In the past couple of days, two articles have stood out that relate to democracy and social media. Maybe it’s constitutional law this semester that has red flagged those articles for me, or maybe it’s my genuine interest in our government. I’ll let you decide.

During President Obama’s recent trip to China, he answered a question about Twitter (this made Mashable really excited), but in his answer, he also discussed the importance of listening to both sides. Like him or not, it’s good to see that he values pure freedom of speech. Here’s his exact quote:

“I should be honest, as president of the United States, there are times where I wish information didn’t flow so freely because then I wouldn’t have to listen to people criticizing me all the time. But because in the United States, information is free, and I have a lot of critics in the United States who can say all kinds of things about me, I actually think that that makes our democracy stronger and it makes me a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don’t want to hear.”

Google Scholar also launched a feature that allows users to access full text legal opinions from U.S. courts. First, I ask where this feature was when I spent $120 on my constitutional law textbook that is virtually the same thing. But more importantly, this just goes to show you that government is opening up. Because of the Internet,  you can find for yourself why Plessy v. Ferguson was decided the way it was, as well as case precedents for civil rights, abortion, right to privacy and beyond. You don’t need to be a lawyer or a politician to understand these cases and how it’s impacted American history; you just need the Internet.

Remember that the United States is not a pure democracy; we’re a representative democracy. We hire people (often those who are truly incapable of getting anything done) to make decisions for us. We have it a lot better than many people around the world and we should recognize that, but we should also recognize the opportunity that is in front of us.

Government, like organizations, is slowly but surely opening up. Although I might be biased, I think public relations has the opportunity to be the leaders and counselors of this practice. Public relations practitioners can lead this charge and uphold high values of honesty, ethics and professional behavior. Sure, there’s a lot of optimism here and there will be hiccups along the way, but ultimately, I think society will end up open because of the Internet.

Do you think we will be in a better democracy because of new digital tools? Will government, like companies, open up for people?

Photo by kylerush on Flickr.