"Crossing the Rubicon" is apt, though the widespread change from passivity to responsibility will be long hard work demanding of sustained attention and support from others.

This where where responsibility replaces passivity. This is the great change and revolution of our time. The social use of media will wake us up and connect us to our real work.

Luckily (I think) many new or recent to the interactive participative environment wiil discover, bit by byte, that it's not so hard, can be enjoyable and has a wide range of (both predictable and unpredictable) payoffs.

But yes, the "two-way flow of power and authority" based on people listening and talking, on purpose, to each other … that ship is now sailing. You can almost "feel" that the Obama administration is more listening-to-constituents oriented, more deliberate, actually taking in some or much of what they hear, e.g. Change.force.com, etc.

W00t !