Newsletter - April 2022

Here's the April 2022 edition of the Speak Up for Good Government newsletter. Regardless of which holiday(s) you celebrate, I hope yours has been good.

This month’s newsletter focuses primarily on these two guiding principles:

• Free and fair elections for all

• Accurate and unbiased voter info

The graph below shared by Dr. Steven Kull, Director of the Program for Public Consultation (PPC) at the University of Maryland, at February’s webinar for the American Society for Quality’s (ASQ) Government Division is one illustration of the severe erosion of trust in our government.

Although I could not find similar infographics to reflect the decline in trust of our electoral processes and decline in trust of the information we receive, I have seen reports that reflect a bipartisan erosion of trust in both of these items.

Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I personally witnessed much of the confusion, misinformation, and disinformation that is fueling this distrust. I heard differing statements from close friends and family regarding the cause of the war, I witnessed uncertainty on whether to believe the Russian or Ukranian narrative, and heard many different perspectives on the cause of high gas prices, and our ability to counter the high gas prices.

Most people don't have the time or interest in wading through the many sources of information available. Most of us are inclined to gravitate towards sources that confirm our perspective, and many of us get so frustrated that we simply "tune out".

Here are links to information about the expansion of NATO and relations with Russia, about Russia's Commodity Exports, and an article about what it would take to replace Russian Imports. This information is readily available and easy to find, but doing so can be very time-consuming.

In the months ahead, I plan to take a media literacy course and hope to share some simple techniques with our subscribers.

The American Society for Quality (ASQ) Center for Electoral Quality and Integrity (CEQI) is working on the development of quality standards that can be leveraged to objectively determine the extent to which electoral processes make it "easy to vote and hard to cheat". The goal is to have a draft standard in place for the 2024 election that can be used to assess the degree to which state and local election processes meet voter expectations and can be used to assess the "maturity" of state and local election processes. I will be participating in and promoting this work.

Earlier this month the CEQI leader and I were fortunate to have a conversation with leaders from Issue One. Issue One is actively working on bipartisan legislative solutions to improve our election system. We look forward to ongoing communication and collaboration on our respective efforts. Both the legislative approach and the development and adoption of an objective standard are long-term projects that will take patience and perseverance.

Trust in the information that we receive, and the ability to freely and fairly cast our votes based on information we receive are cornerstones to an effective democracy.

I want to once again remind everyone how fragile democracy can be and how important it is to protect our democracy here at home! I found this editorial on the Ukraine war in the April 7 edition of the Solon, Ohio community paper very poignant.

Have a great month.

Allan

Newsletter – March 2022

Welcome to the March 2022 edition of the Speak Up for Good Government newsletter.

To kick off this month’s newsletter I want to bring us back to the principles that guide this work:

• Free and fair elections for all

• Accurate and unbiased voter info

• Commitment to problem solving

• Respect for opposing views

• Account for regional differences

• Partnership with the public

• No more conflicts of interest

• Commitment to excellence

Using these eight principles as a backdrop, here are some key points shared by Dr. Steven Kull, Director of the Program for Public Consultation (PPC) at the University of Maryland, at last month’s webinar for the American Society for Quality’s (ASQ) Government Division.

1. There is strong bipartisan support for greater public influence on government decision-makers.

2. If Congress were more actively influenced by the people, they would be more likely to find common ground.

3. Public policy consultation can identify solutions with strong bipartisan support to difficult problems. Take, for example, Social Security reform. These bipartisan recommendations would address two-thirds of the financial shortfall in the Social Security trust fund and are strongly endorsed by voters, regardless of party affiliation and region of the country.

I am a strong advocate for the Program for Public Consultation's work, which aligns closely with several of Speak Up for Good Government's main principles:

• Partnership with the public

• Commitment to problem solving

• Accurate and unbiased voter info

• Respect for opposing views

In next month’s newsletter, I will provide additional details on work initiated by ASQ’s Government Division to develop a standard that objectively measures the quality and integrity of government electoral processes. In addition, I will touch on misinformation and the importance of fact-checking using the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the impact on energy supplies and energy pricing as a point of reference.

As we watch with horror the events in Ukraine, I want to remind everyone how fragile democracy can be and how important it is to protect our democracy here at home!

Have a great month.

Allan

Newsletter - February 2022

Source: National Archives

From my perspective, it has been a particularly tough month for democracy with the assault on Ukraine, and, closer to home with the failure by Ohio officials to complete the redistricting process. However, two items have helped me to find some room for hope amidst all of the negative news:

1. In my former home of San Francisco, three school board members were recalled. These were Democratic officials in a very progressive/Democratic city. I believe that the simple message sent by the voters in that election was that regardless of whether an elected official shares your ideology, if you don’t do your job you don’t deserve to hold office!

2. Last Thursday at a webinar hosted by ASQ’s Government Division, Dr. Steven Kull Director of the University of Maryland Program for Public Consultation shared the methodology and data surrounding the work they have done to identify widely supported common ground positions on many of the key issues facing our country. I hope many of you were able to attend this outstanding program. In addition to the energy and engagement of those that attended the webinar, I was particularly heartened by overwhelming data shared by Dr. Kull that reflects broad agreement between deep red and deep blue areas on a number of policy solutions. I was also heartened by data that supports the theme that voters value results over party or ideology. I will share much more information from last week’s webinar in next month’s newsletter.

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to visit London. As was the case following my U.S. cross country road trip last summer, it gave me an opportunity to reflect on our Speak Up for Good Government efforts and on the challenges our democracy faces. Like any country, England has its own set of problems. After touring the Tower of London, I was particularly struck by the journey the United Kingdom has taken from the brutality of medieval times to their current parliamentary democracy. I was also struck by the fact that the city and the UK’s very existence were severely threatened by the bombing of World War II.

As I toured many of the beautiful parts of London, noting similarities to some of the cities I have visited in the U.S., I was struck by the fact that England came into existence long before the United States; and many of our systems, customs, etc. come from and have evolved from Great Britain. Although I’m far from an expert on this topic, my understanding is that the British system of government and the parliamentary democracies of many other European countries typically rely on opposing parties working together. If opposing parties can work together in other countries, so can ours!

England and many other European governments evolved from autocracies to democracies. Democracies can also devolve into autocracies. That’s what makes this work so important to me. We are very lucky to have our personal liberties and lucky that our form of government is designed to have elected officials accountable to voters. Preserving and enhancing our democracy requires all of us to “Speak Up for Good Government”!

One of my favorite movies is The American President. President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) in the pivotal scene of the movie says “…America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad…” In the spirit of President Shepherd, please share this newsletter and consider getting involved!

Until next month,

Allan