"Our Constitution is a remarkable, beautiful gift. But it's really just a piece of parchment. It has no power on its own. We, the people, give it power. We, the people, give it meaning. With our participation, and with the choices that we make, and the alliances that we forge. Whether or not we stand up for our freedoms. Whether or not we respect and enforce the rule of law. That's up to us. America is no fragile thing. But the gains of our long journey to freedom are not assured."         

 

President Obama’s Farewell Address, January 10, 2017

 

To survive and flourish  in the 21st century our nation must embrace the digital revolution that has transformed most aspect of personal and social life.
 

When it comes to our political life,  digital technology has the potential to enrich American Democracy and provide the tools for 21st century solutions to the challenges confronting the United States. From participation in the political process to engaging citizens in decision making and policy formulation, digital technology can be leveraged on the local, national and global level..   We discuss utilizing digital technology to strengthen our democracy by improving citizen engagement. Current technology allows us to rewire the body politic through information technology. These tools allow unprecedented opportunity to get access to information, mobilize, challenge misinformation provide for a more deliberative dialogue.  Where previously only well connected individuals and organizations were engaged now more of the public can get engaged.

​

Citizen Toolbox for the 21st Century 

Citizenism builds of The Medical Case Presentation structure as an organizing framework for a citizen-oriented treatment plan that provides a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder and multi-phase road map for citizen involvement in their political ecosystem.

​

Crowdsourcing Platforms: The Liberty Bell is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In its early years, the Liberty Bell summoned lawmakers to legislative sessions and alerted citizens of public meetings and proclamations. We believe that given the right tools and framework, citizens, patients, consumers, healthcare professionals, public servants and politicians, working together can achieve great results addressing the challenges facing our nation.

​

The COVID 19 Citizen Commission:​ A citizen commission to explore the COVID-19 pandemic and the response of the various global, national, state, local, non-governmental, and private sector stakeholders. Particular attention is focused on understanding and preparing for the likely impact of the pandemic on individuals, communities, nations, and globally. The citizen’s commission utilizes the framework of the morbidity and mortality (M & M) conference used in the medical setting, to provide an objective, nonpartisan opportunity to examine and improve complex challenges. 

 

The Medical Case Presentation represents a framework that summons our fellow citizens to address the challenges confronting us as individuals, as communities and as a nation.  The Medical Case Presentation includes multiple features to engage citizens. Similar to the diagnostic and treatment tools in the hands of medical clinicians, these features can be thought of as a diagnostic and treatment elements for engaged citizenship. In the coming weeks, we will introduce some of the elements and how they are used in addressing the challenges of the opioid epidemic. The effort is a work in progress, links to content at various stages of development is provided.

​

Vision: One of the challenges confronting our nation is the lack of shared collective vision for the United States of America. America does well when its leaders and citizens are inspired by a unified vision. We examine the vision for opioid-related challenges. Establish a vision for the individual, community, nation and the international community.

​

My Political Ecosystem:  In order to actively participate in our politics, we need to be informed about political and public institutions, our representatives and other government officials. This easy-to-use tool provides a snapshot of the political system where citizens can learn about their representatives, organizations and other relevant aspects of their local, state and federal (or global) systems.

​

Citizen Brief: A citizen-focused document, the Citizen Brief presents relevant social and political information to support social and political engagement. A complete Citizen Brief provides a vision for an issue, reframes the problem, provides data, and discusses the various issues and proposals available. These actions can be personal, social or political. Due to its emphasis on continual reassessment, the Citizen Brief is uniquely positioned to address systemic changes over time.

​

The Checklist Manifesto:   Being a citizen is challenging and complex. Checklists have been used to improve outcomes in various fields. We introduce the checklists to facilitate taking action and interacting with various stakeholders. Developing a checklist for the various stakeholders is a continuous process.

​

The Tracer: Tracers are designed to “trace” the care experiences that a patient had while at an organization. It is a way to analyze the organization’s system of providing care, treatment or services using actual patients as the framework for assessing standards compliance. Patients selected for these tracers will likely be those in high-risk areas or whose diagnosis, age or type of services received may enable the best in-depth evaluation of the organization’s processes and practices.

​

Data:  Data is crucial for an objective presentation of a given medical situation, not just to help the diagnosis, but also to decide on a course of treatment and monitor results. The challenge with data is to agree upon what is important and relevant. Data is not an opinion; it is usually reproducible and verifiable. Data is a tool for more informed decision making about, not a decision itself. The challenge is to present the information in a simplified manner that allows for utilization in decision making.

​

​

Health of the Nation:  An annual gathering in Philadelphia organized by Citizens4Health, an organization motivated by the belief that citizen engagement will contribute to solutions to the big problems that confront our nation, Health of the Nation provides a different approach from the current toxic political debate on how to address the challenges facing our healthcare system (and our nation).

​

Progress Notes: Madison and other framers were aware of the need for updating the framework of the constitution as the realities change. For Jefferson, he believed that there should be constitutional conventions every 20 or so years. Madison was concerned about the danger of opening up the structure of the constitution to the “People”,  as well as the loss of expertise and accumulated knowledge and experience.

​