From John Edwards Website: A Citizen Congress

[LongTomH]

This editorial originally appeared in the Boston Globe: A Citizen Congress

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards unveiled a "One Democracy" initiative last week to enlarge the role of ordinary Americans in politics. The "Citizen Congress" is the most original part of this policy. If elected, he would convene millions of Americans in town halls throughout the country every other year to deliberate and advise public leaders on difficult issues such as healthcare, poverty, and foreign affairs.

The idea that government should talk directly to citizens about political issues, and that citizens should talk to each other, has the potential to reinvigorate American democracy. Citizen participation through influential assemblies such as Citizen Congresses would address three critical failings of the political system.

If they become prominent and credible, Citizen congresses and assemblies have the potential to help connect Americans to their government and increase trust in public institutions. If Americans see each other deliberating sensibly about critical issues and public leaders heed what they say, it will be palpable evidence that government really does care about what ordinary people think.

Read the whole article at: http://johnedwards.com/news/headlines/20071016-globe-oped/

There's a discussion thread at John Edwards blog.

This is an idea we should really get behind. One of the greatest benefits of espousing such a move would be to directly counter the charge that Liberals are elitist and out of step with main street America.