About 10 years ago, I was involved in a grassroots effort in my town to pass a certain type of noise ordinance. My co-leader and I worked very effectively and put together a grassroots organization of around 1700 people from a town of around 40,000. We got our ordinance passed after a few years of public education.
It was through this experience that I could see how any well organized group could get laws passed. That was because there is so little participation in government.
I could almost tell you chapter and verse what was going to happen when republicans became so well organized. The r-w neocons are actually a very small number of people but they hold the power because they are well organized.
There is so little understanding of how to participate in government that there should be a massive public education movement to teach people about it. We have changed from a nation of citizens to a nation of consumers. We need to forge a new model for public participation in government.
Cher