The COVID-19 Citizens Commission Version 1.0

Reclaim the Citizen Role in the Political Ecosystem

Why a Citizen Commission?

We live in dangerous political times. Citizens in the United States are increasingly feeling that the political system is broken. Many feel that their voice is not being heard. That political institutions have failed them. That democracy, the organizing framework of our government, is no longer worth preserving. That the political status quo is broken. Urgent action is needed.

The Citizenism Project is driven by the belief that it is up to us, the People of the United States to actively engage in our government in order to continuously strive to create “a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” as ordained and established in our constitution.

Our projects in general and the COVID 19 Citizen Commission, provide a framework, citizen tools for engagement that will reclaim the role of the citizen as the center of our democracy. We seek to facilitate the function of government, whose main goal is to allow people to flourish. We are committed to provide a framework and tools to leverage technology and scientific insights, embrace crowdsourcing in the service of democracy, and pursues other collaborative activities to address challenges in our society and achieve a strong, healthy political system serving free and enlightened citizens.

We invite you to join our experiment.

How will the Citizen Commission achieve its goal?

The COVID-19 Citizen Commission is an experiment to study how citizens can reclaim their role in the public sphere. Version 1.0 of the commission is an early stage of an evolving process, tests a framework to introduce and build the process and create tools for addressing complex political and social problems. The citizen commission framework and process examines the various stakeholders associated with the pandemic and highlights the potential for citizen action, interest groups, citizen groups, individuals, non-governmental regulators, as well as public officials the impact the COVID 19 pandemic. Based on the examination, the citizen commission will offer suggestions and build and call for further action when needed.

The Citizen Commission version 1.0 invites citizens to contribute ideas and engage politically not only to better understand public opinion as it relates to what happened with the COVID-19 pandemic response. The Citizen’s Commission offers recommendations on how federal, state and local leaders and most importantly citizens can better respond to COVID-19 and future pandemics. The commission will also develop strategies that are focused on personal wellbeing and contribute to a thriving and flourishing society as envisioned by our founders.

What Will the Citizen Commission Be Doing?

The COVID-19 Citizen Commission creates an organizing framework for a citizen-oriented approach to the challenges facing us in the body politic of the United States. The citizen commission is a framework to enhance citizen participation and engagement in the political ecosystem. The commission offers a dynamic, interactive, collaborative process that engages our fellow citizens to address the COVID-19 related challenges confronting us as individuals, members of our community, and citizens of the nation and the world. It provides a vehicle for citizens to collaborate, identify, analyze, develop, implement, and monitor a solution-based “treatment plan” for medical problems. The various phases of the citizen commission will be presented over a period of weeks and ongoing discussion will be encouraged. Short and long term goals and plans will be developed and monitored. The experience with the COVID-19 citizen commission will inform efforts to address other challenges facing the public and build a framework for more general and ongoing conversations.

---