Today was my first day of class at the Kennedy School and, not surprisingly, one of my readings for tomorrow has inspired me.  (Part of the reasons I was looking forward to starting grad school was to have more blogging fodder.)

For my class in comparative politics, I was assigned a piece of Robert A. Dahl's 1971 book Polyarchy:Participation and Opposition, specifically, a section on democratization.  One throw-away comment that Dahl makes that I really like is that citizens in a democracy are "political equals."  I really like this formulation of equality and I think it  clarifies the impact that digital tools can have on increasing democracy.  

Once a citizen has leaped the bar of access to the Internet or cell phone, that person becomes, for the most part, an equal to all other cell phone and Internet users.  A man in Lagos uses his cell phone basically in the same way that Karl Rove uses his cell phone (talking to other individuals, transferring information by SMS or the Internet).  Also, as long as the proponents of net neutrality continue to have the upper hand, all Internet users are more or less equal (less mainly in the case of having unequal bandwidth).  They can browse the Internet, upload content, send and receive e-mail, seek information. 

When the information and communication that forms the content of Internet and cellular use is political, then this equality of use translates into a greater equality of political power.  If the Internet, DIY web sites, blogs, YouTube, MeetUp, and the like give ordinary people the ability to spread a political message, organize likeminded citizens and pressure power-holders, then these digital tools are increasing their political power.  When ordinary citizens gain more political power relative to traditional elites, we grow ever nearer the ideal of democratic nations composed of political equals.