Grassroots Dayton is a not-for-profit 501C(3) organization that has a great purpose: “to promote the development of citizen democracy in the Dayton region.” I like its motto — “sowing the seeds of democracy” — it suggests an interesting path of thought. Maybe I’m inspired by Chauncy Gardner from “Being There,” but, I’m wondering: What is a seed of democracy? What does a seed of democracy look like? How does one go about sowing such seeds?

I’m glad that Grassroots Dayton didn’t choose an easier motto, something like, “building democracy.” A free press, an educated population, fair elections are all aspects of building democracy. All good ideas. But the motto “sowing seeds” suggests a lot more. An architect directs the growth of a building based upon a blueprint he himself designed, but a gardener understands that his role is different. He knows that the growth he seeks comes not from his blueprint or his direction, but that growth comes from a force of life beyond his direction. He just needs to get it started. He needs to sow seeds.

We might think of our democracy as being a grand old building in bad disrepair and might imagine that the solution to its problems are architectural. But it seems more accurate to think of our democracy in ecological terms. Our landscape is a desert, when it should be a lush and productive garden. It rings true, to me, that the solution of the problems of our democracy are more those requiring the skills of a good gardener, rather than those of a good architect. It is interesting that Grassroots Dayton’s motto suggests just one gardening activity — “sowing seeds.” Nothing about preparing the soil. I’m wondering if an expanded slogan — say, for a membership drive for Grassroots Dayton — might be something like this: “The ground is ready, the conditions are right, we need workers to help us in our work, ‘Sowing The Seeds Of Democracy’.” (An extended video commercial — soliciting new membership or donations — could develop this theme, showing an historical understanding of the development of our democracy, emphasizing that the opportunity for democracy did not happen without a price.)

One thing is certain, a seed of democracy has great potential and great power. Totalitarian states are ever vigilant to notice any evidence of democracy sprouting up and are relentless and merciless in ever uprooting any growth of democracy that becomes evident. Totalitarian states spend great energy to make sure that seeds of democracy never enter their borders. The idea of democracy, itself, is a seed of democracy. Totalitarian states know that the idea of democracy is a powerful idea that has inflamed imaginations throughout human history. So, they purge libraries of material promoting democracy, and censure and control speech within their country to deflect any interest in or discussion of democracy.

Democracy, of course, is more than an idea. Democracy is a means to meaningfully organize a group of people, a means to make group decisions. Democracy rests on faith in the belief that there is such a thing as group wisdom and that, given the opportunity, a group will make good decisions in choosing its leaders and in charting its course.

It is an interesting fact that a lot of Americans have really never experienced democracy in the sense of meaningfully participating within a democratic group. Most work places are not democratic; most schools are not democratic; the military is not democratic; even churches often are not democratic. And, many people have stopped voting because they have concluded that even our democracy is not democratic.

The fact is, we have allowed our system of democracy to degenerate into a system of elitism. I wrote this post — “For Our Future’s Sake, We Must Transform Our System of Elitism To a System of Democracy” — developing that idea. It’s true, our democracy is not democratic. When you look at the landscape of our democracy, you see a desert where there should be lush and productive growth. Our democracy is in need of vitalization; we need many new outgrowths of democracy throughout our entire region. We need to sow seeds of democracy.

I believe that the idea of democracy should be an idea that should dominate our political discourse. I wrote a post last September that said, “The irony of our effort to build democracy in Iraq is the fact that our own democracy is barely functioning and is in need of a building effort itself. A consensus view is growing that ours is a very weak democracy and that our government is a far cry from one that is ‘of the people, for the people.’ The ascending issue in our democracy, in my judgment, is democracy itself.”

Because a seed of democracy is the idea of democracy itself, Grassroots Dayton should find ways to bring the topic of the state of our democracy into public discourse, and should find a way to support a meaningful study and discussion of the state of our democracy.

I’m thinking another seed of democracy Grassroots Dayton should sow is the creation of realities within which people can directly experience democracy. The more people experience democracy, the more they will want to experience it. I like the idea of creating forums, for example, for the study and discussion of issues concerning our future. Such forums, in the way they are organized, could function as temporary communities and could serve as positive examples of how people can form communities and work democratically together to achieve a common purpose. I like the idea of creating school clubs, “Democracy Clubs,” that could serve as democratic communities for students dedicated to a common purpose — understanding and advancing democracy. Such clubs might work cooperatively with organizations like Kids Voting, or The League of Women Voters.

I like the idea that a seed of democracy Grassroots Dayton might sow this political season is the organizing of community meetings where neighbors can get together for the common purpose of socializing with each other but also for meeting and dialoguing together with Republican and Democratic candidates running for office. Anytime communities are brought together for meaningful work, the cause of democracy is advanced, because, active communities are the essence of democracy.

And I like the idea that Grassroots Dayton should facilitate the discussion of and understanding of important issues facing our community. A seed of democracy is basic public awareness.

Finally, I’m thinking that Grassroots Dayton, itself, must become an active democratic community. Grassroots Dayton must use the opportunities of the internet to form a meaningful internet community, operated democratically to pursue and accomplish Grassroots Dayton’s mission.

So, in general terms, I’m thinking Grassroots Dayton can work toward fulfilling its mission — “sowing seeds of democracy” — in the following ways:

1. Find ways to bring the topic of the state of our democracy into public discourse; find ways to support a meaningful study of the state of our democracy.
2. Create realities within which people can directly experience democracy.
3. Organize community meetings.
4. Facilitate understanding of important issues.
5. Define itself as a democratic community and act as a democratic community.

This whole question of how Grassroots Dayton can meet its purpose — the development of citizen democracy in the Dayton region — is an important question and I want to suggest some workable answers to that question in future posts.

The thesis of the book, “Reclaiming Public Education by Reclaiming Our Democracy,” written by David Matthews, is succinctly summarized in the book’s title. Matthews writes, “We must have the public we need before we can have the schools we want.” To improve education, the book argues, there must be a more engaged, more informed, more active public: to improve education we must improve our democracy.

Matthews has an impressive resume; he was in charge of HEW during the Ford administration; he served as president of The University of Alabama. Now, Matthews serves as president of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation located here in Dayton.

In a transcript posted on Public Agenda, Matthews says, “The Kettering Foundation’s work is not about the argument that education is essential to democracy. That’s already been made. This book is about the reverse argument: that democracy is essential to education.” Matthews emphasizes that he is talking about education in a broad sense.  He says, “As opposed to being about the school, which is an institution, it is about education, meaning a process by which a society transmits its skills and values to the next generation through a host of institutions and social conventions, one of which is the schools.”

The Kettering Foundation was founded by Charles F. Kettering in 1927, “to sponsor and carry out scientific research for the benefit of humanity.” Over time, according to its web-site, the emphasis of the foundation evolved and, “Since the early 1990s, the foundation has worked on strategies to strengthen democracy. The primary question addressed by its research today is ‘What does it take to make democracy work as it should?’”

The foundation has offices on a 20 acre campus in Kettering, evidently within a few miles of where I live, so I want to visit the foundation’s offices. I want to browse, if allowed, the literature that the foundation produces. The foundation has a big interest in “deliberative forums,” and works in cooperation with another 501C(3), The National Issues Forum, and evidently produces literature used in these forums.

I think it is great that one of Dayton’s most creative and most successful citizens has bequeathed an organization whose purpose is to study democracy. The web-site says,

Kettering believed in sticking with big problems and taking them on in all their complexity, not breaking them into pieces. One needed, he was fond of saying, to “learn how to fail intelligently” – to develop and test new ideas and then to learn from what happened. Few important questions, he believed, were simple. One had to get at “the problem behind the problem.” During Kettering’s lifetime, the foundation’s work focused on projects he found interesting: basic scientific research on photosynthesis and cancer, as well as grants to promote scientific education and work-study programs at colleges and universities.

In keeping with Kettering’s insight — that one should identify and solve the problem behind the problem — in the 1970’s the foundation ceased using its income to make grants and instead focused its financial resources on conducting its own research. The web-site says,

As that work evolved, researchers at the foundation began to believe that lasting solutions to the world’s problems were increasingly social and political in nature rather than technical and scientific. Moving away from its tradition of basic scientific research, the foundation began to focus on basic political research – striving to understand how citizens and political systems can work together.

Eventually this work evolved to focus on democracy itself.

The idea that making democracy work is the problem behind the problem is an idea that rings true to me. I developed this idea in a post entitled, Our Democracy Must Be Revived — If We Hope To Achieve The Dreams of Our Wisest and Best. Matthews and the Kettering Foundation seem to assert the principle, that I agree with, that says, if our democracy was working as it should, the public good would be advanced in ways that are only hinted at now. How to make democracy work is the problem behind the problem.

David Esrati recently wrote a post in which he asked this interesting question: “Why would people want to live in LA and fight traffic, live in NYC and pay crazy rent for a closet to live in, when they could be in Dayton?” I wrote an extended response to Esrati’s question that resonates with Matthews’ insight that “democracy is essential to education.” Not only is democracy essential to education, but, I believe, democracy is essential to the fulfillment of all other aspects of our community’s potential as well. My judgment is that the answer to Esrati’s question must be anchored in our faith in democracy. It must be based on the principle that if democracy was working in the Dayton region as it should be working, people eventually would be powerfully attracted to our community.

In my response to Esrati, I wrote, “Dayton needs to ask itself what it should be doing, as a system, to inspire and empower its citizens to attain new levels of personal motivation, entrepreneurship, leadership and creativity.” What Dayton needs to do, if it is to move in the direction of becoming known as a ‘City of Opportunity,’ is to vitalize its democracy.

Because of the bequest of one of its most notable citizens and most successful problem solvers, Charles F. Kettering, Dayton is fortunate to be home to a foundation whose mission is to answer the question, “What does it take to make democracy work as it should?” The foundation has identified the key question because the problem behind the problems facing our community is the dysfunction of our democracy. For Dayton to answer this key question in such a way that it becomes a city and region known for its vibrant democracy is no small goal. For the sake of the future of our city and region, however, it is a question that we must focus our energies on answering.

I intend on making a future post discussing some of the ideas in Matthews’ book.