Posted on 12/02/2007 8:06:39 AM PST by Chi-townChief
Public participation, accountability and transparency are keys to honest and efficient government. There are only five levels of executive and legislative levels of government in the American political system - municipal, township, county, state and federal. The principles of accountability and transparency should apply across the board.
This means that at every level of government elected officials ought to be held accountable. It is easier said than done. People who are elected to do a job must step forward and do what they promised to do during their campaigns.
The public has a major role to play in the process. This, too, is not easy because the culture of the United States encourages people to be shortsighted, self absorbed and materialistic. People tend to get caught up in their narrow pursuit of the good life and forget they have a responsibility to help build and maintain a sense of community.
It is often said that North Americans have a short memory and are moved by the media from one sensational story to the next. The media provides only superficial coverage of events and political figures. The run-up to the invasion of Iraq is an example of how this works.
The Bush administration was allowed to make one unfounded assertion after another without a critical assessment by the fourth estate. The same thing has occurred with the coverage of the role of the United States in South America and the Caribbean over the past 30 years.
Very little is said about the way in which this part of the hemisphere has been ravaged by policies that dismantled the social safety net, eased environmental controls, undermined labor organizations and increased poverty and class divisions. Is it because similar policies are being applied to the United States?
If people here understood what was going on in South America, would they be able to connect the dots and see the parallels?
Along with increased inequality in the United States, there is widespread dissatisfaction with Congress. In addition, Americans are becoming increasingly insecure about the future. The high cost of fuel, the crisis in the mortgage industry, continued layoffs, the absence of health insurance for upward of 50 million people and the decline of the U. S. dollar make it difficult for large segments of the country to be optimistic about the future.
People have but a few choices under such conditions. They can turn on each other and allow themselves to be divided, manipulated and controlled. Or they can close ranks and act in concert to improve their lot by working together.
In every crisis, and at every level of a society, leadership is called forward. Those elected officials who sit on the sidelines when the times call for leadership might as well resign their positions in the hope that someone with the courage to do what is right will replace them.
The former Black Panther leader, Eldridge Cleaver, said it another way: "You are either part of the solution or you are part of the problem" when situations demands change. For every crisis there is an opportunity to teach, to organize and to create a critical mass of public opinion that can make a difference.
No matter the level of government or society the "task of creating a functioning democratic culture," according to Noam Chomsky, requires day-by-day engagement to create - in part recreate - the basis for a functioning democratic culture in which the public plays some role in determining both political and economic policies.
Yes, it means turning off the television or watching something other than fluff or participating in a public discussion of the issues of the day.
A newly formed South Suburban Social Forum will hold Wednesday night discussions starting Nov. 28 at the River North Coffee Cafe, 369 E. Sibley Boulevard in Harvey. The first topic is the subprime lending crisis and how to avoid foreclosure.
The forums will start at 6:30 pm.
Over the next weeks and months, they will feature spoken word artists, musicians, painters, local and nationally known authors. Admission is free.
David Johnson's "Subject to Change" appears every other week in the SouthtownStar. Johnson is a professor at South Suburban College in South Holland and a former mayor of Harvey. He may be reached at djohnson@ southsuburban college.edu.
The last time I wrote a reply to one of Johnson's columns, I was rewarded with an e-mail from his editor saying that "there is no need to insult our columnists" as well as one from Johnson saying he's try to keep a more open mind but maybe I'll try again.
CHICAGOLAND PING
Communist agenda laid out before your eyes PING!
www.progressivestates.org
Just another frustrated pinko.
I am a Duncan Munchkin!!
http://dhgrassrevolt.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/the-duncan-hunter-grass-revoltcom-endorses/
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1933432/posts?q=1&;page=151
Public participation, accountability and transparency are keys to honest and efficient government....This means that at every level of government elected officials ought to be held accountable.
At first I thought this was going to be an all out assault on Hillarycare circa 1993 but since she served as UNELECTED co-president, we did not need public participation or transparency (thus the closed door sessions) and there was no accountability to voters.
NO THIRD TERM
“Public participation, accountability and transparency are keys to honest and efficient government.”
When did this ever occur in local Chicago politics?
I’m with ya there, Chicagolady !!! I sure hope Duncan can hang in there and pull off some major upsets as the primary season rolls along.
Eldridge Cleaver, RIP, became a Reagan Republican and condemned Castro ("a man in prison in America is freer than a free man in Cuba") in his later years.
The popular media tries to downplay their conversions of philosophy later in life. They still pretend it is 1968.
YES! When United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald gets ahold of them!!
A newly formed South Suburban Social Forum will hold Wednesday night discussions starting Nov. 28 at the River North Coffee Cafe, 369 E. Sibley Boulevard in Harvey. The first topic is the subprime lending crisis and how to avoid foreclosure. The forums will start at 6:30 pm.
That's gonna be one noisy meeting.
According Google Maps that's at the entrance of a Freight Yard and only 75ft West of some very busy Train Tracks - toot toot! 
Government is not the solution. Many assume it is because of the fallout from the Great Depression, but more and more gov’t planning begets even more gov’t planning. Already this place is more regulated than Chavez ever dreamed of.
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