The Internet is where good political intentions clash with harsh realities.

Dick Morris, the famous political strategist and former adviser to Bill Clinton, calls the internet “the fifth estate”. He believes the net will shape politics in the 21st century, end representative government and bring a return to “direct democracy”.

For Morris, this will end the corruption in political life: “If legislatures become beholden to big money and special interests, then democracy demands that citizens have the right to bypass the legislature.”

The British population feels politically disenfranchised. In 1910 86.8% of the voted. In 2001 only 59% turned out to elect the new government. The latest State of the Nation polls, 2001 and 2006, indicate that 2/3’s of the…