At the end of the post Ed added a paragraph inviting any one interested in forming a Citizen’s Anti-Corruption Commission to add their name:
“In response to Frank Revy’s comment below, I add these thoughts:
For anyone interested in an anti-corruption effort in Cuyahoga County, add your voice here .
The next step will be to organize a Meet-up if enough people are interested.
A Citizen’s Commission would have to overcome at least three forces that operate in Cuyahoga County: apathy, fear and malevolence. “
I added my name but apparently Ed didn’t think that was enough because two days later Ed threw in the towel on the idea with the following paragraphs:
Update: 4/10/09:
It’s pretty clear this idea is going nowhere. My experience teaches me that you can get about 80% of your response in the first couple of days after a post. We clearly do not have enough interest to push this idea forward.
On the positive side, though, I have worked out a simple protocol for evaluating the critical mass needed in a network for launching an initiative. This will be extremely useful in my future work. Sometimes, failed ideas provide the best opportunity to advance your thinking!
So Ed got me thinking: what if public corruption was actually the popular and accepted democratic choice here in North East Ohio? What if enough of our citizens relied on corruption to pay their mortgage and to pay for their family that if corruption where put on the ballot as a choice it would win?
Ed, from the few responses that you received, do you think corruption would garner a majority on a free ballot in NEO?
I am beginning to believe that corruption would win democratically just as it is winning practically, or as they say, on the ground.
Nice Easter Photos from China, Ed!