WORKING WITH GOVERNMENT

Public participation in government is deeply ingrained in the American psyche. From the classic New England Town Meeting combining consensual public discussion before decision-making, accompanied by sealed ballot voting when conflicts cannot be talked through, to the formalized routines of federal Notice and Comment Rulemaking, to local government budget hearings (the often frustrating line up behind the microphone model), to the thousands of citizen advisory boards of varying effectiveness used by all levels of government, we are a people who demand access to government through participation options prior to government action. Yet it is widely accepted that despite government agencies’ efforts to take participation requirements seriously, in too many instances sizeable segments of the public are dissatisfied, frustrated and even angry with the public processes used to achieve policy decisions. It may be fair to say there is an increasingly real disconnect between the people and their government, as evidenced by falling voter participation levels and many other indicators of public sentiment toward government.