By the People

In his new book, The Citizen Solution, Harry Boyte writes of the power in defining citizenship as public work:

It means a move from seeing most citizens as voters, volunteers, clients, consumers, or aggrieved and powerless outsiders to seeing all people as potential problem solvers and co-creators of public goods… Overall, it entails a change in the framework of the meaning of democracy, shifting from a focus on elections to a focus on democratic society. It involves shifting from a reliance on groups of experts to broad collaborations that tap diverse energies and skills.(15)

Harry reveals that citizenship is defined individually and that, ultimately, we choose to engage in public work that suits our individual self-interests. In The Citizen Solution, we learn that when we bring our varied interests and talents into the public realm, we enhance the democracy that we live in.

The lessons of Harry's book are coming to life in another project at the Center for Democracy and Citizenship. As a part of the Warrior to Citizen Campaign, veterans from around the state have been bringing their powerful voices and skills to bear in Minnesota. The Oral History Project is recording their stories in order to develop a greater sense of how our state has been shaped by the contributions of its veterans.

Recently, I interviewed an Army veteran who completed two tours of duty as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He told the story of joining the Army right after September 11th, as a young man who had “disliked social studies in high school, and didn’t pay attention to national politics.” He went on to share his experiences in Iraq in 2003 and 2005, talking about the patrols he did, the men and women he worked with, and his struggle to fight a war that he had begun to personally question.