But once you get people reading and commenting together, there's the potential to influence politicians in the same way that lobbyists do.
The key is voting demographics. Voters are mostly conservative and older, which is why the BNP is running its ridiculous Spitfire+Churchill campaign. They're aiming for the generation which can identify with those, and that won't mean people in their 20s and 30s.
Once that older generation is the one that remembers blogging, a decade or two from now, politics will have to become more interactive. The MSM will have faded and/or fragmented by then, so a simple one-to-many message will no longer be practical.
On the other hand... have you taken a look at a YouTube comment thread recently?
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Most blogs include have a culture of their own, and dissenters can always be taken out and shot. Or banned - whichever is easier.
So scrappy free for alls aren't inevitable. You only need good enough moderation for something worthwhile to emerge.
And blogs have a very live reputation. When Kos bans someone, all of the related communities know about it. So there's a feedback feature there which makes it possible for respectable non-flame-ish blogs to coalesce and start having an effect.
