Democracy is Participatory Democracy

Real democracy is participatory. It is a doing we must do or it does not exist for us. I feel uncomfortable using the term "participatory democracy" because democracy means government by the people and not so long ago we were clear about that.

This piece is directed mostly to American citizens. Many of them once believed that Americans could take care of themselves together and could govern themselves. Now some of them are beginning to think can they can revive that belief and forgotten knowledge. Some believe that is never too late. Others believe that it is already to late. Still, even you may find in democracy something interesting or even useful.

When the United States was founded, mostly by Europeans, the idea of a republic was popular. Some thought republicanism was a good step toward democracy. Most educated Europeans knew quite a bit about ancient Greek democracy and thought that it could be a fine way for a populus to care for itself. Most of those that Americans still call their founding fathers thought so to. However, many of them believed that the present people were not ready to handle a democracy.

A republic with democracy in mind

Many of those who began to migrate to the New World felt that kings or a "noble" oligarchy was not a rule for them. Many of them knew of republicanism was for a rule that was not for rule by any particular church and not by king or nobility. Such rule in much of Europe was becoming unpopular there for good reason. It seemed more painful than practical for many. Popular republicanism was also against such rule. However, among them it was not clear if republicanism was not for rule by the people. Many knew the early Roman Republic was pretty democratic, but many of the public was not well up on the nature of Greek or early Roman governance. That was the state of early American republicanism. Some people had the notion that once the unpopular rule was out "we" would rule. Significant numbers of people thought "We can take care of ourselves." But their definition of we was not clear neither was notion of how self care was to be done together.

However the notion of citizenship came up and the notion of ''representative'' democracy came up often as a part of modern republicanism of the time. In our new republic interested parties thought. We thought that we would select representatives to find ways to govern as we wish, ways to do as we wanted. This was probably the largest consensus of the republican ideas of the founding fathers and as close as we could get to democracy at the time.

A written constitution

The founding fathers decided to provide us with a constitution. We did not contest that. It turned out to provide us with a pretty good organization and set of laws. With it we could, among other things, we could check out to see how we were doing. Many of us were not very clear about what this "we" business included. Many felt it meant freedom from church and king. Some felt that it meant freedom to do whatever we wanted to do, including nothing. We began doing a fair job of teaching our children and one another about republican governance and about some notions of democracy.

Imperialism and Empire

But very soon we began to develop militarily and economically and felt some joy in this. We began to slip into imperialism without much awareness of doing so. We did not see that it was not a good fit for republicanism. Some of us began to note that oligarchies were forming among us, but we seemed to be doing well. We felt well and strong and even wealthy. We were doing well. We scarcely noticed that some of freedoms and powers were endangered.

We did not notice that we were forgetting about being responsible for the care of ourselves together and about the uses of democracy. We began to take a little note that some of us were much more wealthy than others. We began to teach our children and to let them be taught much more about how to earn money and less and less about how to govern ourselves. We had good reasons for doing what we did, but we did not continue to work a republic that was not an oligarchy. We were again getting ruled by a few others, but were still pretty comfy.

Some did begin to get nervous about our republic and to call it a democracy. They did not see that we had become less of a republic rather than becoming more democratic.

They seem to think democracy meant freedom without responsibilities. Our children less and less either about the nature of a republic or a democracy. Still there remain memories, knowledge, and practices about of democracy. Even so there are indications that we may being left with a failing empire.

There is much we can do

We can practice taking care of ourselves and better yet taking care of ourselves together. We can make decisions about doing so. But how many will really decided to practice taking better care of ourselves together? I see a will to do so among us, but it does not look strong.

We can communicate with each other about what we have the will to do together and try to nurture that will. We can find existen doings of togetherness, republicanism, and democracy and learn about them. There are examples of republican and democratic governance which we can observe and learn from. Much is possible.

We can organize. To do well, we must organize. Citizens need to practice organization. By organizing we gain the benefit of our numbers. The more the merrier and the greater or effectiveness.

Our government

In our federal government it is possible for us to keep enough track of our representatives in their collective and individual doings. We can also keep a pretty good eye on the doings of the rest of our government. Of course, any one of us cannot do it all ourself. One of us can't do it alone.That is why we cooperate to do so. That is the reason citizens practice organization. There are now a significant number of us that we have the resources to promptly know what our own representatives are doing and to give them prompt instructions as to what to do for us and what they are to avoid doing. Even so, if we do not use our resources well, they can be lost. With our modern communication technology and our appropriate organization, we can easily do that.

However, we will need to learn to give our representatives abundant and appropriate support along with sufficient vigilance. There are so many of us that no one person that no one person ever feel overburdened. We do need to practice organization and to practice being alert to learning effect effective methods of doing so. The quality of our citizenship calls for our good and ongoing co-operation skills and a common understanding of our government.

Ways of governance.

We have chosen the way represented in our Constitution. To many of us that constitution represents a tendency to democracy. Citizen Assemblies represents an example of that tendency. It is a movement toward effective citizen direct participation in democracy. These days it has become necessary to remind citizens that true democracy is one of active governance of all the people. There is some evidence that such Assemblies can move us toward governing ourselves, that they can help us move toward effective co-operation and conditions which we desire. That there is current evidence that we can, as Daniel Stid has written and I interpret here, bring true and and representative citizen perspectives to bear on policy making; that we can refine our opinions through informed deliberations and judgement. Sounds like our improved governance calls for some improvement in our communication and our cooperation.

So improvement in our governance would call for our learning to better help our Representatives to do that which we elect them to do and to remind and encourage them dailly if necessary. Of course the Executive Branch is helping us to make sure that what we have ordered is getting done, and the Judiciary Branch is letting us know whether, or not, all is being done in accord with our Constitution. Together we can, with some ease and persistence, improve our governance and help our elected Representatives do well making our laws and keeping them straight. It seems there are many who believe we can come to better work our well designed government. There is work to be done. With enough work we can learn more good governance and improved citizen activity as we practice our participation together.

Citizen Assemblies is one organization working out ways to carry out that which many are suggesting these days. When an organization like Public Assemblies interests you, you are free to check it out. There is much online and elsewhere about ways of keeping our governance good. One way we can have better governance is by showing up where people are doing or trying to practice governance. You can learn much by spending a bit of time at a time and place where government is done. A meeting of a place like Citizen Assemblies is a way to start. Itis possible to find a way to participate in cooperative governance, in where it is done, taught, or being discussed. You could learn something which interests you at a local school board meeting. Just show up.

You can tell us here about that which you find out. We can co-operate.

I think that the Citizen's Assembly idea got started in England got active in England. spread to Ireland, then to France, and on to the U. S. and beyond. Ireland sort of set the pace. Not all Assemblies relate to the federal level of. For example, in the U.S, they seem to be more active at the state level.That's about it for me now. When you find interesting info or doings related to democracy leaning governance, please feel free to tell us about it. If you just want more, tell me so and I will try to provide more. So, here you can share what you learn or return here to learn some more. Ways for us to democratically cooperate effectively in governance are golden.

Thank you for showing up, And Reading.

Richard

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr Phil McGraw Talk Truth about the State of Our Union

Dr. Phil and RFK Jr. get more clearly and deeply into the state of our union today. They look at our present problems and their solutions. The talk of our great and long term problems now. Kennedy names and describes many of them in ways we can understand. Then he begins to describe ways that we can resolve them. He goes on to say that he intends to continue to act to do all he can to help us to resolve our common difficulties. He sees some of our difficulties as deep and systemic, but with solutions we can handle.

He sees unnecessary suffering in American families. As an example he sees the health of Americans as declining. He sees are health as having slowly declined to a place worse than any of us can remember. He points to evidence that American health is worse than many countries we once lead in heath. He describes our present state of health and how we can improve it even as we lower healthcare costs. He point to clear, available we can improve national health!

Of course he also sees how our work and our money has produced less and less "wealth" and points us toward ways of improving that situation. He has much of value to say about ways to improve the state of our union.

I see us as having forgotten how to take care of ourselves together. We seem to have nearly completely forgotten how to do democracy. We have in most part lost our republic without even noticing. We can again take in hand our united self care. With will we, we can learn to act as a republic and move toward more productive democracy. Will we?

RCS

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The Word Is "democracy"

How to do it is the main objective, but it helps to know what it is.

Democracy means government b the populace at large. You and I are part of a populace.

In a democracy the power, authority, and doing is with and by the people. The people often being the citizens. As a member of the people, you have a lot of company.

Democracy entails the participation of ordinary citizens in their own government and is much more than just voting.

A dictionary tells us that democracy is government by the people, especially by the social class considered the ordinary people. By us that has been considered government by the citizens of the country. As a citizen of a country considered a democracy or a democratic republic you are not doing your duty as a citizen their by voting. That is not governing. Voting can be a part of governance. Holding a public office is another part. Having a fulsome say I who your armed forces kill is another part. Participation in the nominating process is an important part. Participation in overcite of governmental doings is a big part of active participation in your democracy. Democracy must be done by citizens.

Your dictionary may tell you that democracy is a mode of governance in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly. Government is done directly by the people. Perhaps you do not want the responsibility of governance. That's fair, but then it does not seem fair for you to say you want democracy. Of course there are degrees of democracy to choose from. As a citizen of a "free" country you are free to choose.

A democracy occurs when everyday citizens take responsibility for authority. They have the great advantage that they are many and that no one of them has to do everything.

Democracy seems proven to be too bothersome for most common people of America. But then even a republic seems to be too bothersome for many of them. Even the running of a republic calls for citizen responsibility.

It is very difficult for new citizens to know how to govern when they had grandparents did not teach their parents how to govern. Most schools, primary and secondary, have taught almost nothing about how to govern since a little after the second World War. The U.S. was becoming an empire and it is hard for an empire to be a democracy. It is difficult for an empire to be a republic. It is not easy for new citizens to govern themselves in such a situation. It is still possible. Our Constitution still allows for much self governance.

There is still much about governance online for those who would learn. There is information about citizen governance, social governance, republican governance, democratic governance, self governance, and more. It may be good to have in mind that those who choose to take no active part in their governance have taken a step toward and there is less use now for even a good slave.

My newer dictionary says that a democracy is based on democratic rule. It does not make the nature of democratic rule very clear. It may be something like fair and effective rule together. It could be rule be citizen activity wherein each citizen has equal opportunity to participate in rule. I like to use the word "governance" rather then the word "rule." This same newer dictionary also says that democracy is the principles of social equality and respect for the individual in a community. This book does little to clarify this. We can figure it out pretty well, even if we have to recheck the meanings of a few words.

Interesting stuff. There seems to be a lot more to be learned about democracy and how to do it. Well we have heard that "practice makes perfect." Well it does seem that practicing the doing of something does often seem to help us get better at that doing. We can practice some governance. We could practice some self governance together. We could practice governing ourselves. We could choose to practice democratic self governance together in any way we choose. If we wanted to we could to choose to look alternatives to democracy. We could choose to try find out why so many have been interested in democracy for so long. We could try to find out what the values they saw in it were. We could look for examples of well working democracies today.

The idea of democracy is active in the minds of many people of the USA from the very beginning. They chose to begin with a republic. Why? We could choose to find out how a republic is well done. We could learn something about how a government is kept going well. We could find out how to do a government well for the most of its members. We could find out more about what makes for good results from governance.

Could democracy in a group or organization for learning help that group be successful? Why has it been thought that a republic is more practical than a king? Why has it be considered that a democracy is better than one man rule or oligarchy? Why might self governance by yourself be an important aid to self care.

It seems that when we feel the need to learn something, there is plenty to learn. It is possible to learn together. Democracy might help us learn together better. Now, what are some of the main principles of democracy?

You could suggest a simple improvement for this little and help me correct my errors. You can use the "comments" section just below.

Thank you for reading.

Richard S

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2024 Presidential Policy Perspectives with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

This important talk is about us: our rights, our education, our constitution, our children, our lives, our reality, our truth, our honesty, our knowledge, our governance, our nation, our pride, us together in appropriate humility and love of life, our actions, our responsibilities, our republic, our democracy. Our mutual wellbeing is up to us. Good leaders can be a real help, but it is up to us.

RCS

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Viewers of Governance With RCS

Stats: Why the Great Changes?

The top viewers here were long our top viewers in this order: The US, Colombia, Western Europe.

The top viewers have now become:

First: Hong Kong

Second: China

Third: Colombia:

Fourth: Canada

I am very surprised that Hong Kong has the highest number of viewers here now. The United States of America held first place here for decades. I am very sad not to see the U.S. as one of the top four.

I am gratified, that even now when I am no longer able to publish often, that I do still have so many visitors and readers!

Thank you for your visits.

Richard Sheehan

Now Is The Time For Us to Practice Our Governance

We have put the power to govern us into their hands.

Who are "we?" We are the citizens who have abdicated their responsibility to take care of themselves together. Who are they who accepted the power we refused to accept? They turned out to be what some have called the super rich. Many of them knew the great value of that which had been left to them. They appreciated the great value of America the beautiful. They took the responsibility for governance and used it well. Most of them were not even surprised by the immense carelessness of so many U.S. citizens,e

Schooling Around You

Here I write with our public schools in mind, but the writing may also apply to most learning opportunities in the republic and to the culture we pass on to the children, youth, and all of us.

For example each citizen of the republic has some direct responsibility for the schooling the of the children and youth around us. Such schooling benefits each as well as those being schooled. The better that schooling the better the benefits for all of us. To fulfill that responsibility we need to maintain among us a useful understanding of our citizenship, an up to date concept of the doings of a republic, and a knowledge of the kinds of schooling we want to share among us.

Among some of us the word ''schooling" is becoming a "bad word" much as the word "politics" has. A politic is a way of governance. It is up to us to choose the best ways for our governance. We can choose very bad politics, but that does not make politics bad. We can choose very good governance, very good ways of taking care of ourselves, we can each politic we choose an excellent one. Schooling is much like that. Schooling has meant imparting the best ways of doing life that we know. There exists bad schooling but that does not make schooling bad. We have the power of choosing good schooling, and better schooling, and to aim to have the best schooling we can.

Much good schooling has been done in homes, by parents, grandparents,

siblings, friends, and neighbors. Still some schooling is best done by experts we choose.

Where we are citizens of a republic we have responsibility for much of what our children and you learn and that which we ourselves learn. And we and the those who come after us certainly benefit from that learning. In our republic each and every one of us has some responsibility for the learning of our children and youth. Paying taxes does not fulfill that responsibility, seeing how those funds are used might. You and I and our fellow citizens have responsibility for the quality of our future citizens. The quality of our citizenship and the quality of our lives depends much on our learning. That learning can be strongly supported by the schooling available to us. We are many so the doing of our schooling need not be burdensome. We may accept the benefits of the schooling around us with pride.

When we are parents of children and adolescents we often become more aware that our responsibility for their education is more than legal and moral. It is vital for the quality of our culture. It affects the very survival of our culture and species. We often become more aware that we are all responsible for the improvement and maintenance of our society and culture. When the people of that society and culture do not fulfill that responsibility, God help us. A society or culture can die. Some times that death can come quickly. Let's remember that we are the ones to see that the best of our culture is passed on to our offspring and the carriers of our culture.

We know that culture is more than something found in a museum. Our culture is all that we are not born with. It is all that we experience, learn, understand, remember, and more. We also know that our common culture is all that makes us a people.

There is a world of practical doings to consider. One of these is assuring that we have competent and appropriate observers of our schools report to us. We must find, train, and keep eyes on observers whom can be well trusted by us and who deal well school officials. And, also who do not interfere with the instruccion they observe. We must also observe school administration. Then we need to support those who help us to interpret the information gathered and then to report our findings.There is plenty for active citizens to do, but we are many and help is available. If we need a boss, we can choose her.

We can help teachers to obtain that which they need to do their job. That help could include helpful ongoing education for them, small enough class sizes, helpers for them and their students, appropriate help and support from parents and others. what happens and what is done in our schools is up to us and we could use ongoing education for ourselves. It is great that there are so many of us.

It is up to us together to decide how we want our schools to be. We need to have their purpose well in mind. We may have to school ourselves in that sort of decision making. We do not want to be the responsible many, but want to be smart too. How do you want that particular school near you to be? What is it important for the students their to learn. We may decide how we want the lives of our children, our youth, and ourselves to be, what we want to learn, and what we need to learn. Perhaps there is more to learn about learning to learn!

We need to show up for our governance of our education and that of our children.

There is little that we have to do on our own. Our common governance needs to be handled by us together or we may end up in a very unpleasant place in deed.

We need to show up for the decisions as to what our youth and children are to taught and how that teaching is to be done. We do not have to do this alone. In reality it It may have to be done together. Of course when it is for us it is best done with our participation. We are free to consult with our teachers, our neighbors, our youth, and the best experts available, but we need to show up.

RCS

The Word Is "organize."

Sometimes it is about guts

The word organize is closely related to the word organ. Important meanings for organ include tool, instrument, and implement. Organ can speak of guts as well as it can of a musical instrument. Could that imply that guts are available for the formation of a melodious and harmonious organization!

The word organ has referred to an implement for doing work. An organization can be a tool for getting things done. To organize can be the process of making a tool to get things done and even to the process of maintaining an organization. So, to organize can be the can be the process of making and maintaining a tool to get things done.

To organize can be thought of as a derivative of organ and once meant literally to furnish with organs including to do so to form a living being. So, your organization can be alive and active. And so, your organizing activity could provide your group with a coordinated, coherent structure; might it even be done so as to include guts and music?

To organize is to cause to develop an organic structure. You may look at your organization and see that it is alive and well! I feel enthusiasm for the doing right now.

To organize can be to arrange or form into a coherent unit or functioning whole. In governance that unit or whole may consist of lively persons. We can organize to get things done.

We seem to have a handle on the nature of "to organize," but there is much more about organizing which is worth knowing.

We know that organize means to establish organization or an organization. We may consider that there are organizations because there is organizing going on. These days there is a growing interest in the development and maintenance of political, social, and civic organization. This growing interest is developing in many persons new to it. They know that an organization consists of activities and doings by actors and doers. They are developing some ideas as to why it is done and a few ideas as to how it is done.

Organization for cooperation may be one of mankind's earliest activities. It is mostly learned by ongoing observation and practice. It benefits greatly from ongoing dialogue. When a number of us are doing something together, Talk of what we are doing; why we are doing it, and how we agree to do it, is important to our success, The quality of that talk is certainly important.

Actors and doers learn and keep abreast of group and individual called for by their dialogue, their observation, and their talk. They learn varied functions which contribute the whole and collective functions. Much is done together. In a democratic organization even more is done together. Persons unite and accept specific responsibilities for an understood purpose. Persons unite for a particular purpose and take on certain responsibilities.

An organization is often a more systematize co-operation rather than a less systematized activity, One can observe that organization can be a powerfully effective social tool. We may organize a mechanism for taking care of business and discover that such organization is vital to that business.

An organizer is one who organizes. In a democratic organization the more complete the participation in organization, the more lasting and powerfully effective that organization often is. The organizers put the guts into the organization. An organizer acts to put life and action into her organization. An organizer activates the process of making your organization a tool for getting things done. When you do not participate in that process you make your organization less democratic and less effective. Your organizing acts to cause your organization to develop a better organic, living structure for doing well.

An organizer sees his job establishing and maintaining his organization as he and his fellow members have decided.

For an organization to endure organizing must go on. You may find it useful to use your own initiative from time to time. However, if the organization is to be truly for us it must be truly by us.

Organization is much about co-operation, so, to organize is much about helping the members of the group to practice co-operating. We can find or make opportunity to talk about this kind of cooperation. We can learn to improve the way we talk together.

Thank you for reading,

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Noam Chomsky - The Crisis of Democracy

The name of the the report sounds dishonest to me. Democracy points to our participation in our governance. That is what democracy is, right? We must learn to govern so that we may have income, honor, freedom, dignity, and understanding. and understanding. This a very young Chomsky!

rcs

Governance, Dialogue and Dialogue for Governance

Me

I have been asked who I am. An honest easy answer is "me." Longer answers which are the truth, the whole and nothing but the truth are more difficult. I'll try a longer answer, but not so long that it might contain outright lies. Let's see, I seem to have become a very old man who's brain is in a bit better shape than his body. I was mostly raised in a tiny desert town in the state of California, USA. I am the one who signs many of these essays "rcs." My full name is Richard Carroll Sheehan. Richard and Carroll are my given names and Sheehan is my surname or last name. Carroll was the family name of my paternal great grandmother. I am an American citizen living in Colombia. I am, in important part the result of my history. Still, it seems to me these days that I wake up each morning a bit different person than the one who went to sleep the night before.

As a youngster I was taught that the U.S.A. was a republic which a great many citizens wanted to become increasingly democratic. We were taught that full democracy was governance directly by all the people and that each of those people was a citizen. This full real democracy had never been accomplished, but was a good orienting goal. It was a way to go. We could move toward a democratizing republic. I learned that the American Declaration of Independence strongly suggested that in the new nation the people were to be the citizens; democratically active self-governing citizens; citizens, by right, responsible for governing the nation. That is the ideal to be striven for.

History

Still, many of the founders of the country realized that the majority of the prospective citizens had little experience at self-governance. They saw that the new citizens could use some preparation to become self governors. The U.S. Constitution was designed with that in mind as so it was written as a sort of representative democracy. They certainly did not want the country to be a kingdom, theocracy, or anything but a republic with a chance of becoming a growing democracy.

From my reading of our history I gathered that the idea was the people, the new citizens, of America to become increasingly the more democratic govenors of the republic.

We were choosing to govern ourselves as we wanted in our nation of self made and self chosen laws. So our style of government would be the one we chose, devised, and ran. It was our responsibility and right to govern ourselves.

Today, at a national level, it seems that most of us have chosen to abdicate the right and responsibility to rule. We have already abdicated many of the rights and responsibilities we had. It seems that many of us have not considered that this may be a slide into powerlessness and uselessness. It also seems that this abdication of active citizenship is not working out well for us.

We have a lot to learn and a lot to begin practicing.

Most of us have never become Federalists but we have some history of being democratic republicans.

I know of the abdicators I have written of above, for I have been one of them. I did not abdicate my active citizenship from conviction but rather most from some laziness and considerable ignorance. I seem to have walked around in a fuzzy have with some deeply buried idea of something like a democratic republic while acting as though voting and being a fairly decent person made me an effective, active, citizen. What a strange dream.

Now I may be "to soon old and too late smart." I know I now have much less energy than I once had, but I believe that it is not too late to do something. Now I am doing something to claim or reclaim some rights. Those rights seem mostly to be about governing myself as a American citizen together with my fellow citizens, or perhaps together with my brother and sister citizens, or better, my family of citizens.

Our Beliefs

I believe that our voices matter. I believe that it is important that we be heard. I believe that it is important that we hear each other. I believe that listening and listing to understand is a skill we can practice to our great benefit. I believe that we can effectively claim justice and equality, responsibilities and rights. I strongly believe that our republic and its democracy depends on our daily engagement in governance. I believe that our governance depends on the quality of our discourse. Our thoughts and our communication direct our mutual activities. Our actions, our activities orient our governance. I believe we govern well when we practice our governance together.

I begin to see our discourse as a form of our "new" dialogue. To get our governance done well I believe that we need to claim time to listen to one another more and probably to do so more regularly. We need to have opportunity to listen to each other's say about our wants and needs, and importantly, about the nature of our governance.

Our Dialogue

We can claim and reclaim rights to govern ourselves together with fellow citizens. An important right is the right of association an important part of the right of association is the right to talk among ourselves, to listen to each other, to dialogue. Take a look at the Bill of Rights part of our Constitution.

Our voices matter, our faces to. Our face to face talk can be a great power and great satisfaction. To be a we, our association is vital. It is vital that we be heard and that we hear each other. All topics of our dialogues can be important. That dialogue can be about a traffic light or about justice, equality, public health or anything we want it to be about. Democracy can be a topic of our dialogue. I strongly believe that our depends on our engagement and the quality of our discourse. For many the nature of our democracy and of democracy in general can be an important topic of our talk.

I have begun to call our discourse, our group talk, our new dialogue. Our dialogue is important. It helps us to be us and to be we the people. Our thoughts and our communication direct our mutual activities. Our activities, our actions, orient our governance. Our dialogue helps us to practice our governance together.

To get our governance done well we need to claim the time to listen to one another enough; that includes regularly enough. We need opportunity to have our say about our wants and needs about the nature of our governance, to listen to what others have to say. Including talk about our experience and how it has affected our point of view can be a way to improved understanding and appropriate trust.

Our dialogue is a great aid to our co-operation and decision making. Our working together effectively and appropriately can be strongly supported by our ongoing dialogue, our hearing one another, and understanding each other. Our democratic decision making can be well begun with dialogue.

Certainly our responsibility as citizens is to govern ourselves and that by doing so we can live more pleasantly and abundantly. We can learn from one another and practice our learning together. Our dialogue leads to our resilience.

Our governance is up to us, its abdicaction is likely to be a step toward uselessness, toward a uselessness which may be worse than slavery.

The power of determining our governance is ours. Not practicing it is our loss. Practicing our governance is a way to a of life that it is a satisfaction and pleasure to have and hold. Together we can provide ourselves for a greater chance for a civic life of pleasure and satisfaction. You can come see that governance is part of life: family, work, town, state, and more. You to are a part of our life. Voting is not enough. It is not always necessary, but part of voting is finding your way to the nominating process. Together we can do all that is necessary for our governance. Neither you nor I have to do everything, but all of us together have the responsibility for, as a US example, state and county governance. We are responsible for the people in state and county positions. Often we are responsible for their nomination, election and oversite. That is a lot to do; luckily we are very many and we are the bosses and can work out ways to make our effectiveness easy on ourselves. The support of government is up to us. If we do not accept our responsibility will take it up as theirs and they by boss us, dismiss us. or deal with us as they will. It be as my old aunt used to say "Üse it or lose it."

We can think of governing ourselves as a major way of taking care of ourselves together. We do not have to take care of ourselves. When we do take care of ourselves we so not have to do it all at once. We can take it up as our orientation and goal. Now is the best time to get started. The longer we wait the more difficult doing so becomes.

Taking up a responsibility can be work or much like work, but togetherness often brightens one's days.

So, we find that we can talk and that we can cooperate, and begin to be aware of being a we. We may begin to consider what kind of we we are. We may find that many of us consider ourselves citizens. Some begin to consider the nature of a citizen. Than we find ourselves reading these paragraphs.

Here we read that the writer seems to value a kind of talk he calls dialogue. We may find that he considers dialogue may improve our ability to cooperate. I am that writer. Maybe I can find the ability to clarify that which I am writing about. I am writing about two fairly large topics: dialogue groups and democratic governance.

A dialogue group is a way a number of persons to talk together to better effect than is often usual.

Democratic governance is a way to better government than many of us has experience. Democratic governance may be better called participatory governance or participatory democratic governance. It is a form governance which emphasizes the active involvement of citizens in the decision-making process. It aims to insure that all citizens have an equal opportunity to participate in shaping policies and influencing the direction of their communities or countries.

Thank you for reading.

RCS

350. The Risks of a Deteriorating Democracy feat. Victor Davis Hanson

Victor David Hanson on the workings of democracy. Education to support democracy. What it has meant to be a citizen. What is a citizen? Who is a citizen? Classic education. How has democracy been done. An understanding of democracy is still not overly difficult to find.

Our present system of education does little to support democracy or even describe it.

Prepare to Vote Together in Joy

What does it mean to say that "There is no such thing as not voting?"

Voting is not enough, but it is an important power. Voting matters. Citizens are finding that voting has been a joyful affair and is not their pleasure. For them it is become doing it together as a sort of celebration of citizenship. Some have found pleasure in face to face organizing together.

Together they find good reasons for voting. Together they find that they are successfully claiming their power. Seems to me that finding joy and power together is pretty darn good,

For a Pleasant and Useful Behavior

We can practice talking among ourselves.

It seems time to begin speaking to one another about that which is important to us. By us, I mean more than friends, family, political party, or religion, although those dialogues too are very important. I mean, for example, a better cross-section of your town, or city. So, it seems important to learn some new and useful dialogue skills. Our willingness to try and to practice such skills can take us to a better society, to better governance, and to a lot of personal satisfaction.

I heard on TV recently, a suggestion to be informed, connected, and invested. It got me interested. I thought it seemed a good idea to be well informed, well connected, and well invested in our society. I also thought that it might well take more thought.

I have also thought that it is good for our well-being to practice freedom, equality, brotherhood, and even goodness. It thought that it would be even better if it were practiced in our daily lives inclusively all over our land. It does seem kind of a good direction to try to go, doesn't it?

The above suggestions and thoughts seemed could perhaps be more effectively done when they included the practice of participatory governance. Even, if it does not include this and much of the above, some talking together about that which is important to us does seem a very good idea.

Fairly early in such talk we need to understand meanings, and to talk them over until we have abundant mutual understanding of what we are talking about. Such talking over must not end. our talk must continue if we are to act together.

Words are important for the meanings they carry. "Governance" may be easier to understand and taken in than is "democracy" or even "participation." The phrase "participatory democracy" may be newer and more important to understand than one may imagine at first. It is important that we come to a fuller understanding of each others' understanding or it becomes difficult to act cohesively.

If we are to co-operate effectively we need to keep aware of our understandings which are mutual at the present time and those which are not. Doing so necessitates ongoing dialogue on meanings and understanding of phrases such as:

~ Well informed about the nature of our society

~Well connected with others in our society

~ Our citizenship

~ The practice of supporting freedom to and freedom from.

~ The nature of equality in society and in governance.

~ The nature of and importance of brotherhood and goodness in our daily lives

~ The meaning of and the great value of inclusiveness in the maintenance of an effective we and and effective us in our doings.

These phrases and ones like them have not been used much among us recently. To develop. enough common understanding of them among us may take a lot of talking-over. Many of us already believe that the practice of talking-over is very important now. We are capable of learning to dialogue well enough to become a satisfying and effective us. We are capable of helping our children to develop their dialog power to better effect than we have.

Our good talk can guide us to action that leads our humanity to survive and thrive.

You are more than welcome to comment.

Thank you for reading.