A Bottom-Up Political Movement? Probably Not.

This week’s readings seem largely to explore a bottom-up approach (or possibility) to political participation. Perhaps – and I could be wrong – the readings suggest that a viable solution to our problem of political inertia is to “give back” political power to the rank-and-file citizen, or at least some of the power over localized policy issues. By exploring the possibilities of an empowered citizenry who influence the political leadership at the municipal level (Fung), we may be able to extract broader implications and possibilities at higher levels of government. Certainly there is comfort in the fact that the parents in “Reform Strategy” were able to reshape the political construct as it relates to schools, neighborhood safety, and general quality of life issues. What I see as important in the Fung chapters is a similar yet milder form of revolutionary ideology that has shaped and reformed governments throughout history. I mean simply that a few citizens saw themselves and their children as jeopardized by the status quo, and their strongly ingrained common cause toward social reform drove a change in the designs of the political landscape. Seen in this way, it is very possible for the social needs and, more importantly, the demands of the citizen to compel the political actors…at least at the local level.

If citizens do have the agency to transform the power relations between themselves and their elected officials, why doesn’t this happen more often at the national level? Several reasons come to mind – large bureaucracies, distance from politicians, differences in depth and knowledge of information about policy issues and initiatives, political and social inertia, and a belief that everyone’s voice needs to be heard. All of these factors may be seen as problems stemming from the sheer size of our government. Certainly our government must strike a balance between what it would like to do and what it can do, but as of yet we have not found a viable connector between the various horizontal power strata. As the gap between the horizontal layers of our society increase, the voices from the bottom become more difficult to hear. It is honorable to desire that all voices be heard, but it is simply not feasible. Furthermore, attempting to bridge the gap between the disconnected citizenry and the plugged-in power-elite becomes all at once more difficult and burdensome as the issues become more complicated, more costly, and more important globally.