Can a bunch of ordinary people really get together for a few hours, chew the fat, and then tell D.C. leaders how to get a handle on the national debt? That’s what an outfit called AmericaSpeaks says is going to happen Saturday, June 26, when Dallas becomes one of six main sites for an “unprecedented,” nonpartisan, national town meeting on ways to put the federal budget on a sustainable path.
Organizers are hoping as many as 500 people will gather at the Dallas Convention Center that day. They’ll be linked up there with other sites in other U.S. cities, using keypad polling and groupware technology. To make sure the attendees are racially, politically, economically and age diverse, the local participants are being solicited via groups like the League of Women Voters, the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce and LULAC. (You can also register on the web site.)
All of which sounds great. Whether anyone winds up listening to their ideas is something else again.
3 comments
Registration is easy. just go to http://usabudgetdiscussion.org/dallas.
And BTW, we have been in conversation with Congress from Day One of this project and have worked with all of the reps in the Dallas area to recruit participants. I think that is a pretty good indicator that they are interested in what people have to say.
Plus we ARE working hard to make sure that the people in Ballroom C at the Dallas Convention Center reflect the area’s demographics. Bringing that kind of diversity together in one room is newsworthy and ought to get the attention of the media and policy-makers.
This story doesn’t really do this national dialogue justice. There will be people meeting in 6 large town hall meeting sites like Dallas and a total of 19 linked meeting sites involved in this precedent setting national dialogue on June 26th, and many more people participating at home through community conversations and online.
The president has appointed an 18 member bipartisan commission headed by former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Republican Senate Whip Alan Simpson to give him recommendations related to fiscal responsibility and reform, and the members of this commission will be attending these meetings and reading the resulting reports summarizing what people say and vote for.
So yes, someone is listening. If you care about how the federal government spends your tax money on things like healthcare, defense, and social security, Saturday June 26 is the time to speak up. This educational high-tech dialogue is more than some people getting together for a few hours to chew the fat. It will be from 10:30 until 5:30 at the Dallas Convention Center, but you have to register first at the site Taylor mentioned above.
For more on the Presidential commision, see:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-establishes-bipartisan-national-commission-fiscal-responsibility-an
Thanks for reading,
Greg
that’s incredible.