economy and its internal issues. The guise is maneuvered so effectively the country has been blindsided (IMO).

John Edwards thinks this language will not control the presidential election. It’s more about trust and character in the election. About opinion and honesty and appeal. The governing of a country and the debate of issues is more pivoted on language.

The web, and blogs in particular, had a large impact on the last election. What will it be this time?

We need to find a bottom-up approach. Last election blogs were used top down. Basically a podium of a different type. It was not a "blog" as we know it. John Edwards is trying to have a community-centred blog creating conversation. But he’s eager for new ideas that will allow people to start these conversations – to open the floor to them and allow government to respond. So, it’s a conversation beginning with the people, not with the government.

We’ve spun back to the danger encroaching on personal privacy in the name of terrorism. That the word "terrorism" is being abused in the name of observation and the encroachment of the personal right to freedom. The purpose is not to get terrorists – we have laws that can do that without encroaching on the personal freedoms of all citizens in the US. The government is not above the law.

One idea: get a citizen on the tour with politicians to blog each and every day what’s happening. An unbiased outsider perspective.

Top down politics kills engagement. Douses it out. The public is spoon fed with biased, framed information that discourages engaged discussion. The language of politics is meant to distance politics from everyday life and from the concerns of everyday people. They feel powerless to have opinions, to share them, or use their democratic rights.

The voting machine source code should be available – that the public has a right to know this information.

Bill Clinton had the ability to gain public favor because he was persuasive – used common language and did not speak down to people, and made sense on issues. It was not persuasion through fear, but through sense. Big difference. This feat needs to be repeated.

John Edwards is here not to ask for political support, but for support in politics – to open the forums for discussion. That should be the goal of every politician. Period.

Tags: senator, john edwards, gnomedex, gnomedex 6.0, gnomedexcommentary, law, legalities, politics, government