Scott: All I can say this is a great essay. And civic involvement is indeed hard work.

When we have to resort to activist methods to bend the will of those who aspire for public office, that seems to leave public policy to those who can shout the loudest and longest. If the other side shouts longer and longer than us, they win.

I don't know how far you have dived into my TDG idea. But in my book, I outline a fictitious city of 100,000 people. This TDG will have about 650 elected positions. Most of those positions will be at the neighborhood level, so there won't be 650 offices and staffers and big salaries. But these neighborhood representatives will be an excellent conduit to help figure out what society really needs. Everyone has easy access to their neighborhood representative, who can push matters up the tiers to eventually reach a quicker and better resolution.

In essence, the neighborhood representatives become the activists. And they are elected.

I am hoping that activism, as we know it today, disappears. It is still too confrontational. We need a more co-operative approach to effect positive change in our societies.