By Learning to Search YouTube Well You Can Do Much to Educate Yourself
What citizens ought to be allowed to know about their own Government.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paGTB2kiyqk
You can govern yourself. You can govern with others. You can learn about political planks and political platforms, how to do governance, and about political organization. It's about active citizenship, civics, a more perfect union, and we the people. It's about participation. So, the focus of these many posts is on democracy, justice, citizenship, governance, co-operation, and democracy.
Circle of Power Groups
Circle of power groups are far from the only way for citizens to organize for their wellbeing, even so, they can be a darned good way
Citizen assemblies can be another effective way to organize. In such assemblies there is no need to do what an authority or anyone else says we should do. In our assemblies we can learn to trust each other more appropriately. We can listen to one another more carefully and carefully come up with that which we truly and deeply want in our governance.
We can also learn to better use that which we have. We can learn to better inspire, inform, and support our elected representatives and others inside of government. It is okay too to act as we decide best to act "inside" our system of governance. Continuing to continue to act in civil society seems also important.
So, the idea is to use our assembly to be better, more effective, active citizens. An perhaps act to act gently and persistently to re-assemble our republic. And we could even allow the more radical among us to consider the true nature of democracy. Still it is well remember that many of us are in this together and that we have a lot to learn and that we do not always speak exactly the same language. So, to learn to act together we need to practice listening to one another carefully.
People who have thought much about citizen assemblies use and interesting word, '''commision.' In dealing with a working government, even one which is working far from perfectly, we learn that there is a vocabulary they often use which we do not often use and I hope that we seldom do use. We could usefully get ''commissioned" to support and inform parts of government. This is one way to get listened to on the inside. It can be powerfully useful, but it is not necessary. Will want to get powerful people in government to listen to us more carefully and that may be an ongoing goal, but "there is more than one way to skin a cat." Please do not practice on our cats.
Our governance is a public thing and each assembly has the power of being a mini-public.
Our assemblies can become a kind of corporate entities and by so doing gain outside monies from philanthropies and other interested parties to support our ability to do. However, the tendency to do that is the reason why I like our little circles of power to be our principle organization. Still,when has the time and energy it seems fine to be a member of more than one organization. Our very citizenship makes us a member of an organization. My maternal grandmother was a member of about a dozen clubes, her union, and a political party. I found her to a good citizen, a good person, and a good grandmother. I imagine that all her clubs found her to be a member in good standing.
The special power is produced physically. Goodwill is important. It is well done in a neutral, semi private, and quiet place. It is done by sitting in a circle facing inward. It is best when the chairs are the same or similar. There is no other furniture except perhaps a small table at the center of the circle. Using the circle their may be from 3 to 33 approximately.
The idea is to give each participant a short period of time to speak at each session for a limited time as the other participants practice listening with care. To learn more about this energizing practice go to the associated site Dialogue With RCS.
We need to better talk together about our governance,
Thank you for reading.
Toward Real Democracy
When we don't use our governance methods we do not have them. We have declared republicanism and democracy as important ways of our governance. Let's begin to consider republicanism and democracy and how they can be used.
This is a quick and sketchy essay at beginning that consideration. So, this piece aims at beginning to clarify our meaning of republicanism and of democracy. Then to consider how they are used and how they are worked to our benefit.
Participatory democracy is a phrase being used these days. I feel uncomfortable saying that real democracy is participatory democracy because all democracy must be participatory. That is the word democracy itself means people themselves doing their governance. Once a greater percentage of americans were clear about that. Now in real life there is rarely either this or that, but more often a combination of a lot.
Republicanism began much as a rejection of the present rule. The rule of the time was rule by monarchy and oligarchy. That was rule by king, nobility, and perhaps a growing merchant class. Than the question was about who should rule. Then as the word republican suggests, the answer was the people. That turned out to be a bit of a problem for those we have called our founding fathers. Perhaps there was a subconscious feeling around that it might be good to be ruled by our fathers.
This piece is directed to Americans and is about them doing more of their own governance. However, those of you who are not U.S. citizens may find something of interest here, perhaps even something useful. Many of the forbearers of present Americans believed that they could take care of themselves together and by doing so could be the governors of themselves. Now numerous present day Americans are beginning to believe that they can revive that belief and forgotten knowledge. It is late for doing that, but I am sure that it is possible.
When the United States was founded, mostly by Europeans, the concept of a republic had considerable popularity among them. Rule by a king and a hereditary nobility was no longer working well for them/The spread of reading and writing and the actual state of affairs had effected them. A significant portion of educated Europeans knew rather a lot about ancient Greek democratic governance and many thought it was a fine way for a populous to take care of itself.
A great many of those who began to immigrate to what would become the United States and also to the rest of the Americas were not ready to be ruled to by kings and nobles. They had found that every king had behaved royally and not every noble behaved nobley.
They got to the new land and found that kings were weak in sway and far away. Many felt that they could take care of themselves and often called that responsibility freedom. The question of how they would do that care taking and freedom, when raised, was seldom well answered. In the back of many minds the thought may have been that someone would take care of that. And they were not wrong. Someone always had, but that someone had not always been careful of everyone. A great many people had little knowledge of many of the factors of self rule and less practice. They had little idea of how to rule themselves together. They did know quite a bit about cooperation in a variety of situations and did have some notion that practice can perfect.
A few f them had begun to consider self governance in their present circumstances. They knew about cooperation, and somethings of the workings of the Roman Republic and democracy of ancient Greeks. They knew that few of immigrants had experience with government at state level.
Naturally the idea of not being ruled by someone else led to the Idea of self rule. The concept of self rule led to some consideration of self-rule together. Thoughts of this sort began to circulate a bit among the general population on both sides of the Atlantic. These thoughts were current among those who would be called the founding fathers of the U.S. Why fathers? Why not patriots or men or just say founders. Is this a hint that many wanted to be taken care of?
The idea that rule by others was a problem was a very republican concept and many early Americans. Rule by us became a popular idea, but the nature of who "us" include was, was not always clear. Many said us was all of us, but few included the Chinese in that us at that time. How was this rule was to be done was not clear. It was to be popular rule and we just knew who was popular. I imagine that in early Greece early Greeks were popular. Among early colonial Spanish people it was to gente reason and not every every Spaniard and certainly not some ignorant Frenchman. French said ''us'' was to include every citizen. They knew that a born and bred Turk was not a likely French citizen. For the early greeks democratic rule was not easy, but who was to rule were Greek citizens and the nature of a Greek citizen was agreed on by nearly all Greeks.
So, this governance deal was not easy to workout. You and I may come pretty close to agreeing who is an American citizen, but just how those should rule you and I or even with you and I could be a problem.
Among our active ancestors, just before 1776 were some pretty thoughtful guys. Women were not yet consider as strong contenders for citizenship. Anyway some male contenders began to talk things over. Many of them held stronger than usual egalitarian ideas! And their idea of who could be a citizen and man who could speak, read, and write English and not a criminal was certainly a contender. They agreed that not every man who was a citizen was a good person to hold position of power in a new government. Still they thought it best that every citizen be able to participate. So they came to an idea which has been called representative democracy. It is probably not really close to the best idea, but it is still a good one.
Every citizen could speak for laws, positions, and policies of government and vote for them. Positions in government were to be for limited time and the important and powerful positions were to be held by election by citizens. Good ideas for that time and place. But could every citizen come to any public office and the son or daughter come to any public office? It seems possible.
So, a few men began to consider how to institute such governance in their time and place and the nature of potential citizens. They had the idea of "representative democracy" in mind. They wanted the will of the people to be well represented. Their reasons for that are important and you can check them out elsewhere or we can review them here later if you so wish. Right now this piece has begun to feel too long for me to manage.
Back to our theme. States were already being formed so there would be states in this new nation.There could be a senate with men to represent those states. Those men would be elected by the citizens of each state. The people would elect their representatives to express their will and the representatives would write up that will and enact it as the law of the land. A national president would be elected to administer those laws to see that they were followed as the peoples' representatives ordered.
They began to create a written constitution of this organization of governance. That Constitution was put in effect and today it is still in effect with few modifications. It is still relatively short, but contains many important factors. Among those factors were those put in place to insure that to much power be accumulated in one sector. They wanted national power to be well shared so that the people were well represented and well served.
Plans worked out pretty well.We had a written constitution which we could use to see how we were doing with our rules in our land. We began to teach our children about republican governance, democracy and our Constitution. Then after a time we began to quickly develop militarily and economically and were pleased, but not very vigilante. Then we began to move into a kind of imperialism which proved to be a poor partner for republicanism. Our population grew quickly, much of that growth was by immigration.
As a people we began to forget about our responsibility for taking care of one another politically and for working our Constitution. We began to teach our children, or have them taught, more about making money in certain ways and less about how to govern ourselves together. We mostly had ''good'' ideas for doing what we were doing, but we were losing control of our lives. Our doing did not help us work our republic or us our democracy.Then so of us got so nervous about our republic that we began to call it a democracy and that seemed to lead us to forget the nature of democracy and how to use democracy! I seems that we may be left with a dying Empire if we do not begin to practice appropriate governance. We know that governance has little to do with marching and demonstrating, and not much more with voting. For us it seems to be working the constitution of our republic in a democratic way together.
We still have an idea that democracy is a good idea, as is republicanism. They are good ideas, but they are unless unless they are worked. They must be used to be useful. They must be used and they ought to be taught. There is much we can do now to take care of ourselves. We can make decisions about taking care of ourselves together. To do that it is best to be among those whom we trust and realize that there are groups worthy of trust. Communication is a key to doing that. Face to face talk is the most powerful communication for us. We can learn to better do that kind of communication. We can communicate with each other and dialogue among ourselves about what we have the will to do together. We can nurture that will in healthy ways.
In our present government it is now easy to arrange to keep fairly good track of our own representatives collective and individual doings and also much of the doings of the rest of our government. We do need some organization as well as some modern technologies. We can learn and act together. There is too much for any one to do alone, but so what? There are enough of us to easily that which needs doing together. We are many. We can cooperate. We already know about co-operation and learn to practice more. Little by little we can learn to appropriately organize our doings.
We already have that which we need, take care of the business of taking care of ourselves. We can promptly know what our representatives are doing and to promptly give them instructions as what to do and not to do for us. With the modern technology at our disposal and our appropriate we can easily maintain close communication. Of course representatives will want to know that they are getting our support. They may also know that we are getting close to being able to represent ourselves. Also they know that they have a contract for only a couple of years at a time and may want to get back to their regular job.
Still, for now, we need to arrange to give our representative abundant and appropriate support along with appropriate oversight. We are getting to know that there so many of us that no one person ever need to feel that they have too much to do. We will find ourselves learning by doing and by practicing our organization; and by becoming more aware of governance in our lives. We will need to practice communication skills and so maintain appropriate trust of fellow citizens. We will probably need to practice our co-operation skills and understanding of the organization close to us. Do not let me discourage you. There is virtually nothing which you really have to do, but much which you can do. Your governance activity is much like being empowered. Also you are the only one who can be you and you are an irreplaceable part of our taking care of ourselves just by being you. Better the best of you than the worst.
Citizen Assemblies are a good little example of doing much of what I am writing about. They are a real life demonstration of citizens co-operating to do some of their own governance. Citizen Assemblies are already one movement of effective citizen participation in their own governance. They once in a while seem much like an example of direct democracy. It is evident that these assemblies demonstrate how we can move toward active citizenship and toward the living conditions we desire. We can, as Daniel Stid has written, and I interpret here, bring true citizen perspectives to bear on policy making. We can refine our opinies through informed deliberations and judgements. Deliberations can be a kind of talking together which is much like thinking together.
These assemblies are demonstrating in a relatively short time ordinary citizens are capable of learning to help their elected representative to help them. Relatively soon they can collectively learn to effectively remind their representatives of citizen needs and encourage them, daily if necessary, to address those needs. They can with some ease and persistence, improve their governance and directly help their representatives to do well. All there is to it is to do it together.
Ordinary citizens are learning together to help their representatives to do that which they have been elected to do and to see it done or to know the reason why it is not done. Doing it together is the key. They learn to better work their government and we can too. They learn that it is their right and ability to make some changes or additions to the laws of the land. They learn that there are few laws against governance of the people, by the people, and for the people nor in their learning more of good governance and improved citizen activity as they practice their participation in governance of their nation, state, or county.
Citizen Assemblies have worked out ways to move governments to actions congenial to their citizens. If Public Assemblies and citizen participation interests you or attracts you, you can check out their ways of working.You can check out much online. You can share that which you learn here when the urge strikes you.
A Citizen Assembly is not the only way for us to work our governance and it is probably not the best way to do so. But, it is an excellent example of a way of doing so. You can find your own way to co-operative governance. Still, right now these Assemblies are worth looking into and learn something of how they work. Citizen Assemblies may be found in your country and online. They can be found in growing numbers in countries calling themselves republics.
I tend to like co-operating with people who do their best work in clearly inclusive and democratic ways. However, even at my age, I can make some adaptations.
I believe that this Citizen Assembly idea got started in England, spread to Ireland, then to France and beyond. Mr Stid, and important interpreter of the concept has written that "Ireland has set the pace" in the use of the Assemblies. Not all of the Assemblies are being used at the federal level yet. In the U.S., for example, they have been used at the state level, but mostly in an ad hoc sort of way. I this case I would like to see the organizations have some continuity, but that is not necessary for good work to be done.
Well, that's about it for me for now. When you find info action related to improved citizen participation in governance, especially cooperative, democratic participation, please feel free to tell us about it. The Assembly way is not the only way. But it does seem that we may have matured enough to govern ourselves, to take care of ourselves together. It does seem time to begin the practice. When you tell me it is OK to publish that which you tell us about doings related to citizen participation we discuss ways of doings. Ways for citizens to democratically co-operate in governance are golden.
Thank you for reading.
Richard Sheehan
Ourselves Together is a Body Politic
The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It | Robert Reich
We can take better care of ourselves together as a body politic. Power is available to us. Right now political power and economic power is in the hands of a few. That situation is called oligarchy and is far from being a democracy. I believe that it is a situation which is both unfair and unstable. A fair and stable situation occurs when we act together to take care of ourselves together such a system is democratic.
Richard Sheehan
We Make Rules for Conservation and Distribution
We Have often decided that public goods and common resources really need to be shared fairly.
We are becoming more careful of the extraction of many of these goods and are learning more appropriate conservation of them. We can decide how to use all of our resources and have long done so. We need to continue learning how we really want to do so. We need to continually redecide how to do so fairly and in a way that keeps them continually available. We need to keep aware of how public goods and common resources are being used. I believe that we want to assure that neither ourselves nor our children without a health giving or life giving good.
Richard
America Shared
2% of Americans are still getting more and of the Country and 98 % are still getting less of the land and advantages. That difference is greater than it has ever been in the entire history of the United States of America.
Why the difference? I suspect the difference is because we do not know how to govern ourselves. How could that be?
A country needs to be worked and managed. In a republic or a democracy that work and that managing is up to the citizens of that country. Where citizens do not take up that responsibility there is movement toward slavery and in this modern world slave are becoming useless.
In the US there is an ever growing concentration of wealth in the control of fewer a fewer persons. Health is in the control of fewer. Housing is in the control of fewer. More and more of our wealth is spent on killing. That is because citizens have abdicated their responsibility as citizens. Now we are beginning to die sooner than we have for a very long time. Let's live more and kill less.
Enjoy the video.
rcs
Do it right now
Get together a small group
These few words are directed to citizens of the USA and anyone else who is curious.
The purpose of the groups I speak of is teaching one another about the nature a value of what could be called participatory governance, trust and cooperation in a group, the actual working of government in the US, theoretic nature of republics and democracy, and that which the group decides to learn the workings of. I hope it will be about participation. It could about participatory democracy.
It could be about freedom. What freedom? It could be the freedom to cooperate in taking care of one another in a fair and meaningful way.
Some important rules for a strong group include:
No enemies.
Each member has frequent and equal opportunity to speak to the whole attentive group.
A good start can be sitting down and listening to one another; hear each other. An important purpose is to begin to trust each other a bit more. Appropriate trust is a great power.
Begin. Start right now.
Thank you for reading.
Richard
Who Will "Us" Be?
What are our protections? How do we keep from being lost in the great world? Family helps. Neighborhood helps. Statehood helps. Our nation helps. But we need a more. Dialogue may help get the needed more.
Let's Talk Together a Lot More
People can make the decisions
Making decisions with people needs to be done together. To do so calls for communication. Such communication is usually best done face to face with people who know and you have come to trust. This calls for some ongoing talk. To make a good family takes some of that ongoing listening and response.
In life we are called on to make decisions. Some of those decisions are collective, they are made with others. That is often best done with some good conversation, talk, dialogue, and the like. Such talk is often better done with practice.
Collaborative Self Governance
Collaborative means doing together.
Let's say that we want to co-operate in a effective and satisfying way. To begin listen to this thrice and then review this blogsite. Then consider why so many of us consider that getting closer to the practice of equality is effective and satisfying. Then review your values.
Collaboration and cooperation empower us. Let's consider their effective and satisfying practice. There is a lot of healthy food for thought in this video, view it again. If you are interested in a goal, the one offered in this video is, harmonize people power, and process. An old aunt of mine told me that she was very glad that someone told her that, "It ain't so much about what you do: and it's a lot more about the way how you do it." Process is important.
Consider the simple meaning of governance. Governance is how we collectively organize ourselves to take care of ourselves, Let's consider "how" and begin to practice.
Richard
Do No Harm (or try a bit harder to avoid it)
Our more recent wars
You can begin an exploration of our wars on History With RCS. Use one or more of the various search apps there and begin searching: war, wars, or our wars.
The apps Labels or Archives are useful tools and may be good places to begin your search.
In this piece I will remark on the nature of some of our more recent wars. They were often call wars on ''terror.'' That, to me, seems a misnomer. In my experience wars are made on people by people. They are made on men and usually include women and children, not to mention youths.These days they usually result in the death and maiming of more noncombatants than combatants. The purpose of most wars is killing men and so crushing their power. Other purposes have included vengeance and taking over resources. Less often, it is for protection from actual invaders. The results of most war are ugly and include: rage, hatred, and death, of puppies, grandmothers, babies, garden plants, plus the usual men, women, ect.
I have heard it suggested that by becoming better at avoiding war and other killing we give ourselves a chance for a better life. Wise men have said that by trying to do no harm we make more room for health and happiness in our lives. This sounds right but people do experience anger, rage, fear, and an urge to vengeance. All feelings which can lead to unpleasant actions. But these days we often kill in rather cold blood when someone of authority tells to do so. Luckily we can sometimes do so by pushing a button or pulling a lever and never having to see the results.
Many of our recent wars do not seem to be resulting in lasting goodness. They have led to the deaths of many including wives and mothers, which resulted in the considerable rancor among survivors. In those wars social organizations were disassembled, infrastructure and other physical resources destroyed. unmeasured damage to our environment resulted as well as partially measured damage to our economies resulted. Another result was the wounding, deadening,
and mangling of hearts, minds, and souls of survivors. Doings and happenings which may be worth considerable effort to avoid.
Still, peace at any cost is not very peaceful and too often of little good. If peace and war extremes, there is likely a mean between them which could be a golden mean. Diplomacy, negotiation, and dialogue toward mutual understanding could be ways to better ways then killing one another.
Just the better use of language could prove useful. Instead of war on Syria or on Ukraine, it may be more realistic, and true, to say war on Syrians and war on Ukrainians. We can be reminded that human persons feel more pain and loss than does a country and thus act more carefully, but maybe not.
I understand terror as being a strong fear. I may be pleased to scare the hell out of an invader of my home and be pleased if he were terrified. However, it is usually best to alleviate fear. Reactions to fear can be unpleasant. Killing people is not a good way to alleviate fear except from the dead. The dead are no longer terrorized, but the friends, family, and countrymen may have lasting anger to express. It seems good policy to consider alternatives to killing and terrorizing. Dialogue for understanding can be an effective alternative.
Those who have been called terrorists have been considered patriotic heroes. They have often been those struggle against a much stronger foe. Some French men and women did a fair job of terrorizing German occupiers. American Colonists did a bit of a job on English military and others before and during the American Revolution. The Irish used some terror tactics to become a nation once again after perhaps a 1,000 years of troubles.
War is often not always the best way of dealing with strong fear or the greater discomfort which is terror.
From the perspective of an American citizen I note that the ability to choose to make war or not was once directly up to American citizens. War was usually honorably declared and in most cases it was up to the citizens to decide to declare war. So, it was up to them to be very clear as why we should systematically kill other humans. Many found that distasteful and so gave up their right and responsibility of making war or not. Humans can be a peculiar lot.
I am am an American, a citizen of the United States so I hope you can excuse me for using us as examples. We have neglect many of our own rules and laws dealing with war. We gave up much of our rule over our armed forces and so let them be move toward being more like a mercenary organization. Not everyone is of this opinion and I can understand why. We, the citizens, gave up much of our power over the financing of American wars. No war was to be finance for over two years unless we voted for that financing. It seems many felt that unreasonably aukward. Taking time each two years to reconsider our reason for killing of humans seemed unreasonable to some so the process was simplified. At one time we were are armed forces, each man of age served at very little pay with a lot of patriotism. So, it was not so easy to kill when we had to do it ourselves. But that did not seem fair. As we had given up much of our war making powers why should we have to serve for little more than patriotism. So, we gave up the idea of a citizen armed forces and paid others a more mercenary like amount to do the fighting. Now we have we have better paid professional soldiers who war to make a living, and for the country. Now it is easier, for us as a nation, to kill people we do not know and have never attacked us. Are armed forces do the killing with do deliberation or decision to do so on their part! At times we have not even heard that a certain people were being killed in our name with our resources! Sad happenings when a people give up governing themselves. Democracy can seem very far away.
Now we let our resources be used to kill strangers in their own land and perhaps their home while making no decision to do so! This now seems a continual activity. Now the killing from high in the sky without witnessing the happening. Or, we can arm others to do so for us. Killing is paid for with resources which were once ours without thought or feeling on our part. We can easily make believe that it is not happening because we have abdicated our responsibility as citizens of a republic. With hazy eyes we do not see that we are residents of what seems very much like an empire. Still we have certain memories buried deep within, of honorable responsibilities and freedoms.
How beautiful were are doings. How clearly we envisioned our republic moving toward democracy.
Have we really let our republic slip through our fingers without a thought or care? It seems so. Are we giving a thought about the kind of people we want to be? It seems not. Are we willing to, at least, talk about it? Are we, we. or strangers whose thoughts are strange?
I believe that we can still an us, a we. I believe we have the courage to reclaim our freedom to govern ourselves. We can practice taking care of ourselves together and give ourselves a chance to revive our early purpose.
We can learn again by doing again. We do not have to give up.
You have read this. That is something. Thank you.
I did not mean to write this much about ourselves, but it feels right to have done so.
richard sheehan
Keep Our Understanding Bright
A view of democracy and its doing
Literally, simply, and truly democracy means government by the populace at large; that is the people rule; that is the people do all the governance, and that governing is up to the people. We have come to call governance through elected representatives democracy, which it is not.It is a short way to express a specific way toward true democracy and is more correctly expressed as representative democracy, a form of republicanism. Where the populace is the primary active source of political power, a people is on the road to democracy.
By the mid 1950s the simple form of representative majority rule by the citizens of a nation was already referred to as a democracy rather than a republic. In this case representatives were elected by 51% of the vote or more. The percent of votes to gain a representative position could have been another percentage such as 100 % or 72 %. In any case democracy is approached when the supreme power is vested in the people and is EXERCISED BY THEM.
Democracy has worked better where the people or the franchised people (citizens) maintain an ongoing dialogue so that they they understood one another. Such a democracy is a stable and resilient form of government.
A well worked republic is a good form of governance. I believe that many of our founders saw it as approaching democracy.
I think that we can benefit by discussing a well participated democracy. You could initiate the discussion in the the comment section. Right now I will mention examples of the nature of democracy and its benefits.
Using Democracy
Well worked a democracy can provide a platform for peaceful resolution of conflicts and allows for the protection of human rights a fundamental freedoms.
Engaging its youth in democratic discourse is crucial for the sustainability and vitality of any democratic society. Young people can bring fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and important understanding of the challenges and opportunities of the modern world. By involving them in discussions about governance, policy-making, and societal issues, we can tap into their energy, creativity, and idealism. This not only empowers the youth but also enriches the democratic process, making it more representative, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of all citizens.
Youth need not wait to be involved, they can practice involving themselves right now. As youth need not wait to be involved in governance it seems we need not.
Using democracy to your benefit involves actively participating in the democratic process. Your using can include voting in elections (How is a name chosen to appear on a ballot?), attending public meetings, and engaging in discussions about issues that affect you and your community. By exercising your right to vote, you have the power to elect representatives who align with your values and can work towards enacting policies that benefit you. You can organize to keep an eye on that representative to see that he is doing the work and send him a note of encouragement from time to time.
Using democracy for one's benefit seems a good idea. One way of doing so is by getting involved in grassroots movements and advocacy groups. By joining forces with others who share your concerns and goals, you can collectively amplify your voice a push for change. This can involve organizing protests, writing letters to elected officials, or even running for office yourself. This is just a tiny taste of the possibilities available to you.
Getting to know the nature of democracy
At its core, democracy is about people claiming a voice and ensuring that their collective interests rue in the governance of a nation. It provides a framework for peaceful coexistence and allows for the peaceful transfer of power usually through elections. In a democratic system governance tends governance of, by, and for the people. So the people are largely accountable for their governance and responsible for its quality. This is often achieved through mechanisms such as regular elections, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, an independent judiciary often ruled by a constitution, and through a wide distribution of power.
The people of a democracy promote the idea that every individual's opinion matters and should be taken into consideration when making decisions which affect society as a whole. They encourage open dialogue, debate, and the exchange of ideas, fostering a culture of inclusivity and diversity. The people are involved in ongoing democratic dialogue in the knowledge that it maintains enough common understanding to keep their governance resilient and strong.
This tends to ensure that policies and laws reflect the needs and aspirations of the entire population, including the youth.
Democracy does not work, it must be worked
The citizens of a of a democracy realize that if they do not work it, it ceases to exist. They know that the must share their opinions if the want them to be known. They know they must listen so carefully to the opinions of others that they come to understand them. This calls for enough democratic dialogue to be ongoing. Public forums and town hall meetings are encouraged, and social media platforms are used. All are free to engage in open discussions about important issues. By actively participating in these conversations, you can contribute to shaping public opinions and influencing decision-making processes. But most have begun to realize this is not enough for a great many reasons. One is not everyone is comfortable enough in public speaking to make themselves understood. Another is that effective collective governance calls for what some call thinking together. In even a largish group of know others, a timid person is often able to learn to listen to others and to take a turn to say a few words. An inexperienced youth among such know others can practice useful listening and talking skills. Such groups are for learning and practicing democratic governance.
A democratic ambience promotes transparency and accountability in a republic and other circumstances. That democratic atmosphere encourages citizens to hold their elected officials accountable for their actions and decisions and democratic citizens find that it is not difficult to organize to keep closely informed about the actions and decisions of their representatives and other public officials. So may you, by staying informed about the actions of your representatives and holding them to their promises, you can cause your interests to be better represented and protected. Doing so need not take overly much time or energy, but may take a little dialogue to get started.
A citizen of a government of democratic tendencies can find that a sense of civic responsibility and empowerment develops within him. By actively participating in the democratic process, he becomes an engaged citizen who has a say in shaping the future of his country. This sense of empowerment can lead to a greater sense satisfaction and of belonging, and of knowing that you are actively contributing to the betterment of society. Try showing up.
Thank you for reading.
richard
Self-governing local people
Natural Law, including doing no harm and keeping the peace seems okay with you......
Then you may be well on the way to governing yourself very well.
Watch this video and follow through. I would be very pleased if you would tell us how things were going. Do more to better govern your own life with resilient peaceful people.
Tell us about your experience. I believe that you will be in good company.
Richard S.
Your New Organization Can Be About Citizenship
Citizenship and Governance: A Brand New Political Organization.
Many in the U.S. are considering brand new political organizations for many reasons: a new national party, a coalition, an ad hoc effort to promote a special bill or effort, for social betterment, and on and on. They want organizations capable of working with large numbers of active citizens. They are expecting wider participation in self-governance. They want to do that which effectively furthers their aims right now.
There is much which needs to be done and many of us to do it. However, just now I will offer a list of hints which may prove helpful to an organizer.
The hints for civic organization:
~ Be inclusive. Help anyone who wants to be a member, be a member.
~ Keep in mind that teaching one another is important. Outside help can be useful, but that which we do for ourselves is more important. Each a learner, each a teacher.
~ Clarify aims and goals. Restate them often. Better them when you can.
~ Arrange to have each member have opportunities to help in achieving those goals. How will that be done?
~ Arrange to take care of all business promptly. How will it be done.Arrange for the ongoing education of all members. That's education in the skills and understandings necessary to the organization and organizational aims.
~ Make each member an educator. You do not have to use any of these hints; but anyone of them can be very useful.
~ Demonstrate abundant and appropriate trust in each member.
~ The fewer secrets the better and "no secrets" is the best policy.
~ Let each member know that he or she is participating in the creation and nourishing of the organization, its philosophy, and its doings.
~ Lay out clear steps for accomplishing the important doable goals of your organization.
~ Remember you are not alone. You are part of an organization. laying out, demonstrating, making, and doing are group affairs and doings. Members want to be active. Let them be active.
~ It is best that a goal members undertake not only be important and doable, but also ought to be attractive, challenging, and a big deal.
~ Set out a goal or two to be completed today. That is you as in you all set out a goal. You all want your orgainzation to be where the "doings" are.
~ Each member deserves a worthy job he or she can work right now. What a power house an organization can be! Your organization is a big powerful group.
~ Make clarifying the "grand vision" of your organization an ongoing activity. A grand vision for me might be the ongoing practice of active self-governance. or the ongoing practice of participatory democracy.
~ Ends, goals, objectives, aims can all be good. However, to be well done is important and the way it is done can be the most important.
~ Aim to govern yourselves by practicing active self-governance of the whole. Begin with "how to do" teach-ins.
May these hints/suggestions help you in your action plans.
We have a lot to learn and a lot to do. It's great that there are a lot of us to help with that learning and doing.
As That Active Citizen and As a participant in a meeting it is fair and useful to:
~ Show up.
~ Speak up.
~ Name the problem.
~ Team up.
~ Find a partner.
~ Frame the discussion.
That is: be there; address the group; Clarify the topic; Identify those of like mind; make a friend; listen and learn; sum up what the meeting has been about.
It all starts with showing up and being there.
Thank you for reading.
RCS
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