Citizens’ assemblies can help us resolve some looming problems we face with representative democracy — provided we see them as a complement to it rather than a replacement for it.
Daniel, although this article is from your "archives," it's proving to be very inspiring for me today. Like a lot of Americans, (millions of us?) I've been thinking about ways to rebuild our democracy.
The idea of employing Citizens' Assemblies, in addition to our current representative government, seems logical and hopeful to me. I'm convinced that we, as committed citizens, should be whole-heartedly embracing and scaling up this proven process of direct democracy. It's very empowering to realize that the common people can effectively work together to support the common good.
You are very skilled at explaining how this can work. I hope that you will spread the word more broadly. I'll do my best to do so too. If you do decide to update this piece, would you consider adding that the ideas behind Citizens' Assemblies did not exclusively originate in Athens, Greece? There are many researchers who argue that many, if not all, of America's democratic ideas originated with the Indigenous societies who already lived here. A good summary can be found in the first chapter of The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber, David Wengrow, or in the growing research done by current Indigenous Turtle Island scholars.
I agree with you that Citizens' Assemblies are definitely an "Ancient Innovation" whose time has come again.
Daniel, although this article is from your "archives," it's proving to be very inspiring for me today. Like a lot of Americans, (millions of us?) I've been thinking about ways to rebuild our democracy.
The idea of employing Citizens' Assemblies, in addition to our current representative government, seems logical and hopeful to me. I'm convinced that we, as committed citizens, should be whole-heartedly embracing and scaling up this proven process of direct democracy. It's very empowering to realize that the common people can effectively work together to support the common good.
You are very skilled at explaining how this can work. I hope that you will spread the word more broadly. I'll do my best to do so too. If you do decide to update this piece, would you consider adding that the ideas behind Citizens' Assemblies did not exclusively originate in Athens, Greece? There are many researchers who argue that many, if not all, of America's democratic ideas originated with the Indigenous societies who already lived here. A good summary can be found in the first chapter of The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber, David Wengrow, or in the growing research done by current Indigenous Turtle Island scholars.
I agree with you that Citizens' Assemblies are definitely an "Ancient Innovation" whose time has come again.