“Thanks for the highly entertaining podcast Gents, I’m a huge fan of how you make politics so engaging! As one of the collaborators behind the www.thenext30.ca, I think Corey summed up my thoughts quite well with his fake quote - “I believe in compromise and thoughtfulness, and
I’m not going to take it anymore!” :) I’ve worked in the Energy Industry my whole life and have seen first hand how polarized viewpoints can distract both sides from the most effective and responsible paths forward. Our democracy suffers from the same blind spot, and in Alberta’s case this blind spot to future possibilities is made larger when politicians look to exasperate the divisions for political gain.
Aside from some predictable drama on Twitter, we’ve already heard loud and clear from Albertans that they’d like to engage and contribute to their shared future and are refreshed to see a citizen led movement that aims to provide a constructive platform to do so. You three esteemed hosts are rare Albertans in that you have political clout and a platform to promote your ideas. There are many Albertans like us that feel disenfranchised by the power imbalance and polarization within our democracy. To Carter’s point, we believe there are thousands of Albertans like us that would happily give their ideas away for free, if only to feel engaged.
My question to you (I’ll play your 5 star bribery game) is an objection to Corey’s thesis that there isn’t a market of citizens who want to contribute their ideas but don’t see a palatable path to do so.
How effectively does democracy in Alberta engage its citizens in collective decision making about our shared future?
I genuinely appreciate the hundreds year old divisive setup of our political institutions and their party’s. They enshrine debate and accountability. I genuinely appreciate the role of the media to connect us all, and how social media has democratized the sources of media from a few to many.
But despite the respect I have for these aspects of our society, most people I know view the Legislature and Twitter as the antithesis of a reasonable platform to discuss. We think there is a large group of Albertans who would appreciate an additional, more positive way to put forward good ideas.
We welcome all of you to join us for our upcoming sessions. We’re not claiming to have all the ideas, we’re simply creating an additional space to hash some of them out.
Zain, we could absolutely use your clear talents as a moderator as we ask everyone to moderate the vitriol that seems to accompany political ideas.
Corey, we want to elevate progressive ideas, and we mean no disrespect to those like yourself who already do that through existing channels and power structures.
Carter, I suggest you skip our warm up sessions on values and respect, wait until the new year when we will start digging into specific policy ideas, then ‘steal’ our best ideas for implementation. Win-win-win (the capital Win is reserved not for the ones generating the ideas, or implementing them, but to the citizenry gets to reap the benefits of a society that elevates its best ideas)
Well that’s the longest review I’ve even given. Keep up the good work!
Ryan Richardson”
deaf fan via Apple Podcasts ·
Canada ·
11/16/20