Is this the end of the political elite

​In times past- yet not so distant - the logistics of travel and the constraints of personal economy meant that the people couldn’t all have their voice heard by the Leader of the day; be that King, Queen or Despot. The sending of a representative to act on behalf of any given group to a forum to discuss issues of import was borne out of ordinary people demanding that their voice was heard.
A political class, elite, evolved that was based on the people trusting that their voice was being heard at Court or in a debating chamber; the Roman republic had such a chamber as early as 509BC. The people then expected that their representative would report back in good faith the events that had unfolded and how that affected them.
Given the constraints mentioned earlier - such as difficulty of travel – this formula in general worked acceptably until launch of a universal Press.
1702 saw the world’s first daily newspaper, at this inception of a universal “press” the bulk of the population did not have reading as a key skill and so the press naturally addressed itself to those who could, the better educated of society. The media – to use the modern parlance – as always believed that it could “read” its audience and thus play to their aspirations (and fears) in order to build a loyal following and thus ensure continued financial success.
The financial success of the media that has always been concentrated in hands of very few people. Hands that were - and are - linked (by friendship, education and expediency) to the political elite.
As other mediums opened up – film, radio, TV – they all fell into the same basic media business model even as their market expanded numerically through education and population growth.
Throughout this development politicians were a source of copy to the media and those self-same politicians quickly learnt that the media was a useful tool in getting the message to the people.
For the bulk of the period 1760 to 1960 through Wars, the industrial revolution, economic boom and bust, increasing democracy in both public and private lives, development of communications – written and verbal –plus the dramatic increase in travel the public in general trusted that the media –and by association their politicians – were telling them the truth.
Indeed many would say that in general they undoubtedly were.
Yet study of this period by post WW2 academia has often shown that the ruling elite of politicians, advisor/bureaucrats and singularly powerful media owners sort to control and influence the people by using the mediums of the day to filter the flow of information into the public domain. Many would argue that this filtering was done in the best long term interests of the population in general as it was carried out by those who believed that they and only they knew all the facts of complex issues.
The opposite view espoused by many is that the elite merely carried out this deception in order to enhance and entrench their societal position as they built ever more centralised forums populated by those of like mind.
The ruling class have for millennia had the support of trusted advisors; Caesar had Mark Antony, Henry VIII his Thomas Cromwell and more recently Ronald Reagan had William P Clark and as the World developed through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries a growing band of bureaucrats – civil service – developed in support of the elite. These advisors, their masters and the media increasingly occupied the same space – or community- thus continually reinforcing each other’s points of view. This community of fellow travellers, often referred to as a “glasshouse”, bred an increasing culture of non-accountability and “we know best” attitude towards those outside that glasshouse in the wider community.
After WW2 slowly at first but with growing acceleration things began to change. Throughout the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s rapid advances in technology started to give the public greater access to information through networks not controlled directly by the elite. Telex for example whilst developed in the 20’s and 30’s became an increasing staple of everyday office life by the late 60’s and by the end of the 70’s even the smallest one person business was not complete without this facility. In 1964 the first commercial version of the facsimile (fax) machine was patented and by the early 80’s every office and many homes had these increasingly easy to use devices. During this period the exchanging of digital messages also took hold and by the mid – 70’s the common form of email had been established and with the advent of publicly accessible internet services, starting in 1989 with the first public commercial use by MCI Mail and CompuServe, became the normal way of commercial correspondence. By 1991 Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web was up and running to make the internet even more user friendly. And over laying all of this was the advance of the ubiquitous mobile phone which from the 90’s to the present day has developed for a mere phone into the handheld computing device it is today. 
Today individuals can communicate with each other across the world, in detail, using their wristwatch ala the Dick Tracy cartoon character from the 1930’s.
Throughout these developments the elite has sought through various commercial and legal means to ensure that it uses all these platforms to guarantee that it keeps its message flowing but the essential paradigm of these mobile devices is their ability to connect person to person without filter.
All the statistics show that people around the globe increasingly rely on their mobile devices with its attendant software for understanding what is happening in the world and they then communicate their opinions based on that information with other people they perceive as being primarily of a like mind – their community. This is also reflected in the way people want to live and work; in communities that they believe reflects their values, Google, Microsoft, Apple in the commercial world are excellent examples and at home, around the World, the flourishing of gated – both real and metaphorical -  housing developments is an echo of this outlook.
This Global Village, to highjack Marshall McLuhan’s expression, has become a reality both physically and virtually. The age of instant communication between all is here; thus the question raised in the title is valid.
People can all now instantaneously express their opinions on any issue that affects them. They have the teachings and writings of those they agree or disagree with available at a few key strokes. People have the ability to understand the rudiments of any issue by simply tapping into their community. Knowledge is now for all without favour of race, creed, education or upbringing. The people now have in their hands all the advantages the elite of previous generations had and are beginning to understand that and to question the right of the political elite and their fellow travellers to dictate what they should believe, how they will live and with whom they should share their personal and/or community space.
Recent political events have shown that when the people believe they are being talked at or told how they should behave they have the ability to quickly discover their position on any given issue and react accordingly.
Clearly a number of people, who see themselves outside both the elite and the proverbial glasshouse, have already decided to talk directly and with increasing effect to their community using techniques applied in commerce for years along with the constantly evolving social platforms such as  twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.
So how long before the people don’t need the political elite and its attendant hangers on? How long before we have weekly votes on the issues of the day to give a small cadre of administrators’ instructions on how we want to proceed?
Is this the end of the political elite as the World has known it for millennia?