There's a small industry of thinkers struggling with the question of what the Internet means for democracy. Some point to the ability of the Internet to provide more information than ever before. You can visit an elected official's website, use wikipedia to learn more about a candidate's track record, read a variety of opinions on key topics, and get into a debate in the comment sections of blogs. Others point out the negatives.

Cass Sunstein has put forward some of the most damning critiques of the Internet. He makes two main arguments. The first appeared in an article a few years back called The Daily Me. He says that the Internet has enabled us to customize the information that we receive and are thus able to reduce accidental encounters with politics. If you only care about sports, then you will go to the ESPN website and get the scores of the football game. In the past, you would buy the Post for the scores and then flip over the paper and accidentally absorb politics. Now, you can effectively cut out all political information.

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