John: I've kind of been wanting to write an article like this. The political elite are living in a different world than about 80% of us.

Another barrier to full participation is that average people really can't afford the time off from work to run for public office. I think you may have hinted on this.

As we have talked before about my "Tiered Democratic Governance," here's how the TDG would allow average people to participate in the process.

1) Electoral units are granulated to about 200 residents called "neighborhoods." Each neighborhood would elect one of their own people into government. There is no parachuting of candidates. In other words, a lower-middle class person can be elected into TDG governance because that person comes from a lower-middle-class neighborhood.

2) As first tier neighborhoods are merged to bring together different demographics, 80% of the representatives are going to come from demographics that traditionally have had little opportunity in politics. In other and simple words, the "rich" will truly have to work alongside the "poor" to solve societal problems. The rich just don't have the majority in the TDG to push their agenda.

I could offer a few more tidbits of TDG governance for average people to really participate. But I will conclude with this axiom I heard many years ago: "Politics is the art of getting the rich man's money to buy the poor man's vote."

That axiom disappears with the TDG.