Page 45 - Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections

You have been elected to office because you have told your community you do have some clear answers. That’s absolutely fine: this is not a silver bullet mechanism for use in all situations. This is a complementary option for when you have a hard problem and can’t see a decision which will earn public trust. Public safety and crime is one well-suited topic. If you don’t toughen laws, then you may be accused of being “asleep on the job” and “not protecting our kids and families”; but do the opposite and you can equally be attacked for being reactive and being the “fun police” and the “nanny state”. Hire experts to recommend policy and a cynical public will think lobbyists and donors wrote the important parts! You can’t win. Energy policy is often difficult as our ‘public opinion’ way of thinking is to want everything to be renewable and for it to be free. If you have a strong preference for one policy approach, then that is a decision you should take as you normally would. If you are open to any solution, then you may benefit from asking your community how they would set the policy. Whether they answer this using pricing and taxing mechanisms, or subsidies or direct investment shouldn’t matter to you if you accept that there is no “right” decision, just one which works for your community. But to do this you will need to know the view of an informed public. 43