Lobbying is not a four letter word. We actually need more of it.
Lobbying— nothing more than the right to share one’s views with government— is at the heart of America. It’s right there in the middle of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – The First Amendment
Petitioning government for a redress one’s grievances is lobbying. And it doesn’t matter whether you are an individual citizen or a major corporation. Calling your Congressman? Lobbying. Hiring someone to visit your state senator to share a study or ask for a vote? Lobbying. Emailing an alderman to add more parking on your block, or add more budget for public schools or increase public safety spending? Lobbying, lobbying and lobbying.
Lobbying — it’s everyone’s fundamental right in the United States. But what does our right to (legally) influence an elected official look like in the Internet Age? Can technology give more citizens a meaningful voice in government, and government a meaningful way to truly listen? Put a different way: is it possible, with tools like our Madison online policymaking software, to put a single person on par with a powerful political insider?
That was the thesis I tested last week with a diverse group of graduate students at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, where I am currently a Technology and Democracy Fellow. After two hours of policy research, testing Madison, and enthusiastically exchanging views on how governments and staffers really take in and process information, I am even more confident that the thesis is true. If so, and there is a growing body of empirical evidence to support it, the future is bright for self-government in the United States, and to the many countries looking to us for leadership.
Why? Living one’s civic life on the Internet is rapidly becoming as normal and natural as using technology in one’s personal and work lives. And there’s a genuine hunger for more online civic engagement. A full 68 percent of American voters say that they want more and better online information about their government, and want to use that information to take action, according to our research. We’re clearly past the bright-shiny-new phase. At Harvard, everyone in the workshop immediately grasped Madison, how it works, and the power of open online policymaking. It took mere minutes to get to the “Ah, ha!” That enabled us to spend the bulk of our time together not on the concepts or on the back story, but on specific use cases and opportunities and ways to make Madison even better. Framing Madison as a personal lobbying tool from the outset— as both the right and smart way to legislate— was definitely a new approach for me, but it worked like a charm.
The desire for more and better digital engagement is equally felt inside of government. According to a recent GovDelivery survey of state and local government officials, 51 percent say they want more digital engagement with constituents. But they also said they need help. 54 percent said budget shortages prevent improved and increased online engagement opportunities. Nearly four in ten respondents said that, even though they have the budget, they do not have the trained staff to get the digital democracy job done.
From filling the resource gap with free and open source tools and training, to powering change through public-private partnerships, it is our moment to reconnect citizens and their government.
The tools exist. So does the urgent desire for change inside and outside of governments large and small. All we need are more and better bridge builders, evangelists and educators.
To build better government, we may just need better lobbyists.
Seamus Kraft is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of The OpenGov Foundation.
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