We wanted to share our path of inquiry over almost the past 20 years. A variety of field projects have been used to address each piece of the “conventional wisdom”:
1) “The public doesn’t care…”
The apathy myth – Community members DO care and will get involved if they are invited to participate from a trusted colleague and if the process is accessible in its language, framing and logistics. Common Knowledge projects and partners have shown that people in groups least likely to participate will vote, volunteer, advocate, lead dialogues and organize next steps for the issues they care about.
2) “Well, even if they do care, the issues are too complicated for them to understand…”
Public capacity – The public, especially underrepresented communities, have far greater ability to learn about complex policy issues than most policy elites understand; there is a way to distill the issues to help people understand the “basics” and they can tolerate far more ambiguity/”gray area” than politicians (or consultants) realize.
3) “Well, even if they can understand the issues, people are way too polarized to find common ground.”
Common ground – The public’s input on policy issues is most helpful in determining guiding values and trade-offs -– rather than expecting the public to be able to weigh in on the technical details of any one specific solution. At the values level, there is far more common ground than the media or others would report. (Personal note: I’ve been part of projects that have demonstrated common ground on such charged topics as health care reform, affordable housing and even how to modify Prop 13!)
4) “Well, even if they care, can understand the issues, and articulate common ground, people are too self-centered and consumer-oriented to step to their responsibilities in making our communities and state a better place to live.”
Community Assets – There is a chicken and egg problem with the “consumer” mindset relative to public issues. There are thousands of examples of how community leaders and members have demonstrated new ways of getting the “public’s business done.” Think of citizens as partners with talents and insights to contribute, rather than just as consumers and taxpayers. Then they will surprise you.
