Yesterday, the 4th of July, I finished reading "rebooting america." Kind of appropriate I think.

rebooting america is a compilation of essays edited by PdF'rs Allison Fine, Micah Sifry, Andrew Rasiej, and Josh Levy. It includes pieces by Esther Dyson, Yochai Benkler, danah boyd, Steven L. Clift, Jan Frel and Nicco Mele, Newt Gingrich, Jeff Jarvis, Howard Rheingold, Joe Trippi, David Weinberger, and about 35 others. You can buy the book in paperback or get it for free online (isn't the Creative Commons wonderful?)

The essays tend to be short - 4 to 8 pages, cover a lot of ground, and often disagree. Here are a few of the tidbits I liked:

• However, because government had virtually withered away, the revolutionary mobs in the street found that they had no one to rebel against but themselves. (Zach Exley, p. 22)
• A democracy needs such "echo chambers," even though their discussions inevitably appear like nothing but a bunch of homogeneous supporters rah-rah-ing each other. Conversation among people who are in basic agreement builds relationships and foments political movement. (David Weinberger, p. 37)
• Large-scale collaboration, among widely-dispersed populations, is manageable, sustainable, and effective. (Yochai Benkler, p. 49)
• ...Justice Department granted only 4% of the FOIA requests it received in 2006... (Ellen Miller, p. 61)
• The longer the state remains unchanged, the harder it becomes for it to enforce any laws other than those that protect itself. (Jan Frel and Nicco Mele, p. 89)
• ...just five levels of councils, each consisting of only fifty people, is enough to cover over three hundred million people. (Aaron Swartz, p. 99)
• Most normal people don't want to be politicians. They might like to solve a problem or two, but they are not going to make a life of it. (Martin Kearns, p. 117)
• The answer to improving the legitimacy of our democratic institutions is nothing short of a fundamental overhaul of the practices of government to eliminate the single points of failure. (Beth Simone Noveck, p. 193)
• So I'm stumped by the question of how to redesign American democracy. Citizens will feel - and will be - more powerful when they design the new system themselves. (Scott Heiferman, p. 200)
• Electronically publishing the collective wish of the populace for each House bill would result in the "digital" will of the people." (Pablo del Real, p. 202)
• The loss of the civic commons is a major reason for current widespread feelings of powerlessness. (Harry C. Boyte, p. 213)
• Now that we have the technological means to open up government and make every action transparent, we must insist on a new ethic of openness. (Jeff Jarvis, p. 215)
• The bottom line is that digital natives largely do not participate in civic affairs out of a sense of duty or obligation but a sense of personal fulfillment. (W. Lance Bennett, p. 226)

Our Founding Fathers created a system that rebuffs change, particularly radical and significant shifts. We must look for venues where new ways of doing things can bear greater fruit - through individual and then institutional renewal. (David B. Smith, p. 232)

Let me know what bits you like. Happy reading.