BY DAVID MATHEWS
If the public that a democracy requires is a citizenry in-motion, a citizenry working together to solve common problems and create a better life, where can it be found? Xavier de Souza Briggs thinks it is in communities. I believe he is right, even though we all recognize that communities also have conditions in them that can keep people from joining with one another. Citizens disagree on what their problems are and what is the right thing to do about them. They worry that they don’t have the resources needed to act effectively. They organize a multitude of projects that move in different directions and fail to reinforce one another. They learn little from their efforts; civic momentum fails before much has been accomplished. These are all symptoms of problems of democracy.
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