Five roadblocks to democracy

See my previous post (Five signs of hope for democracy) for five things I see as advancing the accessibility of education and other resources. This post focuses on things that need to be perfected to make our telecommunications and consumer habits more efficient.

1. Wi-fi. The current technology is constraining and prohibitive. I can really only use my laptop within the confines of my house or at a coffee shop. We will see great advances when things like mobile network cards are standard and affordable, empowering us access to the internet on mountains, while riding in a car, etc.

2. Cell phone towers. Again, the current technology is limiting. I'm looking forward to the day when satellite technology is widespread so the entire state of Wyoming is no longer out of range for most cell carriers.

3. Poor mass transit infrastructure. DC's Metro system is so efficient and well-planned that rich politicians, carless interns and the working poor all have freedom of movement. If only L.A. had such a practical system, we'd be less enslaved to our cars, and opportunities would be more widely available to the poor, who are disproportionately affected by a lack of mobility.

4. Search engines. The internet's glut of junk and often-inefficient way of searching that glut holds it back as a research resource. I'm looking forward to the day when credible sources and databases are more easily accessible; when things are tagged and linked and catalogued so the gems of the internet are easier to find and the "cream rises to the top."

5. Lack of consignment shops. In San Jose, Costa Rica alone (a city of maybe 350,000 people), there are over 300 consignment and thrift stores, most selling brand name American apparel bought at rock-bottom prices from the States. Here, there's Savers, and that's practically it. While Craigslist and eBay are helping this problem, I still think we need more physical exchanges of clothes. We need a perpetual garage sale so all those prom dresses don't sit in the closet for years while some girls can't afford them. Garage sales are okay, but most people don't put on a garage sale until their old clothes are REALLY OLD -- like five or ten years old and out of style. Maybe we need a change in mentality, or maybe we just need to figure out a more viable business model for consignment.