Governance With RCS: It's OK to consider organization and organizing, It's a step toward effective co-operation in governance.
The hope of our people organizing for our economic and social well-being survives among a significant number of us. Some of the best people are actually practicing such organization. That hope diminished among many when trade unionist and others failed to teach their children the how of social organization and the why of responsibility for self-governance. Then, a majority of parents abdicated their responsibility for the nature of their children's educational institutions. So, schools began to fail in their teaching of active citizenship. Those who were taught in failing schools failed to teach their own children effective action in their school districts. So, as citizens failed their schools, public schools and others, began to fail to teach citizenship skills and civic organizing.
Union members and others were not taught, nor did they teach one another how to use our Constitution and how to use democracy. Some began to see citizenship as a gift rather than to see it as their responsibility to practice governing themselves. Many have a limited understanding of their history. We learned little of how our earliest citizens taught themselves governance. I believe that "Committees of Correspondence" is still taught in most high schools. Those committees were organized by some of those early citizens to co-ordinate the development of self-governance. Some say, that those committees led to the development of the Post Office of the United States of America.
I may have had the ideas of unions in the back of my mind as I began to essay this piece. Unions and union members have been important. However, I do not mean them to be a main focus of this essay.
I mean to focus on all citizens and their part in governance. My hope is to remind them that organization, organizing and participation is a main intention of our Constitution.
However, it may be interesting to know that among a few of our surviving unions is archived information about citizenship, organizing and active democracy. That information can be tapped. So a few union members and their unions may offer us some useful examples of doing effective, citizenship, organization, and democracy.
Onward with more excuses for present citizens failure to participate more effectively in their own governance. After the the Second World War, WWII, there was a decline in citizen organization. Many men and women became less active in their clubs and some never became members. Most of the many clubs had been, in some part, a source of civic education and civic practice. They had done much good. Many club members had done a better job of educating one another than had many union members.
Aspects of club knowledge of effective citizenship seem to have been misplaced or difficult of access. The decline of club membership limited citizen knowledge of and education in governance, organization, and active citizenship. Still some clubs have archived useful information about effective active citizenship. Both clubs and unions have maintained political and social histories, organizing tactics, political science, social movements, and more.
There is much online, on the www, about topics such as active citizenship and grassroots organizing. You may be pleasantly surprised at what can be found at your public library. Perhaps your community still maintains a public library. Such libraries were once a source for learning governance, civics and general citizen education.
We have much to learn and help is available.
Community colleges, universities, four year colleges much to offer about active citizenship and active democracy. They can even tell us that active democracy is the only democracy. They have stories to tell us about effective social movements. University people have done some good work in modernizing and updating some of our governance wisdom. As do all the sources I have mentioned it takes some effort to get to that wisdom. As always we are each the captain general of our own learning and you can be your best guide to effective citizenship. Where there is the will we can do much to help one another to effective learning an practice of more productive citizenship.
An area of agreement among most thoughtful people is the fact that the more citizen activity there is the greater the existence of
democracy. The fewer the active citizens the less democracy. There is more democracy where citizens are more active.
You may find fewer people who agree on this: The less learned the citizens the less useful may be the democracy. It sounds right to me. However, believe that experience is a darn good teacher. I also believe that as we practice citizenship our chances of being more effective citizens improves. So the more citizens practice democracy and citizenship, the more they know of of effective democracy and effective citizenship. In this way we move in the direction of great governance.
Over the decades much has been written about about governance, active citizenship, active democracy, civic organization, and grassroots organizing. However, when it isn't practiced, it's like it isn't there. It is available to learn from and to teach one another.
You can help us to learn from one another by using the "comments" section below. It is often more helpful if you can name yourself. You can use a pen name or perhaps an avatar name. You can comment anonymously if when you want to.
There is a lot of important and useful information around. most of us carry a bit of it around in our heads. We can share. We can share what we find in our heads and on YouTube. There is more on this blog and more is being added.
Find out about some on-going grassroots organizing. Tell us about it if you like. Tell us about other blog sites posting about active democracy. We can help one another right here.
Thank you very much for reading.
As a PS, Please help me with corrections; corrections in: spelling, meanings, facts, interpretations, reason, analysis, and like that.
rcs