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WHO WANTS TO DELIBERATE WITH POLITICIANS? MORE THAN SOME EXPECTED, STUDY FINDS
Apr 4th
Conventional wisdom suggests that average citizens hate politics, loathe hyper-partisan gridlock, balk at voting even in presidential election years and are, incidentally, woefully ill-informed.
Given that, the thinking goes, it’s reasonable to conclude that citizens want less, not more, involvement in politics.
But that widely accepted theory does not survive empirical scrutiny, a team of researchers that includes a University of Colorado Boulder political scientist found.
Rather than rejecting political discourse, most people express strong interest in deliberating with real politicians, the team found. Further, when citizens are offered the chance to discuss political issues with their legislators, significant numbers do.
The view of the American public as desperate to avoid politics is “deeply misleading,” the team wrote in a recent edition of American Political Science Review. The work joins a growing number of studies applying empirical analysis to political theories of deliberative democracy.
The team was led by Michael Neblo of Ohio State University and included Kevin Esterling of the University of California, Riverside, Ryan Kennedy at the University of Houston, David Lazer of Northeastern University and Harvard University, and Anand Sokhey of CU-Boulder.
Sokhey and his colleagues suggest that some political theorists reached an erroneous conclusion because they started with the wrong question, namely, “Who actually deliberates?”
The answer, of course, is that few people engage in deliberative democracy.
But Sokhey’s team essentially posed a different question: “Who is willing to deliberate?” The team found that large majorities of citizens, even those disgusted by politics, are willing to participate—and, when given the chance, many do.
Sokhey puts it this way: “If people perceive politicians to be more responsive and less corrupt … would people be more willing to be involved?” The answer is yes. “They’re happy to be involved.”
That was surprising, he says, adding that the kinds of people who wanted to participate also was unexpected. The traditional view is that people who are older, wealthier, well-educated and white are more likely to become engaged in politics.
“We don’t find that a lot of that holds here,” Sokhey says.
The team found that younger people and non-whites were willing to join political deliberations.
The researchers set out to test two competing theories of political involvement. One theory, dubbed “stealth democracy,” holds that people are often disgusted by politics, believe politicians are generally corrupt, and that when they do join the political process, they do so largely to thwart political corruption.
If politics were less corrupt, the theory holds, citizens would happily retreat to their private lives and let government run quietly and efficiently in the background.
But the theory of stealth democracy contradicts one of the deliberative theory’s central claims: that citizen apathy is actually caused by frustration and disempowerment in the system. “If the political process could be rendered more rational and responsive in their eyes, then they would be moreinclined to engage in it robustly,” the authors write, adding:
“The disagreement between the stealth thesis and the deliberative thesis could hardly be clearer, and the stakes on which is right could hardly be higher.”
The research team began with hypothetical questions posed to 404 subjects.
For instance, they asked the following: “If politics were [less/more] influenced by self-serving officials and powerful special interests, do you think that you would be more or less interested in getting involved in politics?” Respondents indicated their interest on a 1-5 scale.
Those who would participate less if politics were less corrupt fit the stealth-democracy thesis. Those who would participate more fit the deliberative thesis.
The results were significant. Eight times more people fit the deliberative profile than the stealth profile, suggesting that the “stealth” view is not widely held.
But that was just the response to items about stealth vs. deliberative attitudes. When the researchers made a real offer to deliberate with a real member of Congress, 65 percent agreed.
The study’s participants were offered the chance to deliberate online with their congressional representative. The members of Congress came from 12 congressional districts spread across four major geographic regions. The politicians included five Republicans and seven Democrats who were ideologically diverse.
Most surprisingly, the authors note, both those holding “stealth” and “deliberative” views were eager to discuss politics with real politicians. But according to the stealth thesis, such eagerness should have been found mostly among deliberative democrats.
The explanation, the authors conclude, is that “People do not really hold stealth democracy as their first preference. Instead, they will settle for stealth democracy if the civics-textbook version of deliberative representative democracy is not achievable.”
The work of Neblo, Sokhey and the rest of the team was funded by a grant from the Digital Government Program of the National Science Foundation.
Read more on this story soon in Colorado Arts & Sciences Magazine at http://artsandsciences.colorado.edu/magazine/.
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APRIL FOOLS JOKE SPOOF ON CITY I Love Boulder Campaign elicits hate, Illiterate Rancher hippies , Censorship board
Apr 1st
APRIL FOOLS JOKE SPOOF ON CITY
City of Boulder News
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NEWS BRIEFS
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Contacts:
Alisa Lewis, City Clerk/Director of Support Services, 303-441-3013
Patrick von Keyserling, Communication Manager, 303-441-4959
CORRECTION: Open Comment Sign-Up for City Council Meetings goes Electronic.
The city has abandoned the idea of Electronic Sign-up because it overlooked several problem areas which would give computer savy people an advantage. Some people in Boulder are illiterate and can not write. They have a difficult time as it is when speaking and or signing up to speak. They usually require the help of the city clerk to fill out the blue form which requires their name, address, topic of comment and a signature. It is not often that the city has illiterates who come to speak before council. The last was a rancher turned artist named Father Rainbow.( previously Harold Geer Folsom) He had legally changed his name in 1994 where the clerk had to help with the forms. So for now electronic sign-ups are on hold.
I Love Boulder campaign provokes some
The cities I love Boulder Campaign has produced one video so far produced by the city. It has played hourly on Channel 8 and channel 22. The idea was to promote ‘brand loyalty’ to our town and attract tourism. It seems the reverse has happened. Right wing talk show hosts in Denver started making fun of Boulder calling the campaign a self absorbed love fest of the smartest prettiest people. This led to Bill O’Reilly of Fox News to create a contest naming Boulder the most narcissistic city in America. The city is now looking at other opportunities to promote Boulder in a positive light.
Board of Decency and Community Standards being formed
The city is now accepting applications for the newly formed Board of Decency and Community Standards syn BOD-ACTS. The T doesn’t stand for anything but we needed it to convey a message about any bodily acts that are deemed indecent. The board came about by people who think it is funny to run around Boulder naked with pumpkins on their heads. We realize it is only Halloween but the city feels this practice might spread to other Holidays such as Easter which will be coming up at the end of the month. Easter is a Christian Holy day and we didn’t want to leave anything to chance. BOD-ACTS will also take into account appropriate dress at city sponsored functions including planning meetings and Band on the Bricks . The city wants to set a good example of proper attire.
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Boulder, Colo., Leads U.S. Metro Areas in Wellbeing
Mar 21st
FROM GALLUP by Dan Witters Boulder, Colo., Leads U.S. Metro Areas in Wellbeing Washington, D.C., did best among large metro areas by Dan Witters WASHINGTON, D.C. — Boulder, Colo., had the highest Well-Being Index score in the U.S. across the 188 metropolitan areas that Gallup and Healthways surveyed in 2010. Lincoln, Neb.; Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo.; Provo-Orem, Utah; and Honolulu round out the top five metro areas with the highest wellbeing. Huntington-Ashland, W.Va.-Ky.,-Ohio, had the lowest Well-Being Index score in 2010, at 58.1, and the only score below 60 in the nation. The regional breakdown in wellbeing scores is largely consistent with Gallup and Healthways state-level results, which find wellbeing higher in the West and lower in the South. Explore metro area data > The “cities” this article references are based on the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. In many cases, more than one city is included in the same MSA. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index score is an average of six sub-indexes, which individually examine life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors, and access to basic necessities. The overall score and each of the six sub-index scores are calculated on a scale from 0 to 100, where a score of 100 represents the ideal. Gallup and Healthways have been tracking these measures daily since January 2008. Honolulu Tops List in Life Evaluation and Emotional Health Honolulu had the highest scores on two of the six sub-indexes: Life Evaluation and Emotional Health. Boulder had the highest score in the nation on the Physical Health Index, while Holland-Grand Haven, Mich., residents had the best access to basic necessities. Gainesville, Fla., had the highest Work Environment Index score, and residents living in Salinas, Calif., had the highest Healthy Behaviors Index score. Compare wellbeing across large, medium, and small metro areas. The metro area that reports the worst life evaluation has a score that is about half of what the highest scoring city reports. Similarly, the metro area where employed residents report the worst work environments has a score that is half of what the highest scoring city scored for the same sub-index. Huntington-Ashland residents reported the worst emotional and physical health, while healthy behaviors were least prevalent in the Myrtle Beach, S.C., metro area in 2010. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, residents reported the worst access to basic necessities, which is tied in part to the high percentage of uninsured in the metro area. Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas, Have Highest Wellbeing Among Large Cities Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria, Va.-Md.-W.Va., residents had the highest wellbeing among the nation’s 52 largest metropolitan areas, those with 1 million or more residents, followed closely by Austin-Round Rock, Texas. Louisville-Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind., had the lowest wellbeing among large cities. Implications Community leaders stand to learn a great deal from cities like Boulder, Lincoln, and Washington, D.C. where wellbeing is the highest. Boulder, for example, is second in the nation in opportunities for its residents to “learn something new or interesting,” a common feature of the highest wellbeing metro areas in America. Book stores, museums, art exhibits, and non-traditional learning environments, such as topical community seminars at local colleges or Elderhostel programs, could all contribute to enhanced opportunities for residents to learn and grow, which can lead to higher wellbeing. Lincoln is third in the nation in having workplaces with supervisors who engender high-trust environments, a characteristic of top management talent and a vanguard of a highly engaged and productive workforce. The Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria metro area has one of the lowest smoking rates among large metro areas in America, at 15%, and a high percentage of residents who visit a dentist at least once per year (72%). Smoking and choosing to skip the dentist are both lifestyle choices that have substantial negative health outcomes downstream. The high-level results discussed in this article provide a sampling of what the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index metrics reveal about U.S. cities. Even the metro areas with the highest overall wellbeing have specific areas in need of improvement, and those with the lowest overall wellbeing have strengths that leaders can celebrate or develop to inspire improvement in other areas. By understanding these strengths and weaknesses, leaders can make better strategic and tactical decisions to affect positive change in their communities, improving individual lives and the nation overall. View and export complete wellbeing data by metro area using Gallup’s U.S. City Wellbeing Tracking interactive. About the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index tracks U.S. wellbeing and provides best-in-class solutions for a healthier world. To learn more, please visit well-beingindex.com. Survey Methods Results are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey Jan. 2-Dec. 29, 2011, with a random sample of 245,817 adults, aged 18 and older, living in reportable metropolitan statistical areas in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, selected using random-digit-dial sampling. Metro areas in this article are based on the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. In many cases, more than one city is included in the same MSA. The San Jose, Calif., MSA, for example, also includes the smaller nearby cities of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara in addition to San Jose itself. Each respondent is attributed to his or her MSA based on the self-report of his or her ZIP code. Gallup reports data for MSAs for which there were at least 300 completed interviews in 2010. A total of 188 MSAs met this criterion, which generally incorporates the larger MSAs according to population size. Maximum expected error ranges for the MSAs vary according to size, ranging from less than 1 percentage point for the largest cities represented to ±6.5 percentage points for the smallest. Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones (for respondents with a landline telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell phone only and cell phone mostly.) In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls. For more details on Gallup’s polling methodology, visit http://www.gallup.com/. Click below to get more stories, RSS feeds, and e-mail alerts on these topics: USA All Gallup Headlines Health Healthcare Jobs Smoking Social Issues Standard of Living Wellbeing Well-Being Index Workplace Americas Northern America Sign up for Gallup e-mail alerts or RSS feeds Get Gallup news on Facebook and Twitter
