My new piece on Debate 2.0 just got posted over at techPresident BackChannel.
A team of volunteers from more than a dozen Washington state civic groups, including Alec Ramsay and I from Front Seat, have been meeting for the last 18 months, developing ideas on how to bring the world of participatory democracy into political debates, with a focus on the 2012 Governor’s race.
The hope is to build a culture of civic engagement in political debates, where citizens are not just passive recipients of talking point messages, but are active participants. Where they listen and learn, but also ask questions – of candidates, the media, and fellow citizens.
We were very happy to learn that Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna accepted our invitation on March 26. Follow up discussions with former U.S. Congressman Jay Inslee’s campaign led to his acceptance of our invitation for an October 6 event at Intiman Theater at Seattle Center.
