We all should share critical government operation concerns

At the beginning of every day of session in both the US House and the US Senate, a clergy person leads prayer. This venerable custom has been practiced with our elected officials for many years. These prayers aren't long, and they serve spiritual needs of our representatives and their staff.


It seems to me that most Americans don't actively communicate with their government officials when they see operationally relevant breaches occurring in the capitol. We seem to give them a pass, as if the government isn't composed of precious human beings with souls.


Yet, most of us have seen activity-- some perpetually driven-- such as: 1) neglecting unsatisfied basic needs of the poor, 2) disrespecting duly elected Pres. Obama's beliefs and authority, 3) lacking empathy for other legislators' arguments, 4) executing the death penalty on a man not proven guilty, 5) accepting, during session, business campaign contributions, 6) lacking care and regulation for our environment, 7) disdaining fiscal responsibility for our federal budget, 8) disrespecting our founding legal documents, 9) trespassing against other nations, and 10) preferring personal ideology over the nation's interest.


Regardless of the personal spiritual state of each of our elected officials-- even those who comprise our nation's highest level of government-- we, their constituents, have an absolute mandate to share with them our critical operational concerns. Easy-to-use tools for engaging with our own representatives are readily available on the internet; and those citizens without the internet can reach them in several ways.


Let us share with our government representatives any concerns over important capitol practices, even if we can only do so by minor acts of nonviolent disobedience, for they are constitutionally mandated to represent each one of us.

Poem for goodness and justice renewal: "Come on, come out!", by David Weller

To the Occupy movement and all those willing and able to bring into renewal a society of goodness and justice...


Come on, come out!
by David Weller



Come on, come out!

Wherever you are!
be in our place,
a nation's star!

Come on, come out!

Whoever you be!
you are our might,
right with a glee!

Come on, come out!

Whenever you can!
time's not for talk,
time's your best fan!

Come on, come out!

Whatever you do!
come, with fervor,
come with your view!

Come on, come out!

However you will!
you are our light,
fight with your skill!

Come on, come out!

Why, you are brave!
the future is ours,
love's what you have!

Come on, come out!

Legal tips for protester engagement with police in New York City

ACLU:  Blog of Rights
From:  NYCLU on the Scene at Wall Street Protests  |  Posted by Jennifer Carnig, New York Civil Liberties Union  |  Comments open.

• Inspired by the Arab Spring, a group of a few hundred protesters have occupied a park right off of Wall Street for more than a week, seeking attention for what they call a greedy and unjust financial system.  The staff of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) has been on the scene talking to protesters, learning about their experiences with police, and passing out Know Your Rights guides on protesting in New York City and on surviving police encounters.
• Interested in joining them? Here’s a few things to keep in mind when you’re protesting in New York City:
• You have a right to stand or march on sidewalks without a permit.
• You may photograph or video the cops, but do not interfere with police action.
• Remember officers’ badge numbers, names and physical descriptions.
• File complaints about misconduct by calling 311.
• If you march in the street without a permit, you risk arrest.
• If ordered to disperse, do so unless you want to be arrested.

The ACLU-- American Civil Liberties Union-- has a strong history of legally assisting people, both before and after any possible incidents with the police.  Also, remember that training in protester nonviolence techniques helps relations with police during tense situations.  Be safe and respectful!

Haiku poems on good government and good politics, by David Weller

On good government and good politics
by David Weller



To be ideal
is what we are striving for.
Otherwise, no deal.




time is on our side,
just as the stars swing the sky,
just souls you and i




even a full moon
has light on its other side
stars are everywhere




vote for the one who
has the least hair and most jokes
he/she will be wise




Constituents want
more than the 4th of July
they want the whole pie!




citizens relate
to their representatives
when they are like us




equal access means
not only more listening--
it's comprehensive




frankness, not boldness
breaks the ice of cleverness
into true witness




debates are to be
held, not for rhetoric,
but application




blessed be the poor
the homeless, the disabled,
yes, the neediest!




Save, love knows no dire consequences

How to contact your own representatives

One of the most important of the government reform NGO's in our nation's capital is the venerable Common Cause.  They are all about how people can improve our nation's democracy, and they fight the good fight against Washington's latest ethics breaches.

In deference to their perfectly complete article, I encourage you to go to Common Cause Georgia's recent post entitled "Tell 'em what you want."  It concisely lays out what you need to know before making that call to your elected official about a critical issue or problem.

It's written by their interns Lindsay Jacobs and Rachel Bradley and accepts comments.

The constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United is now a bill-- please take action!

Common Cause: Common Blog
From: House Democrats push legislation to overturn Citizens United ruling  |  Comments are allowed.

• A pair of House Democrats introduced legislation Tuesday to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling that freed corporations to spend unlimited money on elections.
• Read the full text of the bill, H.J.RES.78.IH, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to clarify the authority of Congress and the States to regulate the expenditure of funds for political activity by corporations.

This is one, if not the most important reform bills now being legislated in Washington.  Please, do your part and take action by calling or visiting your own congress members (US Representative and both US Senators) and requesting them to "support the constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United ruling".  Thank you

Successful online, local-level citizen civic engagement with city council members

This is interesting, in that it is a forum / email list of Minneapolis area residents, that have asked for and have received detailed responses from their city council members on local problems.  I can see this happening in neighborhoods and cities across the nation.  E-Democracy.org has many years of experience on the internet enabling local citizen forums such as the one referenced below.

E-Democracy.org:  Project Blog
From: Where there is smoke there is noise … Neighbors and Online Civic Engagement  |  Written by Steven Clift  |  Comments are allowed

• We’ve added neighborhood level engagement with “community life” exchange to our classic city-wide online town halls.
• Check out these recent passionate community discussions on airport noise (89+ posts) in Standish Ericsson and recreational fires and smoke (55+ posts) in Longfellow.
• Every local elected official, everywhere should be part of an online space that makes this happen. (And not just some surface-level Facebook page that cuts you off with a paragraph or two or some puff your chest out political tweets.)

For details and on how to reach author Steven Clift, please go to the E-Democracy post.

The US Open Government Action Plan has new civic engagement tools and Administration openness improvements

AmericaSpeaks
From: US National Open Government Plan is a Major Step for Participation & Open Government | By Carolyn Lukensmeyer, AmericaSpeaks | Comments are allowed

• President Obama formally unveils the US Open Government Action Plan in a speech today to the General Assembly of the United Nations, demonstrating the United States’ commitment to the newly created International Open Government Partnership.
• This is the biggest step forward for the cause of participatory government in the United States since the launch of the Open Government Initiative itself when the President first took office.
• First, the White House is launching WeThePeople, a new e-petition platform that will enable anyone to create a petition articulating a specific policy priority, mobilize their community to sign the petition, and find support from others on the site.  The White House will direct popular petitions to the appropriate policymakers, provide an official, public response, and act on some of these most popular proposals.
• The President is also committing to make it far easier for the public to participate in the rulemaking process online through www.regulations.gov.
• This document includes the White House’s commitment to play a much more active role in advising, supporting, and monitoring agencies’ implementation of the Open Government Plans.  The administration has pledged to develop a shared set of best practices and metrics for public participation:
• Another potentially significant action step is the creation of ExpertNet, a platform and community where citizen-experts can offer ideas and solutions to key challenges faced by government officials.  This concept remains vaguely defined, and but if the platform is implemented well, it could become a meaningful channel for public participation in government problem-solving and decision-making.
• Finally, The Administration is pledging to make significant and needed improvements to government websites.  The thousands of government websites are incredibly diverse in terms of the stakeholders and users they are aimed at, not to mention their purposes and functionality.  We would recommend that the administration convene web managers, users, and stakeholders in a live online dialogue in a virtual summit where they can understand the key issues at hand, discuss them with others coming from different perspectives, and vote to identify priority action steps to enhance the value of federal websites.
• In short, today marks a very important milestone for those of us who believe that government should be more open and that the public can and should play a significant role in shaping policy beyond merely voting every few years.
• Please share this post with those in your networks who care about open government and about citizens’ role in our democracy!

A good introduction to deliberative public politics

Kettering Foundation
Entire article: WE HAVE TO CHOOSE: DEMOCRACY AND DELIBERATIVE POLITICS

We Have to Choose is a working draft Kettering report designed primarily for civic organizations, centers, and institutes that sponsor deliberative forums and/or prepare people to conduct such forums. This report attempts to help these organizations find a pedagogy or way to explain deliberation, which has to be learned but can’t be taught through instruction alone.  

Public deliberation can’t be confined to formally organized forums. And democracy can’t be confined to collective decision making, even if it is done by deliberative means. Kettering has realized that democracy exists at two levels. The more obvious one is at the institutional level, where there are legislatures, executive agencies, and courts.  

Underneath, there is an organic foundation of ad hoc associations and civic organizations. At the institutional level, citizens are defined by their relationship to government. They are voters, taxpayers, and school board members. At the organic level, citizens are defined by their relationship to other citizens. They are the people who join with others to create a neighborhood watch, to organize a campaign to protect the environment, or to conduct rescue operations after a hurricane. 

The democracy that public deliberation serves is primarily organic, yet it isn’t indifferent or antagonistic to representative government. At the organic level of democracy, collective efforts are made to deal with problems that can’t be solved unless the citizenry acts. This collective action requires a particular kind of decision making because the problems aren’t just technical; they have a normative or moral dimension. Protecting the health of the American people is an example; citizens have an important role to play, and issues like the care of the terminally ill raise all kinds of moral questions.  

Such problems grow out of a discrepancy between what is happening and what people want to happen. What makes these problems especially difficult are disagreements about what should be happening. There aren’t any experts who can tell citizens what should be; they have to exercise the best judgment they can. And the best way to make sound judgments is by weighing possible causes of action against the various things people consider valuable or believe should be. That is deliberation in a nutshell.  

Although a means of making decisions, public deliberation can’t be isolated from what happens before and after a decision is made. Before citizens will make decisions, they have to see a connection between their concerns and political issues. This begins to happen (or doesn’t begin) with who names the problems and the way they are named or described.  

If the name of a problem doesn’t resonate with what people consider valuable, they lose interest. The same happens, or fails to happen, when options are put forth to deal with a problem. Unless all the options are put on the table and each is presented fairly, with both the pros and cons spelled out, people back away, feeling manipulated. And if the options for action don’t include anything for citizens to do, they feel sidelined—they feel that they can’t make any difference.  

All of this, including the way citizens implement their decisions and evaluate the results, are deliberative public politics, writ large. Because this kind of politics involves more than decision making, forums can’t be understood without taking into account what happens outside the rooms where they are held. That is true even if the purpose of the forum is purely educational. Forums are a staging area, not the whole stage. 

And public deliberation also introduces distinctive values into politics. Deliberation has to be nonpartisan, yet it is not value neutral. It values democracy and assumes that citizens have the capacity for effective collective action. It not only puts a premium on respect for the opinions of others but also on fairness and the good of all.  

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Book is to be published on public deliberation as a part of democratic politics

National Issues Forums
From: A message from David Mathews
The following is a reflection by David Mathews, president of the Kettering Foundation in Dayton, Ohio.

• Deliberation is a term for the collective decision making that has always been integral to politics. Deliberative decision making is not a special or separate technique but rather a component of collective action, which nearly always involves coming to terms with disagreement and conflict. Similarly, public deliberation is an integral part of democratic politics.
• In the near future, the Kettering Foundation Press will publish a new book, Democratizing Deliberation: A Political Theory Anthology, on the nature of deliberation and its role in politics. Derek Barker, Noëlle McAfee, and David McIvor are coeditors.

This National Issues Forum post was published in July, 2011.  As of today, Democratizing Deliberation doesn't appear to be on the market, yet.

Book says growing income inequality means more social ills

National Issues Forums: Blog
The Growing Gap between the Haves and Have Nots; Comments allowed.
Is Income Inequality Harmful to American Communities?

• A recent book published by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett titled, The Spirit Level (2009), has created quite a stir in countries across the world. The central premise of the book is that societies or communities that are more equal often do better on a wide array of socioeconomic measures – be they health, education, crime, trust, and social mobility. In essence, people from the same social strata with the same set of quality of life attributes do better in societies that are more equal than those associated with greater income inequality.
• Consider the following facts from a recent article we prepared for Daily Yonder (April 2011): The wealthiest 10% of metro counties in the nation had an average per capita market income increase of nearly 70% between 1980 and 2008, contrasted to a 38% increase for counties located at the 10% lowest income tier. Rural counties are growing more unequal, but their income inequality is less than in metro areas. The increasing gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” appears to be associated with higher rates of crime, teenage birth rates, adult and child poverty, and more.

Collaboration for social change

NCoC- National Conference on Citizenship
When addressing public problems, is our goal always building consensus or finding common ground? Should it be? A Civic Connector Commentary by Bobbi Silten; Comments allowed.

• Collaboration can be powerful in developing solutions for community challenges, but it also requires an investment of time, a willingness to find common ground, the patience to work through differences, and leadership. Lots of leadership.
• I have found that the best way to have collaborations work is to understand both the collective goal as well as the individual goals of the people and/or organizations that are involved. While we all work toward our shared goal, the leadership of a collaborative also needs to be mindful that all the partners are getting something they need out of the collective effort as well. For some, the motivation may purely be the shared objective and for others it may be a balance between the collective and their own organizational goals.
• Collaboration is not always easy, but it plays an important role in realizing social change. And if we need to change the system, we need to work together.

This is an open forum question for their post.

Report says more civic engagement means less unemployment

Huffington Post: Peter Levine
Could Civic Engagement Be the Key to Economic Success? Comments allowed.

• My colleagues and I are concerned about civic engagement: voting, volunteering, belonging to and leading groups, attending meetings, and working with fellow citizens to address problems. Those activities are now measured annually by the federal Current Population Survey. So we included them in a statistical model along with major eight economic factors to see what explained changes in unemployment best.
• We found that the civic measures were strongly related to changes in employment from 2006-2010, but none of the economic factors was associated with employment to a statistically significant degree. Please see Civic Health and Unemployment: Can Engagement Strengthen the Economy, released [Sep 16th, 2011].
• In short, the more civic engagement, the less unemployment. Particularly valuable forms of engagement seemed to include volunteering, working with neighbors, group membership, meeting attendance, registering to vote, serving as a group officer, and contacting public officials.

Also worth noting: it has been shown that formerly incarcerated felons who vote in elections have a lower recivitism rate (they are less likely to return to prison.)

Poem in honor of nonviolent patriots: "Love is Won", by David Weller

In honor of the Americans and supporters making personal sacrifices for a better country.  We all may not make it to Wall Street or Washington Park, but our hearts and minds are with those who can.


Love is Won
by David Weller


love is creedence,
love is true
nothing is defense,
nothing to hew

love is pointed,
love is able
everyone's annointed,
everyone's capable

love is action,
love is kind
there is no faction,
there for to find

love is appreciated,
love is cared
winning's all capacitated,
winning's all well fared

Henry David Thoreau and "Civil Disobedience"

Answers.com

Henry David Thoreau

Oxford Dictionary of Politics: Henry David Thoreau

• (1817-62) American essayist. Born in Concord, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard College. Thoreau is famous for having coined the term civil disobedience. His most powerful and influential political essay, ‘Civil Disobedience’, originally published under the title ‘Resistance to Civil Government’ (1849), exalts the law of conscience over civil law. Incensed by the Mexican War (1846-8) and the Fugitive Slave Laws of 1793 and 1850, which ensured federal assistance to slave-catchers, Thoreau became concerned with widespread personal complicity in injustice. As a public act of protest against the Mexican War, Thoreau refused to pay his poll tax and was imprisoned overnight. 1854 Thoreau published Walden, or, Life in the Woods, a plea for simplicity in everyday life.  — Vittorio Bufacchi

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Henry David Thoreau

• Thoreau was an activist involved in the abolitionist movement on many fronts: he participated in the Underground Railroad, protested against the Fugitive Slave Law, and gave support to John Brown and his party. Most importantly, he provides a justification for principled revolt and a method of nonviolent resistance, both of which would have a considerable influence on revolutionary movements in the twentieth century. In his essay on “Civil Disobedience,” originally published as “Resistance to Civil Government,” he defends the validity of conscientious objection to unjust laws, which ought to be transgressed at once. Although at times it sounds as if Thoreau is advocating anarchy, what he demands is a better government, and what he refuses to acknowledge is the authority of one that has become so morally corrupt as to lose the consent of those governed. “There will never be a really free and enlightened State,” he argues, “until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly” (“Civil Disobedience”). There are simply more sacred laws to obey than the laws of society, and a just government—should there ever be such a thing, he says—would not be in conflict with the individual conscience.

Thoreau Reader

Civil Disobedience  Originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government" By Henry David Thoreau - 1849 - with annotated text

Desobediencia Civil - Spanish translation by Hernando Jiménez

• While Walden can be applied to almost anyone's life, "Civil Disobedience" is like a venerated architectural landmark: it is preserved and admired, and sometimes visited, but for most of us there are not many occasions when it can actually be used. Still, although seldom mentioned without references to Gandhi or King, "Civil Disobedience" has more history than many suspect. In the 1940's it was read by the Danish resistance, in the 1950's it was cherished by those who opposed McCarthyism, in the 1960's it was influential in the struggle against South African apartheid, and in the 1970's it was discovered by a new generation of anti-war activists. ...

We can all be Devout Citizens today

From: No Labels (entire article, written by Arthur Bushkin)
What We All Can Do

On 9/11/2001, our nation was united with the spirit that “We Shall Overcome.” Now, a decade later, we live in a toxic, shouting, angry national environment. And, not just in our political lives, but everywhere we turn. How did this happen, and what can we do to change it? 

We know that we must be politically involved, and that we should vote. Nonpartisan organizations, like No Labels, countless issue groups and even President Obama all encourage us to contact our representatives. But what else can we do? 

How can we be Devout Citizens? How can we live our lives as models for what we want our families, our groups and organizations, and our nation to be? 

To be Devout is to respect the values and interests of others. To be Devout is to be passionate and compassionate. To be Devout is to have a higher purpose in one's life than merely one’s daily existence. To be Devout is to be committed to a cause or belief. To be Devout is to seek common ground for the common good. 

A Devout Citizen avoids simple slogans and responses to the complex challenges of today. A Devout Citizen seeks to learn more and to understand the competing interests that must be balanced. 

A Devout Citizen understands that no one can have their way all of the time, not political leaders and not ordinary citizens. Sometimes, we must follow. Sometimes, we must trust others to make decisions for us, and we must respect their judgment. Without followership, there can be no effective leadership. 

A Devout Citizen creates space for conversations. In a world of instant communications, the ability to be heard does not automatically mean that one’s views will be respected or that one’s wishes will be followed. The right to be heard does not mean that one’s views are right. 

A Devout Citizen sets a noble example for others to follow, and follows the noble examples of others. A Devout Citizen seeks the common good by building a Devout Community of noble examples. 

It is time to put aside more than our labels; we must also put aside the idea that the solution to our problems lies with “them.” To think that if only “they” would compromise, seek common ground, and work in the best interests of everyone, is to miss a larger point. We are all part of the “they.”
We are all part of the problem, and we all can be part of the solution. We all create the society in which we live, and we all can make it better. We all can be kinder and more caring, more thoughtful and more respectful. We can all be Devout Citizens in a Devout World. 

 

Arthur Bushkin is a writer, philanthropist, and social activist. His principal cause is Harnessing the Power of Technology for Social Good, and he actively promotes K-12 Open Educational Services.

How to effectively advocate for your issue in our two party system

From: Advocacy Associates
The Two Party System and What It Means for your Advocacy

• how you can overcome the challenges posed in our system and effectively advocate for your issue
• DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED
• Use the power of Constituency
• Persistence is key
• Find like-minded individuals
• Lastly, gain support from larger groups to endorse your issue

The Advocacy Associates' post includes some insights on each of the five tips; its author is experienced dealing with such problems in his work on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail.  And, he published this article about possible reformers to help the two party system.

New book out Jan 31 on political control of the Internet

From: RConversation
Consent of the Networked: Coming January 31st, 2012!

• Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom will be published by Basic Books on January 31st.
• Amazon is already taking orders. Click here for other ways to buy the book. As the publication date approaches, updates about other ways to buy the book (including e-books), related articles, links, and information about my speaking schedule will be posted on ConsentoftheNetworked.com as well as the book's Facebook page. 
• A global struggle for control of the Internet is now underway. At stake are no less than civil liberties, privacy and even the character of democracy in the 21st century.
• Many commentators have debated whether the Internet is ultimately a force for freedom of expression and political liberation, or for alienation, and repression. Rebecca MacKinnon moves the debate about the Internet’s political impact to a new level. It is time, she says, to stop arguing over whether the Internet empowers individuals and societies, and address the more fundamental and urgent question of how technology should be structured and governed to support the rights and liberties of all the world’s Internet users.

For details and links on the book and how to pre-order it right now, please go to the post.

Activities Americans can do right now for the Tar Sands Pipeline Protest

Go to the regional Obama campaign headquarters (send plan details to tarsandsaction.org)!  Also, go to your Congressional Representatives Headquarters. And State Senator's and State Representative's too.

• stand outside with signs
• sing protest chants
• call all the press and media, and they WILL be there!
• have folks on hand to video and upload to youtube.com and send to whitehouse.gov, all tar sands protest sites, etc.

Host a local Meetup, again creating press for it.

For every event we plan, write a local Letter to the Editor; they're free and has great coverage.

• include the Whitehouse phone number -- (202) 456-1111 -- and local US Senators' and US Rep's. numbers for readers to call
• include your local contact info, so they know we are active and protesting!
• send copies of your letters to whitehouse.gov

Get a permit for a peaceful gathering at a park on a main road, or in front of a courthouse during busy hours...we plan to do this every week....we are NOT going away!


We are generating ACTION... folks calling the White House at (202) 456-1111.


Folks can go to to all Protest Tar Sands Petitions -- many organizations are creating them and sending them out.

• send a list of their links, through emails, facebook, contacts, etc.: change.org, friends of the earth, credoaction, tarsandsaction.org, sierra club, avaaz, and many more

Write a Letter to the White House, and keep up the momentum of coverage in every town in America! That is the only thing that will get his attention.

• send it to whitehouse.gov (their contact link is at the top-right corner of their homepage)
• mail it through "send certified receipt requested," because if the White House has to sign for each and every letter, they get your attention!

Tue 7:30pm ET: Join the No Labels telephone town hall and end partisan gridlock

From: No Labels
Telephone town hall with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Tuesday Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m. eastern

• On Tuesday night (Sept. 6), I’m talking with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz about how to end the partisan gridlock paralyzing Washington in a nationwide telephone town hall hosted by No Labels. Join me: http://hq.nolabels.org/schultz_call
• Three weeks ago, Schultz asked other business leaders to urge Congress and President Obama to end the partisan gridlock paralyzing Washington. More than 100 executives joined him in signing a two-part pledge: 
• 1. To withhold campaign contributions until Washington reaches a fair, bipartisan deal on our country’s long-term economic future. 
• 2. To hire workers. American businesses can make a positive impact on our economy through a commitment to doing everything possible to accelerate job creation. 
• Since then, Schultz has heard from Americans across the country who are losing hope in the American dream. It’s time to bring that confidence back. Click here to join me on the Tuesday night call: http://hq.nolabels.org/schultz_call

Request for your thoughts -- today's democracy movements

     In view of the recent and ongoing developments from various democratic movements and organizations, concluding with upcoming demonstrations in Washington, DC, New York and across the nation, we would like to request your thoughts in the Comments section below.

     Here is a list of questions we hope you have an interest in sharing your thoughts, concerns and outlook on:

     These demonstrations are a progression from earlier attempts of civic engagement by the American people; most who are participating feel that nonviolent civil disobedience is the only way to be heard concerning our nation's problems and making of laws. Do you believe they have chosen the best methods constitutionally thus far, and for the next few months? Do you fear that the people's rights to assemble, to enjoy free speech and address our government grievances will be honored by our government authorities?

     Did you expect these movements to be so active as they have so far this year?  What has prompted such a rapid development and plans of various national democracy movements?

     Why do you feel Americans have reached the resolution that, recently and in the next few months, historically large grassroots citizen protests are taking place in Washington, DC, Wall Street and other major cities?

     Do you expect them to have an impact on our elected officials, locally all the way to the president?  Do you believe the protests will be sustained for however long it may take to have a substantial impact on public policy?

     I look forward to your comments!