Research concludes very convincingly that people in most democratic countries around the world believe that the political system is broken. Trust in elected officials and political parties has plummeted over the past few decades and citizens are asking for a greater voice in the decisions that affect their lives.

When only 1 in 6 people (16%) trust political parties, and yet those same parties are responsible for steering the nation and deciding on everything from military alliances to housing and taxation, we know that as a community we have a big problem.

The OECD has studied the same phenomena and recommends that “governments connect and engage better with citizens in policy design”.

In fact, globally, democracy is in decline and is being replaced by more and more autocratic systems of governance.

By improving our systems of representative governance, we prevent the need for citizens to turn to autocratic leaders to save them from the mess.

But enough of the negatives… the reality is that many policies and the future of our nations can be improved through greater citizen participation in decisions.

By enabling people to have a voice in the policy decisions that affect their lives, we are in fact ushering in an era of improved collective decision-making, and utilising technology to enable large groups to come together and have their say from the convenience of a computer or phone, at a time that suits them.

Not only is this the definition of democracy, but most of society’s knowledge is distributed throughout the community, creating a missed opportunity to integrate that knowledge and experience.

Over the past few decades, customer feedback tools have been developed and refined by companies. It’s common to be asked to provide your feedback after a visit to the bank, a flight or other such interactions with major businesses. Why not when it comes to government policy decisions? Or how the government budget is being spent? Or involving the community in setting the Parliamentary agenda in terms of what issues require the most immediate attention.

Because our elected officials have not created these feedback mechanisms, it is up to all of us in the community to organise and start providing feedback as a community. That’s the only kind of politics that makes any sense.

I founded OurVoice to empower you and everyone in the community to have an equal voice in the decisions that affect you and develop the technologies needed to make the process as seamless and enjoyable as possible.

Sincerely,

Eddie Kowalski

Founder of OurVoice