It’s about personal responsibility

Is the dress blue and black, or gold and white? The social media frenzy over this trivial matter colored (pun intended) our discussion of democracy and our role as citizens. What are our responsibilities as citizens? How do we hold politicians accountable? These questions are worthy of social media blitz. But how do we deepen and broaden our fellow citizens' interest in issues worthy of our intellect, time, and energy?

Here are some answers for your consideration.

1. Freedom brings responsibility. And within a free society we manage our time by priorities. What we desire we do. We order our schedule around our priorities. Our favorite TV show, sports team, movie, or party gets our time and energy. As citizens of our great nation the core of our cultural existence should include the priority of public engagement. It is what free citizens should do. Freedom is costly. A free society is only maintained by good citizens using a portion of their free time to participate in the process that shapes and upholds our freedoms.

2. Knowing how to participate in our form of government is essential. Civic education is a must for our schools again. We believe it should be a required class for all graduates. But more importantly, civic engagement needs to be an ethic woven into the fabric of our educational philosophy. Businesses and media can help here as well. Informative articles in our papers and online educating the public about the how to of the process; how a bill becomes law, who to contact and what laws are currently pending. Companies would also do well to give paid time off yearly for employees to visit the capitol, participate in a political forum, attend a council meeting, or spend a day with an agency that receives public funds.

3. Holding our politicians accountable is the work of free citizens. The person in the mirror you see every day is the responsible one. If we do not like what is happening we can do something about it. Yes, we know it is discouraging not to be heard. It is tempting to just shout louder, and sometimes that is what is needed. One shout that needs to be heard is demanding term limits from our representatives. Our group saw this as returning to the original intent of our Constitution. Our early politicians saw themselves as citizen representatives, not career politicians. One result of term limits is that it would help break the influence of big money in our system. It would dissipate to some degree the truckloads of money given to ensure the career of the elected, and may allow more of us common folk to represent ourselves and then go home and live with what we enacted.

All this brings us back to social media. The same technology that enhances shallowness can bring depth. The technology is good and useful to all of us. But let's make civic engagement cool, interesting and engaging.

Can we combine the frenzy of ideas that we find in the online community with the relative civility of our face-to-face interactions, where inflammatory ideas lose their steam in the face of interpersonal give and take?

These conversations, along with young adults creatively using their media savvy, their youthful coolness and wit as responsible citizens excites us. It gives us hope for the future of our freedoms in this third century of our democracy. A YouTube video of civics in action, anyone?

' This is one of the inaugural columns written by members of The Gazette Writers Circle, which is a diverse, select group of community members who explore and discuss local issues. Circle member Richard Marsceau led a team comprised of Les Deal, Natalie Ditmars, Bob Elliott, Ingrid McHugh and Lasheila Yates in this specific discussion, which was a sub-section of learning why more Eastern Iowans aren't involved in the public decision-making process. Comments: (319) 398-8469; editorial@thegazette.com