Realism Is Difficult but Illusions End Badly

It has taken tens of millions of us neglecting our democratic commons over the last 50 years to get us into the mess our political process has become. We won’t fix things in a year or two.

We are, most of us anyway, a very small part of our democratic whole. We understand that it will take north of 80 million of us to elect our president in 2024, yet it is nevertheless difficult to accept what a small difference we can make in the far longer struggle to strengthen our democracy.

When we realize that this will be a very long fight, and that each of us as individuals can play only a very small part, there is a temptation to give up. We want a quick and easy fix. But there is no miracle cure. No magic potion. No pill to take. No button to push. No knob to turn. No lever to yank. Yes, we are all small, and there is no easy path.

Only by the unrelenting efforts of tens of millions of us, working patiently over decades and taking countless small steps, can we build the strengthened democracy we must have to cure today’s ills, to prevent a long slow slide into civilizational decline and into the abyss of environmental collapse.

It is in our nature to want to see how the story ends. We are in the middle of a long running series, and we want to see the finale, the last episode. But some of us will not. I’m 76, and I’ll never live to see how our current crisis is resolved. I’ll never see the last episode. We must accept that, although it is difficult and contrary to our nature.

No One Will Build Monuments to Us

Our efforts to build a strengthened democracy will be, for the vast majority of us, utterly thankless. No one will build monuments to us. No one will even remember our personal efforts. Likewise, we must accept this too. Many who have fought and died for our freedom, in the Civil War to free the slaves, in World War II to beat back fascism, and today in Ukraine, have given their lives anonymously.

Today we must make a great and thankless effort for our children’s children, for all those who will follow us. This struggle will be hard. For many of us, this will be unrewarded virtue, sacrifice that will go unrecognized and unacknowledged. But we must accept this too. If we do not rise to this challenge, the inheritance of our children’s children will be ashes.

When we are tempted to feel sorry for ourselves, we should remember that it is only because of the thankless efforts and sacrifices of those who came before us that we today enjoy the blessings of liberty and the fruits of prosperity.

Referring to the collective identity of a nation, the renowned journalist and thinker Walter Lippmann explained more than a century ago the powerful motives we must summon to inspire us today: "This corporate being, though so insubstantial to our senses, binds, in Burke’s words, a man to his country with ties which though light as air, are as strong as links of iron. That is why young men die in battle for their country’s sake and why old men plant trees they will never sit under."

A greatly strengthened democracy is a tree many of us will not live to sit under, but for the sake of our children’s children, we must nevertheless, whatever the cost, plant it today.

Another great thinker expressed words to brace our courage a year before the revolution that launched our experiment in democracy. In 1775, Thomas Paine wrote this now immortal passage: "These are the times that try men’s souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

This is real patriotism, and it is this spirit that everyone who loves our country in its time of troubles must summon today.

The Good News: Progress Builds on Itself

While modest improvements in the functioning of our democracy and governments will not be nearly enough to do what we need our governments to do - tackle urgent problems on a large scale while seizing the opportunities opened by rapid change – we must nevertheless start with modest improvements. If we keep at it, they will reinforce each other and add up to the big change we need. We could call this the synergy of solutions.

The good news is that marginal improvements will often increase our ability to make related improvements. Better civics education in a community’s schools, for example, can improve the likelihood of electing better local representatives, and that in turn can improve the prospects for more transparency and accountability in the governments they lead.

Real Progress is Being Made Right Now

As you will see from the "Details & Resources >>" links in the Elements of an Ambitious Strategy section below, there are strong organizations and smart dedicated people working in many of the areas of change we need, and solutions are being developed on many fronts.

Progress is being made in promoting an increase in the cooperative attitudes and practices needed to improve our democratic functioning. A massive democracy reform movement is building all over the country, and better policies hold the promise of expanding the base of support for a reinvigorated pro-democracy politics.

Because Our Problem is "Wicked," Our Best Strategy Is to Attack Everywhere at Once

Given the "wicked" nature of our problem, the only practical approach will be to do many things concurrently, and use the positive synergies described above, where improvements in one aspect will lead to improvements in other parts. Register voters, fight gerrymandering, lobby the school board to restore civics education, have a "come to Jesus" talk with local news editors, go door-to-door with voter education materials, the list may at times seem endless, and it certainly is demanding.

Because our systems of democracy and government are dysfunctional or weak in so many places and in so many ways, a very broad and multifaceted effort is needed. An ambitious strategy to strengthen our democracy will need dozens of elements, and will need to be approached at all levels, from local school boards and town council races to our national elections.

The approach that makes the most sense on a national level is to attack every facet, every crevice, and every nook-and-cranny of this complicated problem. On a local level, specific aspects may be particularly fruitful depending on unique local conditions. Activists on the ground should make local judgments, but those who are thinking on a larger geographic scale should be supporting everyone, everywhere, doing everything that needs doing.

That may sound hard, but it actually isn't that hard. There are so many useful things we can do that, for many people, the hardest part will be deciding where to invest their own personal resources from among the abundant good choices. 

While all together we can do many things, any one person will need to pick and choose. Democracy is another of those "all hands on deck" enterprises. If we are to restore its vitality and effectiveness, there can be no passengers, only crew.

Elements of an Ambitious Strategy to Strengthen Democracy

This article will focus on a comprehensive overview of what elements should be included in an ambitious strategy to improve our democracy. Other articles in this series will deal with closely related aspects of our challenge. These include our stake in strengthening democracy, how our democracy falls short of the strength and effectiveness we need, how citizens can engage the challenge, and how you can choose the specific ways to engage that will work best for you.

A strategy to create a stronger and more effective democracy and improve the government it creates must have many parts, steps, projects, and goals. A robust listing follows. Please note, however, that the list below is intended as a "living list." It is neither complete nor perfect. Additional explanation and explanatory resources are added throughout in the form of "Details & Resources >>" linked pages. These will also be expanded and improved over time. Please suggest additional points or clearer or more specific and practical wording for existing points. Email comments and suggestions (or questions) to ecoiq@ecoiq.com.  

Before you go on, note also that most readers will find this list eye-glazing. It is included now to give readers an idea of where this article is headed. By mid-October, this list will be moved to another page and accessible here via a link. The lists below will be replaced by much more reader-friendly text. In the meantime, the best approach for most readers will be to skim the lists which follow and slow down to read more carefully only the sections of particular interest to you.

Ensure free and fair elections and that all votes count equally:

• Guarantee universal voting rights and restore all federal civil rights protections.

• Prioritize efforts to increase youth and minority voting.

• Increase the number of polling places in underserved low-income and minority neighborhoods. Establish mobile polling stations in remote areas.

• Make registration and voting easier with automatic voter registration and portable registration, allowing voters to retain their registration status when moving within the state.

• Remove barriers to the disabled, impoverished, homeless, and those lacking transportation to ensure universal access.

• Provide early voting and vote-by-mail options to ensure everyone has practical voting options that will work for them.

• Counteract voter suppression measures, both in intent and in law.

• Restore voting rights to former felons once they have completed their sentences.

• Grant the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and other US territories statehood so they can have voting representation in Congress. Details & Resources >>

• Provide multilingual ballots and voter instructions.

• Offer comprehensive multilingual voter education on registration, voting options, rights, and reporting rights violations.

• Ensure that poll workers receive training to prevent inadvertent denial of voting rights as well as to prevent voter intimidation.

• Eliminate gerrymandering by implementing a nonpartisan redistricting process free from incumbent manipulation so that redistricting is done fairly and ensures that all voters have an equal influence on outcomes. Details & Resources >>

• Rotate which states go first in presidential primaries to prevent states from competing for early influence.

• Allow independent voters to participate in party primaries.

• Consider alternative voting systems, such as ranked choice voting, to ensure a more representative outcome.

• Enhance the practical mechanisms of the voting infrastructure, including strengthening cybersecurity measures to protect voter databases and voting machines, upgrading voting machines to provide paper backup records for verification, and implementing backup systems to counter power outages or system failures on election day.

• Provide post-election audits to guarantee the integrity and accuracy of the vote count.

• Implement transparent vote counting processes, allowing representatives from different parties and independent observers to monitor the process.

• Enforce laws prohibiting voter intimidation or any form of coercion, including by partisan "election observers."

• Improve safeguards against foreign election meddling.

• Increase voter registration and turnout. Even if voters aren't always well-informed, the act of voting bolsters hope and combats cynicism and apathy. Details & Resources >>

• Require that voter registration databases be updated and maintained accurately.

• Prevent the purging of voters from rolls without thorough and rigorous notification and ensure a transparent re-enrollment process.

• Details & Resources >> More >>

End, reduce, or work around constitutional but anti-democratic voting power inequalities:

• Reduce or work around the undemocratic structure of the Senate.

• Change Senate rules and procedures to improve the relative influence of the larger states on legislation.

• Prioritize large states for committee assignments and committee leadership roles effecting the broadest national interests (budget, foreign affairs, etc.)

• Grant statehood to Puerto Rico. Details & Resources >>

• Grant statehood to Washington, DC. Details & Resources >>

• Expand the House of Representatives. Details & Resources >>

• Fight voter suppression and promote voter turnout in the big cities in swing states.

• Abolish or work around the Electoral College. Details & Resources >>

• Support the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

Enhance the power of majority interests and desires to shape decisions about government policies, programs, budgets, laws, and regulations:

• Reduce the disproportionate power of elite interests and corporations in influencing who is elected to write laws and regulations and then in influencing how those laws and regulations are interpreted and implemented.

• Limit contributions from corporations, wealthy elites, and special interests.

• Impose more stringent transparency requirements, including real-time disclosure, for political donations and advertising at all levels of government.

• Create and enforce clear disclosure requirements for issue advertising, ensuring that funding sources are transparent and easily accessible to the public. Stop allowing interest groups to hide behind generic and misleading names like 'Citizens for Apple Pie'.

• Provide incentives for small donations, and consider partial public funding of campaigns, particularly as matching funds for small donations.

• Mandate the release of tax returns for all candidates seeking federal and state offices.

• Protect local, state, and national level activists from retaliation and persecution by governments or by other stakeholders.

• Strengthen ethics committees in Congress. state legislatures, and local governments.

• Implement stricter lobbying rules for Congress, state legislatures, and local governments, including mandatory "cooling-off" periods before ex-legislators can lobby former colleagues.

• Mandate full disclosure of any financial interest lobbyists may have in the issues on which they are lobbying.

• Reform federal House and Senate procedural rules, and related state and local government rules, to foster and enable more bipartisan compromise. Changes should include limiting the filibuster and reforming closure rules so that all perspectives can be considered.

• Reduce the unilateral authority of Congressional committee chairs to indefinitely stall or block legislation. Make similar changes to state and local government rules.

• Eliminate the power of individual Senators to unilaterally place indefinite "holds" on executive and judicial appointments. Make similar changes to state and local government rules to prevent individual officials from exercising undue power.

• Strengthen limits on Presidential power and privilege to ensure the maintenance of effective checks and balances. Make similar changes, as needed, to the powers of state governors, county executives, mayors, and related administrative officers.

• Increase devolution of power from federal to state to local governments and invest in capacity-building measures to strengthen state and local decision-making capabilities.

• Improve inter-governmental communication methods to strengthen coordination between different branches and levels of government.

• Prevent the excessive concentration of political or economic power by any interest or group.

• Empower community and majority-driven initiatives at the local and state levels by enabling or expanding mechanisms for direct democracy (where citizens can initiate and vote on policy matters or overrule decisions by legislative bodies). Include provisions to guard against these mechanisms being hijacked by special interests, which sometimes happens today.

• Increase citizen avenues of influence by utilizing citizen panels or committees to recommend policies and programs, by greater citizen participation in budgeting, and by increasing the availability of government data for public review and comment.

• Strengthen conflict of interest disclosure requirements for elected and appointed officials.

• Increase the accountability and transparency of government officials, agencies, and decisions.

• Details & Resources >> More >> More >>

Reducing polarization, vilification & extremism while increasing cooperation and compromise:

• Facilitate dialogues that bridge divides on polarized issues and promote unity, compromise, and cooperation.

• Reduce incentives for media outlets to amplify and sensationalize conflicts and divisive narratives. Incentives arise from growing audience share and ensuing ad revenue, so reducing incentives could come from advertiser pressure, negative subscriber feedback, or in the case of broadcast media, from licensing provisions and requirements.

• Hold media outlets accountable for providing platforms to extremist ideologies and giving voice to vilification and hatred. Media criticism and documentation of bad behavior can feed into applying the same pressures just mentioned above.

• Introduce and strengthen incentives for media outlets to prioritize coverage of collaborative and constructive initiatives. Positive incentives can be created by public praise, awards from community organizations, sponsorship of positive content from public-minded advertisers, positive public comment submitted in the licensing process, and similar rewards.

• Advocate for limiting the use of algorithms that exploit and amplify divisive and confrontational content. Pressure could be created by requiring the transparency of algorithms and then publicizing the consequences in terms of rising polarization and hostility.

• Conduct educational campaigns about the importance of democratic values such as pluralism, coexistence, and the acceptance of diversity.

• Promote election reforms, including open primaries and ranked-choice voting, that reduce the incentives for polarization.

• Shift the political and media narrative from confrontation to cooperation when addressing difficult problems.

• Promote understanding of the value, virtue, and benefits of compromise.

• Actively encourage increased cooperation, especially at grassroots and community levels.

• Develop and implement trust-building measures and processes, both across partisan divides and between citizens and government agencies.

• Promote the redress of historical grievances to foster trust, reward cooperation, and reduce polarization.

• Greatly reduce the display of arrogance and condescension by high-profile elites, by partisan influencers on social media, and by powerful officials, all directed toward the "uneducated" and the relatively powerless. Arrogance is identifiable by the angry response of those on the receiving end. Replace arrogance and condescension with humility, respect, and restraint in the exercise of power. Success would be seen in the reduction of hostility from those previously insulted and aggrieved. In addition, public discussion in a community panel or commission (carefully balanced to reflect diverse perspectives) could reduce confusion and increase clarity for all concerned. It could also serve as a venue to heal bruised feelings and reduce the recurrence of divisive and hostility-producing commentary.

• Details & Resources >>

Build up a better-informed electorate:

• Increase and reinvigorate civics and history education in the schools. Details & Resources >>

• Make civics and history education an ongoing part of the curriculum, not just one-time courses. Also, integrate it with other disciplines.

• Support youth mock elections and debates.

• Integrate current events education into the curriculum at all educational levels.

• Organize community-based civics workshops.

• Offer civics courses in colleges and universities. Make them a part of the required courses for various disciplines (economics, sociology, political science, etc.)

• Convey basic civics and history knowledge through the media, including local media.

• Utilize multimedia platforms (e.g., documentaries, podcasts) to make civics and history accessible and engaging.

• Identify policy issues and increase policy understanding using all available media.

• Governments at all levels should create online user-friendly access to information about governmental policy, program, regulatory, and budget decisions, both pending and past.

• Improve media performance in election coverage, moving from "horse race" coverage to more policy and issue emphasis. Details & Resources >>

• Establish and promote higher journalistic standards, beginning in journalism schools.

• Strengthen public broadcasting, especially for local news.

• Develop additional funding for local news – from donations, community foundation grants, activist-supported subscription drives linked to increases in local news coverage.

• Develop collaborative or syndicated local news coverage, where local newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, and news websites collaborate to develop news and information content for use by all.

• Support community journalism training by local community colleges and adult education providers.

• Fight efforts by local power structures, large local employers, or special interests in the community to suppress investigative and critical local news coverage.

• Protect journalists and media outlets from retaliation and persecution for exposing wrongdoing.

• Break up media corporate consolidation.

• Combat misinformation and fake news. Increase media and online fact-checking.

• Educate the public in how to recognize news bias and lies conveyed in the news.

• Impose election information requirements on broadcast media as a condition of their licenses. Provide candidates with opportunities to explain their positions in depth for free. Not as thirty-second commercials.

• Protect press freedom and freedom of speech whenever and wherever they are threatened.

• Pass or strengthen freedom of information laws at all levels of government.

• Advocate for transparency and fairness in online news and information feed algorithms that distort and polarize public opinion.

Create a more effective and efficient government:

• Establish yardsticks and report regularly on the efficiency and effectiveness of governmental administration at all levels.

• Ensure transparency and accountability in governmental administration and in regulation development and enforcement. Details & Resources >>

• Use online and digital technologies, as well as artificial intelligence, to make legislative processes more efficient and transparent.

• Improve the rationality, efficiency, transparency, and accountability of regulation development and enforcement to reduce current extensive waste and delays for citizens and businesses. Details & Resources >>

• Strengthen whistleblower protections.

• Strengthen watchdog organizations that monitor governments.

• Conduct regular audits of government agencies at all levels of government.

• Promote policy-making that uses data and evidence to determine what is working and what is not and increase the flexibility of governments to make changes in laws, programs, policies, and regulations as evidence and facts indicate.

• Periodic review of laws, policies, and regulations to change with changes in society. Involve citizens in this process.

• Employ evolving new technologies to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of government programs and policies.

• Pass and enforce stricter laws and better enforcement against public corruption.

• Ensure transparency in investigations of political misconduct.

• Strengthen the Freedom of Information Act.

• Protect and advance local governments’ right to make decisions that benefit their communities. Oppose state level preemptive legislation blocking this.

Ensure equal economic opportunity for all individuals and groups:

• Recognize that serving the needs of those left out and left behind by economic change is crucial to sustaining support for democracy.

• Support geographically targeted industrial policies promoting job creation for "left behind" areas and populations, including the rust belt, rural and southern communities, and inner cities.

• Support other targeted programs to expand good job opportunities and otherwise lift the economic prospects of the poorest half of America, who today experience significant economic hardship. These populations deserve a "new deal," a "Marshall Plan for the left behind."

• Act as the employer of last resort to ensure everyone has a job.

• Internalize external costs (costs not captured in the price charged to buyers) so that markets do not continue to impose costs on those not receiving the related products or services. Such costs often hit the poorest the hardest. This would also produce new revenues which could be used to support job creation.

• Prevent monopoly, reverse the growth of market and price setting power, reduce and reverse corporate consolidation, and reduce corporate and elite dominance in economic and taxation policymaking. Details & Resources >>

• Modify corporate charter laws to increase responsibility (and reporting) to all stakeholders instead of only to stockholders.

• Strengthen watchdog groups that monitor corporate actions.

• Require equal pay for equal work – for women, for minorities, for younger workers.

• Protect workers' rights and the right to unionize.

• Protect our economy and affordable food by protecting limited supplies of vital but non-renewable natural resources, such as deep aquifers.

• Change immigration laws to allow migrants to work while they wait for the completion of legal processes.

• Engage community residents directly in identifying and seizing opportunities.

• Government budgets should allocate resources where they are most needed and will produce the greatest benefit rather than further advantaging already well-off areas.

• Support tax reform to tax the rich fairly, so that the wealthy do not pay lower taxes than their "domestic help." These new revenues would allow us to support the job and opportunity creation efforts described above.

Enhance government’s capacity and performance in protecting public health and safety:

• Establish, in both politics and law, that a clean, healthy, ecologically intact natural environment is a fundamental human right.

• Plan for community environmental protection and environmental restoration with robust citizen participation across the political spectrum.

• Present community environmental and sustainable economy programs as serving the value of intergenerational equity.

• Improve capacity to protect against and recover from disasters.

• Communities should be guided and supported in preparing defenses (hardening structures and infrastructure) against fires, flooding, wind, and other dangers.

• Neighborhood level citizen groups should be established and guided in crime prevention, fire prevention, disaster preparedness, and disaster response.

• Communities and citizens should plan for how they will restore communities after disasters.

• Governments should provide public insurance options as a last resort for homeowners, businesses, and individual health.

• Building codes should be updated.

• Flood and soils maps should be updated so residents understand their risks.

• Structure retrofitting should be supported or required.

• Details & Resources >>

Provide more and better opportunities for civic and community engagement and participation:

• Increase opportunities for local participation and direction setting.

• Improve the quality of those serving on boards & commissions.

• Promote freedom of assembly. Provide free public spaces for meetings to discuss and debate public policies and programs. Provide digital "spaces" for the same purpose.

• Strengthen local grassroots organizations, particularly voting activist groups, pro-democracy activist groups, and low-income and minority neighborhood organizations.

• Provide more opportunities (including digital tracking and input mechanisms) for the public to weigh in on legislation (and local decision making) as it is being developed.

• Increase opportunities for citizens to voice their desires and discontents, especially where they want to see government performance improved.

• Proactively solicit public input on new policy proposals.

• Improve opportunities for public input on government budgets.

• Increase town halls and public meetings with elected officials.

• Increase and publicize opportunities for citizens to work as partners with government agencies to better accomplish public objectives.

• Promote conflict resolution skills training for citizens, government officials, and advocacy groups.

• Provide for community-based conflict mediation services.

• Details & Resources >>

Build up the skills and capacities of pro-democracy activists and democracy-promoting organizations:

• Strengthen activists' abilities to convey to citizens that they have power, have agency, and can, if they try, effect major changes.

• Increase awareness of the communication opportunities available.

• Increase capacity to communicate effectively about the dangers and harms of authoritarian and autocratic government.

• Identify and promote existing ways to register your preferences to elected officials regarding legislation.

• Offer conflict resolution training in schools and adult education classes.

• Learn and teach the concepts, skills, and methods of trust building, transparency, accountability, and inclusiveness.

• Learn to create projects designed to build trust and related networks in communities.

• Promote and teach the concept that in a rapidly changing world, a strong democracy must be flexible and adaptive in response to new threats and new opportunities.

• Details & Resources >> More >> More >> More >> More >> More >> More >>

Increase the capabilities and the democratic values of people who are elected to office:

• Ask all candidates for elected office (local offices, including school and utility district boards and town councils, statewide offices, and national offices) to complete questionnaires on the governing principles and concepts that will guide their decision making.

• Require public officials and elected officials to undergo training in regulatory and legislative history, governmental and constitutional principles and concepts, conflict resolution, collaborative decision-making, consensus building, and ethics.

• Establish codes of conduct for elected and appointed public officials.

• Define best practices for legislators and other elected and appointed public officials.

• Encourage a culture of public service as opposed to political careerism as a manifestation of personal ambition.

• Put community benefit above seeking partisan advantage.

Protect freedom, civil liberties, minority rights, equal rights, women’s rights:

• Build institutional resistance to authoritarian and autocratic takeover.

• Join and strengthen international organizations and alliances that support and reinforce freedom, rights, and democratic principles.

• Protect women’s access to reproductive health care, including abortion rights.

• Stop anti-abortion zealots from blocking US programs to support global health, including the US global AIDs program.

• Ensure the rule of law.

• Police and emergency responders should be trained in citizen rights and minority rights.

• Governments at all levels should provide and publicize ways for citizens to report rights violations, code violations, and dangerous conditions.

• Ensure online privacy is protected. Regulate data mining.

• Pass immigration reform so that immigrants have the right to work and have other basic human rights.

Ensure an independent judiciary:

• Require all candidates for judicial office to demonstrate their knowledge of legal and regulatory history, the rule of law, and the principles and history of equality under the law.

• Reform the judicial appointment processes. Imbalanced power in federal and some state judicial selection processes has resulted in a political judiciary that blocks the majority’s democratic will.

• Non-partisan appointment of judges.

• Insulate the courts (particularly at the state level) from political interference.

• Strengthen judicial oversight.

• Reform the Supreme Court appointment process.

• Subject the Supreme Court to ethics requirements.

• End lifetime judicial appointments.

• Term limits for Supreme Court justices, federal and state.

Ensure civilian control of the police:

• Police should halt the policing of minority and poor communities as if they were suppressing an insurgency.

• Police should, to a far greater extent, be from the communities they serve, be accountable for abuses of power, and stop using military equipment and tactics.

• Institute mechanisms for the transparency and accountability of police services.

• Reform qualified immunity.

• Establish national standards for de-escalation training.

• Police departments should be subject to civilian oversight or review and, when on patrol or with suspects or arrestees, officers should be required to wear (and keep turned on) body cameras.

• Details & Resources >>

Ensure civilian control of the military:

• Ensure that defense and related (CIA, NSA) budgets be auditable and audited.

• Depoliticize the procurement process. Institute mechanisms for transparency and accountability.

• Require mission statements for foreign bases and deployments that reveal and discourage use of military assets to protect the foreign investments of US based multinational corporations.

• Reverse the militarization of the culture (i.e., military flyovers for football games, etc.)

• Ensure that recruitment and retention policies are structured to guard against the development of an entrenched military subculture and ensure that both the officers and the enlisted personnel represent a broad cross section of citizens.

Please Note:

The above is intended as a "living list." It is far from complete, and far from perfect. Additional explanation and explanatory resources are added throughout in the form of "Details & Resources >>" linked pages. These will also be expanded and improved over time. Please suggest additional points or clearer or more specific and practical wording for existing points. Email comments and suggestions (or questions) to ecoiq@ecoiq.com.

D.C.
Published:September 2023
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