In the 1950s, while doing research for a book on political participation, the social scientist James Q. Wilson found himself attending a lot of citizen engagement meetings on urban planning. Eventually he reached a conclusion that seemed obvious to him, but that public officials, and especially political reformers, didn’t talk much about. Wilson’s insight was that most citizens don’t attend meetings to endorse a policy, to give their blessing to a new project, or to sit back and learn. They show up to complain -- to say no to what’s being proposed.

One reason most public officials don’t talk much about this is that it runs counter to the deeply held American belief that the broadest possible public participation is good for democracy. It’s true that a significant portion of the time, the ambitious plans of local government aren’t good policy. In those cases, somebody really does need to speak up against them.

No one is suggesting a return to that style of government. Cabaldon isn’t arguing for it. “Simply trusting the elected officials to make all the decisions,” he admitted, “is not the right answer either.”

But paying a little attention to the insights of Cabaldon and Wilson might not be a bad idea. Public policy doesn’t get better just because more people are showing up to meetings. Often it gets worse. It improves when voters elect officeholders with a pragmatic sensibility and then give them some leeway to do the right thing and explain their decisions to the public. That’s called representative government. It’s a lovely thing when it works.

Read the full article about citizen engagement by Alan Ehrenhalt at Governing Magazine.