“Gov 2.0” is the name of a government reform movement predicated
on the idea that Internet technology can improve the functioning
of American democracy. This idea is very modern — it’s grounded
in theories about the power of online networks and the economics
of digital information sharing. Yet the idea of Gov 2.0 is also
very old, a product of reformist impulses that are as old,
indeed, as the Republic itself: Gov 2.0 is based on the belief
that the institutions of our democracy — Congress, federal
agencies, local planning boards, and so on — can, through
design, be made better. In the tech sector, they call this
belief “innovation”; in our Constitution, it’s known, more
eloquently, as the belief in the “more perfect Union.” Among
those who advocate for Gov 2.0 reform — including disheveled
professors here in Cambridge, tech gurus in Silicon Valley, and
government officials in the highest ranks of the Obama
Administration — none seems to seriously believe that Twitter
accounts and iPhone apps will perfect our