SPECIALIST BLOGS September 24, 2006
Posted by wmmbb in Blogging in general.trackback
I understand there are less Politicians Blogs in Australia than in the United States and Britain. As the lead in on Grods Corp, would lists the currently known Politician Blogs, says blogs would appear to an ideal way for politicians to contact their electorate.
My explanation that I made in comment at John Quiggin seems to me to explain this phenomenon.
I suspect the reason that Andrew Bartlett is the most prominent politician blogger is that he is a Democrat, and not held to the same party control as other politicians.
Party control is easier to exercise in relatively small parliaments. Our small parliaments are part of our colonial legacy, which means that the size of electorates in the “representative” assemblies are steadily getting larger in electoral populations. Catch 22, if we were to enlarge them we would have to have a constitutional amendment at the federal level, and increase their running costs, something that would be an electoral anathema.
In this case let us not just condemn politicians. On my blogroll, at least, most of the specialist blogrolls are economists. Where are the other specialists, who might have something to say to a wider educated and interested audience? Ken Parish, we are lead to believe has given up, has given up regular blogging, and there is the collective at Larvatus Prodeo. And of course, I should not overlook Tim Dunlop, Gary Sauer-Thompson, or Tim Lambett.
Clearly, there are more exceptions than I first thought. And now I have realized that I have overlooked David Tiley.
So what is the point of a non-specialist blog?
Postscript: 29 September 2006.
An interesting set of opinions about political blogs at The Road to Surfdom. Bottom line: they do not and cannot amount to a hill of beans.
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