Principle 8: The People should be honest and transparent in their engagement with Congress.

by Kathy Goldschmidt on May 19, 2022

This is part of a series from our latest report, The Future of Citizen Engagement: Rebuilding the Democratic Dialogue. Over the next few weeks, check back regularly for new posts outlining the principles and featuring accompanying resources, articles, and plans to support them.

The People and the groups that represent them should not just tell Congress what to do, but also who they are, where they live in the district or state, and why their requested action is relevant to the Senator's or Representative's constituents. Democracy is a two-way street. While our elected officials bear the lion's share of the burden to be transparent and accountable to those they represent, the People who engage Congress have a civic duty, as well.

In our 2021 report The Future of Citizen Engagement: Rebuilding the Democratic Dialogue, we propose ten principles for modernizing and improving the relationship between Congress and the People. All ten will require changes in the constituent engagement culture and practices in both Congress and the organizations that help facilitate grassroots advocacy. The eighth principle is: The People should be honest and transparent in their engagement with Congress.

Most advocacy campaigns directed to Congress—generating millions of messages every year—are comprised of undifferentiated form messages. They are designed to enable constituents to quickly scan a few lines and click "send" in a few seconds, but they seldom provide Congress with substantive, actionable information. American democracy (and Congress) deserves better. Petitioning the government should come with some level of accountability by the petitioner. The People trying to influence Congress should identify who they are, affirm they are constituents, and explain the reasoning behind their involvement in the issue or campaign. This is all the more important as evidence has emerged of dangerous foreign attempts to influence U.S. elections and public policy and financially-motivated computer-generated public comment on federal regulations masquerading as real people. Congress already distrusts (and in some cases, ignores) some advocacy campaigns. Both the participants in our democratic dialogue and the tools utilized to facilitate it should foster trust in both the sender of the message and its authenticity.

Principle into Practice:

  • Petitioners/The People should expect to provide certain identifying information when they engage with Members of Congress.
  • Members of Congress should use systems and technology that verify the identity of those seeking to influence policy outcomes.
  • Third-party vendors who facilitate communications to Congress should be required to verify their products/services are not being used to mask or misrepresent who is using them.

Additional Reading

 
citizen engagement, congressional operations