Participatory Democracy: Just what is it? Barrack Obama is inspiring it. Candidates across the country are advocating it. Citizen's everywhere are taking part in it at every level of government. It's been called a right, an obligation and a clarion call. Democracy has always required the participation of the citizenry, so how is participatory democracy different?
The difference is that "participatory democracy" goes beyond one citizen, one vote and then leaving it up to the elected to take care of the rest. It involves bringing people just like |
you into the governmental decision-making process. It begins when people like you go to a town hall or city council meeting to share your views. The Marina Democratic Club is a good example of "participatory democracy." As can be seen in the video above, the club provides a strong forum for the discussion of issues with governmental decision-makers.
CitizenNewscaster.com is an example of participatory democracy. Making meaningful contributions to decision-making processes requires the gathering of significant amounts of information. Electronic |
media, such as is represented by this site contribute to participation by offering citizens easy access to large amounts of information. It follows then that when mainstream media or cable providers introduce bills that would give them the ability to control and limit the flow of information over the internet, based on a commercial hierarchy, they are really seeking to control, limit and commercialize your ability to take part in "participatory democracy."
Protect your rights by supporting free-thinking citizen-directed media. |
Bulletin:
The CitizenNewscaster.com site is currently being developed. In the coming months we plan to expand our offerings to include streaming radio programming, (details will be posted soon), a video magazine, an editorial section, and a unique community fact finders forum, in which you can set the direction of our reporting and be a contributing producer as well. |
