Category: Sunshine

Marc Elias, leader of Democracy Docket, dropped this post today, and I wanted to share it.

He (or rather Justice Sotomayor) makes the point that no issue of supporting our democracy and voting rights is too small to prevent action.

I believe this, as well, and it is why each of us can take any issue that is affecting us, our friends or family or community, and present it directly, even fiercely, to government officials.

Some of you may also be familiar with the “broken windows” concept in community and economic development. When people drive through a neighborhood and see broken windows, they know or suspect a LOT about that neighborhood and the community surrounding it, so it is necessary for the community and its leaders to address every issue that could have the effect of a broken window.

These broken windows are a leading indicator, and so, too, should small incursions into our democracy be seen with equal concern because every crack in our system of government must be addressed.

Democracy requires CONSTANT tending, and without it, it will most certainly fail.

So use the steps presented here, and take your issues, both personal and communal, directly to the leadership and power structure.

We cannot give an inch, or we will surely lose the mile.

It may seem obvious to most now that the public has a basic right to be informed about the actions of government and to inform government of issues and needed change. But this hasn’t always been the case.

I’m drawing on this excellent resource, but wanted to summarize the basics. We should appreciate that these laws have not always been around and that we should exercise our rights in order to preserve them.

In 1976, the federal government enacted, you guessed it, “The Sunshine Act”, sometimes called the Open Meetings Act, which is how it’s phrased in some states. California and some states enacted similar laws prior to this time, but the rest did so after this act was passed.

These later states were reacting to the illegal acts of Richard Nixon in the Watergate Scandal. Nixon later resigned over it, and if you’re too young to have lived through that, consider yourself lucky. Though, as bad as it was, it wasn’t as bad as what we’re living through today.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was passed in 1966, and together these two sets of laws, though often challenged for clarity of terms, represent two key avenues that the public has to understand and engage government as well as hold them accountable to the will of the people.

Building off of my prior post on why we speak out, because WE THE PEOPLE are ultimately responsible for how our government functions, we also have a right and obligation to scrutinize their actions both to participate in or monitor meetings and to access documents that are the results of their actions.

When elected officials feel no obligation to be transparent with their actions, human nature to be self-serving either individually or collectively takes over and bad things start to happen — things that are not in the best interest of the community.

Being a citizen in our always and increasingly complex society takes effort. It’s not on each of us to monitor the actions of government, but it is on all of us to do so, collectively and persistently.

And when government is working well, we can all become complacent. But when it’s not, it’s time to remember why we have Sunshine Laws, that these are our rights, and that we are obligated to use them or we will almost certainly lose them.

Keep speaking up!

I’ve had some recent conversations that suggest that I need to be clearer on these two points.

I invite everyone to attend their local municipal meetings to share their concerns, their ideas, and to remind officials that they are not only there to address issues interior to their municipalities, but to be alert to and mindful of the impact from external threats.

Why speak out at all and why should we speak to local officials?

On the first question, it’s our duty. Because we’re so used to having a stable federal system, I believe we’ve lost our awareness that the Constitution states, “We the People…do…establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”  This makes clear that the people are still in charge, still responsible, and we still have an obligation to oversee the functions established by the Constitution.  And when those functions are endangered, the people are obligated to correct them.  The system itself cannot, perhaps, correct itself, but the people still can (nonviolently, of course, and I hope).

It is our duty to monitor the functioning of our system of government and to correct things when necessary. Democracy is not a perfect, stable system. It requires constant tending, or it will inevitably fall apart. We CAN reconnect with our responsibilities, and we CAN right the ship of democracy.

Second, we should address our complaints to all levels of the power and policy structure, but we should be especially focused on speaking to the local municipalities because that is where the system is most vulnerable. If you are trying to change a power structure, it’s hard to do so where the power is strongest and most supported. That strong point is at top of the pyramid.

The weakest spots are farthest way from that point — at the bottom and edges — where supports are least and, in the case of mixed boards, where there is already a plurality of opinion present to build from.

This is a basic tactic in any conflict, and one that is useful now.

So…Please speak out because the establishment needs to hear your voice.

And your voice, and especially the voices of many, will be strongest when applied at the weakest places in the power structure.

Use the method, and I am confident that things will change.

If you note silence by politicians on matters of concern, it could means that it is time and an opportunity for those with an opinion on current events to step up and fill that void with clear messages on the impacts of these events on our communities, our families, our friends, and neighbors.

If your local elected officials are NOT speaking out on issues impacting your community, they are NOT representing you (in our representative government structure) and should be put on notice that they will be held accountable for their inaction.

There are many opportunities to do so, but one of the most impactful ways is to speak directly to them at public comment periods. Other forms of communication, while cathartic, are too easy to ignore, and we have to focus our communications on what the LISTENER DOES, not on how we feel about our actions.

If there are no actions in response to your messages, keep trying. A proven technique, as discussed on this page is to tell a personal story that connects to the listener and draws them into the emotion of your concern. The listener needs to FEEL your pain in order to internalize the need to act.

Keep up the conversation, and fill voids of communication with messages that bring action.

Thanks to my good friend, JP Brice, at CMPRadio.net, I was able to reconnect and discuss the concepts behind OperationSunshine.info and how important it is that citizens engage government officials through the state Sunshine and Open Meetings laws.

Both young and old can speak out.

Our education system may not teach us how public involvement in government works, but we can learn it, model it, and encourage it in everyone to engage effectively.

This practice of public meeting engagement includes teaching and supporting youths to work together, write their stories, and speak to public officials. Youths are often more fearless than adults, and far more impactful.

Never give up trying!

The protests are fabulous, but PLEASE sustain the momentum by speaking out at every local government meeting. There are open mics where public officials must hear your anger, your frustration, and your stories.

Use these basic tools to prepare yourself, gather support, speak, and record your comments.

We have a right and the power to speak up.

Let’s use it!

And, oh by the way, don’t leave any ballot position empty. #runforsomething, run for anything!

Local races generally have very easy write-in requirements, so even if you didn’t go through a formal process, you can still get on the ballot in November!

Different individuals across the country are documenting the ongoing attacks on US institutions and our democracy. Legislators are running away from public events, but we have a solution to that problem. Public meetings are made available under state Sunshine or Open Meetings laws that make open mics available for most any (respectful) comments.

We can use the sources below to engage and impact the political structure at all levels

Find your issue

If you want to know all of the Executive Orders and other actions of the current administration, there are several “trackers” available. One that I follow closely is by Olga Lautman called the “Trump Tyranny Tracker“.

Find your local impact

Taking this to the next level, here is a site that is (or will be soon – so follow it on LinkedIn) showing the local impacts of these actions.

Make your voice heard

With all of the Federal legislators starting to run and hide from public events or town halls, we can still make our voices heard a local government meetings.

That what THIS site is about, so start here, and keep building!

Our founding fathers set up our REPRESENTATIVE democratic system of government as a way to address the inefficiencies that were present in the original DIRECT democracy of Athens. In Athens, ALL citizens could be present to vote on measures. Imagine the chaos and confusion of having all citizens in on every vote. You can see that such a system does not scale up well to larger populations, hence the representative system was innovatively devised.

HOWEVER, a representative government DOES NOT remove the responsibility and obligations of citizens to oversee the actions of their representatives.

We need to remember this, because in times of relative calm when the rules established in our Constitution and our laws are being followed, we trust and rely on our representatives to act on our collective behalf and in our best interest.

When our Constitution and our laws are NOT being followed, the citizenry has the right, the power, and the obligation to engage the representatives to correct the actions and to “right the ship.” It is our birthright or our right as naturalized citizens to act on this responsibility. We cannot opt out of it.

If you are, like me, “of a certain age” where you were taught the way that citizens can interact with government, then these ideas are not new or radical, but to younger citizens who may not have received the civics instruction we’d like, these ideas may sound new.

As such, it is incumbent on those of us who understand how our system works to demonstrate our roles as citizens and to engage the political system at every level until the actions of the government align with the intentions of those who are governed…US!

Our Constitution and the laws derived from it MUST BE FOLLWED unless the PEOPLE say otherwise.

Let’s use our voices at every level to engage the political system, from the bottom up if necessary, to bring our country back into alignment with our core democratic values.

OUR VOICES are strong and POWERFUL!