Short post (for a change) as I'm on the road very shortly, but in a nutshell, Radwanski is touching the elephant that has been rubbed up against by many.
We can blame the politicians, who are cow-towing to Parties rather than to their constituents; we can point fingers at the political operatives who are pushing the envelope of what's acceptable in their constant quest for power. We can blame unions, corporations, youth, baby boomers, whoever we feel makes a decent scapegoat.
But this is a democracy folks. We have all kinds of rights - to speech, association, opinion, or to completely disengage, should we so choose. With these rights, however, comes responsibility. The system isn't responsible to us - we are the system.
Our democracy is failing because we have made the choice not to get informed, get engaged and make a difference. We'd rather others do that for us and then complain when we're not happy with the results.
There are many people and organizations out there right now, trying to turn the tide, mostly on a volunteer basis. Sadly, those with money have a hard time recognizing the ROI of keeping our democracy alive.
Here's how it has to work - the only way it can work. The people at the top need to want to engage with, not message to, the people. The people need access to information and above all, need to feel empowered.
Organizations working on this, with precious few if any dollars, include Samara, Why Should I Care, the Maytree Foundation, Make Web Not War, SoJo and many, many others.
Individuals from marginalized communities are trying to get organized and get information to their communities, but don't know where to start. Public Servants are holding conversations and events where all are welcome, but few know about. Amazing new consultation processes through firms like Swerhun and Exhibit Change are transforming Decide, Sell, Defend into Discuss, Decide, Do.
The answers we seek are being worked on right now, in silos, reaching out for ways to connect. It's a powerful story.
The question is, are the people from top to bottom ready to listen? Are they prepared to take part in building this new narrative?
We keep talking about the need for change. Complaining is easy. The real question is, are we prepared to work together to make it happen?
That means all of us - partisans, private, union, grassroots, public servants, press. It takes everyone to make democracy work.
Moving forward together means leaving no one behind.
It's really as simple as that.
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