The document discusses challenges with modern governance and declining trust in government. It proposes two approaches to strengthen democracy and impact public trust: changing how government relates to citizens, and strengthening citizen involvement in decision making. America Speaks is presented as working to reinvigorate democracy by engaging citizens through facilitated deliberations that integrate both face-to-face and online participation. Their goal is to fully integrate citizen voices into the decision making process.
21. Fully integrate citizen voices into decision making so engagement becomes the way the community does its public business Long Term Goal for Deliberative Democracy
Fewer than 4 in 10 Americans believe that “most elected officials care what people like me think.” Only 36% said they think “they can trust the government in Washington to do what is right.”
Who is WE?
Large scale 130,000 people Throughout America – all 50 states and DC In Europe, Australia Presentations around the world including Asia and here in Canada!
Despite America’s lamentable ranking as #15 worldwide in the adoption of broadband internet technologies, broadband adoption continues to expand. A June 2009 Pew study showed a full 63% of Americans with current access to high-speed internet; up from 55% in 2008. President Obama is devoted to continuing these trends and closing the international gap. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act sets aside a whopping $7.2 billion to promote broadband adoption in low-income communities.
Expanding broadband access means increasing social interaction. Increasing amounts of online activity are finding their way into high-quality, high-touch online communications. Social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter each boast subscriber bases in excess of 100 million. Local governments and agencies provide an increasing volume of data and transactional services online, ranging from paying parking tickets, to raw data at data.gov, to the deep and broad range of services offered through GSA’s portal at http://www.gsa.gov/citizen/services.shtml. The Obama Campaign’s groundbreaking use of internet social networking demolished any doubts of the intersection of technology, government and politics. MyBarackObama.com mobilized millions of volunteers and supporters and helped to raise over half a billion dollars online. These currents and thousands like them are rewriting both history and conventional wisdom. Politics, Democracy, and Governance will henceforth include online participation. Americans are eager to get involved. Facebook started off as a small social network popular among some college students. Then in the past few years Facebook’s users have skyrocketed as Facebook went mainstream. First among college students, then once it was open to the public, it blew the gates open as millions of new users young and old joined to check out this new social network. In April 2009, the social network passed 300 million unique visitors a month according to ComScore. 160% increase from April of 2008. Facebook also has 225 monthly active users. Twitter continues strong as it jumped 70% in March with 32 million worldwide uniques, while MySpace has flat lined at 123 million uniques a month. MySpace has recently shaken up their leadership in order to rejuvenate their stagnating figures.
Diverse representation ensures that the full community is represented in the process. Informed participation provides participants with highly accessible materials that neutrally frame the issues and provide a baseline of information to begin discussions. Facilitated deliberation makes certain all voices are heard and that each participant plays an active role in the deliberations. Shared priorities are the endgame, so the process is designed to foster a high level of agreement among participants’ common priorities. Links to action are the backbone of civic participation, requiring active involvement from decision-makers and key leaders throughout a project. Large scale meetings (500 to 5,000 participants) enable the outcomes to have greater visibility and credibility with policy-makers, the media, key stakeholders, and the public as a whole. Sustaining citizen engagement in the policy-making process – through opportunities to take action – develops civic leadership and enhances implementation of public priorities.