One More on Fixing Democracy, Part 3

This is the last in a series of posts on how to make our democracy work better based on an article, The Wisdom of Crowds, How to involve ordinary citizens in complex political decisions, by Marco Visscher, in The Intelligent Optimist magazine (formerly Ode).

 

“The Danes realizing over beers in a Copenhagen café 25 years ago never imagined their radical idea would strike such a chord.  ‘We usually meet skepticism in the science and industry communities, but it fades during the process,’ says Kluver.  He understands that experts tend to view social and political challenges as technical problems, while citizens raise ethical and cultural issues. ‘The conference usually provides a milestone for them to which they refer even years later,’ he says.

 

“Satheesh believes there’s a lesson to be learned: Talk to the people first, before you make political decisions. ‘Put all your cards down in front of them,’ he says. ‘Don’t cheat. Don’t hide. Let them make decisions.’”