In this article, you will learn about one of the most important rights of citizenship. This is the right to participate in governing our nation. The class will discuss the different ways you can get involved.
It will also
suggest things to think about when deciding whether or not to participate. By
the time you finish the lesson, you should know the difference between a
citizen and a non-citizen. You must also be able to argue your views on whether
and to what extent a citizen should participate in government.
Many citizens do not participate in government. They
do not vote or participate in most of the other ways you just discussed.
However, some people believe that citizens have a responsibility to
participate.
Deciding
whether to participate and how much time to dedicate to participating is
important. To make good decisions, you have to think about several things. Some
of them are:
•
The purpose of our government
•
How important your rights are to you
•
How satisfied are you with the way the government is working
An example can help. Imagine that you have hired a company to fix your bicycle. Before you hire them, you'll want to make sure they can fix the bikes. So you'll want to make sure they did what you hired them to do. Suppose the company has done a good job.
So you wouldn't bother checking them if your
sister's bike needed repairs a few weeks later.
Let's
say the company did a terrible job with your bike. So you might want to replace
them or keep an even closer eye on them when your sister's bike needs repairs.
The
same goes for the government. We need to be sure that the people we
"hire" (choose) can do the job we're hiring them to do. Once we get
the job, we need to keep an eye on them to make sure they're doing that job. If
they do a good job, we might not be watching them closely. If they do a poor
job, we can keep an eye on them and even decide to replace them. Participation
in government is in our interest. The amount of time we spend engaging will
likely depend on how well we think our elected officials are doing.
Hopefully,
we will spend less time than if we were worried that someone is violating our
rights. If we are satisfied with the government, we can vote and do little
else. However, if we are not satisfied, we will probably take other measures.
There
are several ways people participate in the governance process:
•
Through voting in elections People vote for the leaders of their choice to
represent them. Their representatives make decisions on behalf of their people
•
People participate in the government process by being interested in how
government works and criticizing it when necessary.
•
People express their views in various ways and make governments understand what
action they need to take.
• Another form of popular
participation is organizing into social movements that seek to challenge the
government and its functioning. Minority community members can participate in
this way.
Ways to Participate in Government
Ways
citizens can follow:
1. Examine
information in newspapers, magazines and reference books and determine their
accuracy
2. Vote
locally, regionally and nationally
3. Participate
in political discussions
4. Try
to convince someone to vote in a certain way
5. Sign
the petition
6. Like
a button or put a sticker on a car
7. Write
letters to elected officials
8. Donating
money to a party or a politician
9. Attend
meetings to get information, discuss issues or provide support
10. Campaign
for a candidate
11. Room
for special interest orders
12. Demonstrate
through demonstrations, boycotts, sit-ins or other forms of protest
13. Serve
as a lawyer
14. Participating
in elections
15. Held
in public hands
16. Serving
the country through war or other service
17. Disobey
the law and think about the consequences to prove that the law or policy is
wrong.
Some New Forms of Citizen Participation
1.
Citizens organize (breast cancer survivors, environmentalists or similar) to
defend and influence public policy.
2.
Create a coalition of citizens who initiate, propose or speak about various new
laws. This is important because what many councils and local authorities
consider to be the most important can be very important to citizens who may be
interested in various issues that are not being spoken by the government.
The
type of citizen participation in local government has its own potential, so it
can trigger changes in local affairs. For example, public demonstrations can be
organized based on the intentions of citizens, through the invitation of one or
more political parties or trade unions, or thanks to the efforts of citizens,
political party’s government, trade unions and others in the public sector.
In
addition, poor communication and relations with local government officials, on
the basis of which the authorities change their decisions, happen every day in
different places (streets, markets, cafes, hotels, neighborhoods, etc.)
3.
The Internet has become a tool of communication between citizens and different
levels of government, or serves as a meeting place between citizens to discuss
various issues. This increases access to information that has a
"democratic impact" - politics and citizens often mobilize them to take
action.
4. To participate in the development of their country, citizens and other actors create public spaces to discuss common projects (through participation and implementation).
This last
type of citizen participation will be the main topic of this article, because
it reflects the motivation of citizens and allows dialogue with many actors in
the community.
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