Robert Knisely

We must reflect on the Founders’ America and its changes since then. Growth and increasing complexity come to mind, of course.

The ratio of citizens per representatives has increased from 30,000:1 then to nearly 800,000:1 today. Expecting representatives to listen to their constituents, and for constituents to see themselves as “represented,” has become all but impossible.

America’s citizens have become more “distant” from government of all levels due to growth, the intensity of modern life, and – perhaps the Internet’s increasing presence and complexity. We don’t have the time to worry about climate change, much less governance. With less time available, politics has become less cognitive, more affective.

In the age of the Internet, social media, and political disarray, we must find and promulgate ways of encouraging and facilitating citizen engagement -- and publicizing it as well. Examples include Participatory Budgeting, where citizen assemblies are allocated funds and determine where and how these funds are spent. We might actively invite comment on public issues via the Internet, probably requiring Artificial Intelligence to collect, correlate, and quickly summarize all comments.

We could require “Legislative Impact Statements” that would describe the desired positive results of proposed legislation, as well as any perceived possible negative impacts – all for public comment as above.

We must see where our government is now, and bring change.