Participatory Budgeting: The Necessary Addition to our Democracy
This year will go down in history for many reasons: the COVID-19 pandemic, Baby Shark becoming the most viewed YouTube video of all time, and Taylor Swift releasing TWO albums just to name a few. The one event that captivated the entire nation was the presidential election. The tumultuous campaign season was a divisive one, with people across the political spectrum voicing their dissatisfaction with the way America was being ran. This dissatisfaction led to major pushes to increase voter turnout. The voter mobilization efforts resulted in the highest voter turnout in over a century. This level of engagement is a huge accomplishment, but once elections are over, how do politicians gauge the policy preferences of citizens?
The Problem
Proponents of democracy often take pride in it as a system that gives citizens a voice in the political process. An important distinction to be made is that the United States operates as a representative democracy. This means that citizens elect officials who then go and make the policies that reflect the citizens’ interests. The problem however is that the responsiveness of representatives is often linked to their anticipation of how their constituents may vote in the next election. This means that instead of fulfilling the promises made in the prior election (that got a representative elected), they focus on doing what they think will get them re-elected. This leaves a gap in the political process where voters only have their preferences heard during campaigns. Elections are powerful tools to gauge citizens’ preferences, but they fail to give people the opportunity to voice their opinions on new issues that arise between campaign periods. Our current representative democracy sets citizens up as passive spectators to policymakers decisions, but there are potential solutions to this problem, one being participatory budgeting.
The Solution
Politicians often gauge public interests through things like town halls, surveys, or letters from constituents. These are all valuable options, but these methods offer little opportunity to facilitate discussion between citizens and officials. A response to the shortcomings of these practices are creating processes that offer a space for citizens to participate in democracy by informing politicians of their policy choices, which is where participatory budgeting comes into play. Participatory budgeting started in Porto Alegre, Brazil and now has been adopted by several cities in different capacities based on specific design process. The basic premise is that community members get together, learn about community project proposals, and then vote on which project they want to see developed with public funds. This process is open to citizens of all ages and of all immigration status. It offers politicians a chance to understand where community members’ interests lie in real time. Where elections only offer elected officials the chance to fulfill voters interests, participatory budgeting offers the chance to hear from all community members about what they want their community to look like. View the video below for participatory budgeting in action.
Our democracy has several flaws that prevent it from reflecting the needs of all its citizens. Citizens under 18, charged with a felony, or that are undocumented immigrants are just a few of the populations left out of the political process by voting alone. Participatory budgeting is a truly democratic process that gives every community member an opportunity to engage in how public funds are used, which is what our democracy should be doing. We must all actively seek ways to bring as many people as we can into the political process and not just as spectators, but as active participants in shaping policy. If you’re looking for more information on making this democratic process a reality for your community, visit the Participatory Budgeting Project’s website.
