I think that the increase in visibility to the average non-political Joe(lle) has open a lot of eyes on both sides. I don’t know if every generation has felt this way, but I feel about politics today like I did when the Berlin Wall came down. The Old School good-old-boys club is dying out.

Increased visibility (not just transparency, which is more a matter of what you believe or not), with or without tech as the medium, isn’t likely to go away just as they are not likely to re-erect the Berlin Wall. It may make pendulous changes and swing the less-visible way for a while, but the precedent has been set. Over the medium term (say, 2-3 election cycles) a graph would show an overall trend toward increased visibility and overall toward more transparency.

I might actually pay attention to Republican politics if they are in office and actually use social media, etc.