Are Things Going "The Blog Way?"

At the end of our most recent WGVA radio appearance, host Ted Baker asked us to reflect on the blog’s influence on local politics over the years. Capraro was quick to point out that it ought to be up to our readers to determine how effective we’ve been in advocating for open and accountable government, and community based civic engagement. But with the third anniversary of www.NoStringsGeneva.com on the horizon, it’s worth a look back: Have we made a difference?

After we were up and running about six months, on August 1, 2007, we outlined the principles our blog was founded on: accountability, open government, fiscally conservative taxing and spending policies, shared services and inter-municipal cooperation, sensible programs for improving the quality of life of city residents.

Of course, underlying each of those, and critical to the success of all, is our focus on process. We believe that the first and foremost goal of any democratic government is a democratic government. We rejected the notion that City Council should ride roughshod over the how in favor of the what.

Councilors and the citizenry should speak up and out when things are not progressing in accordance with democratic principles, including transparency. “Going along to get along” might spare the public a few squabbles, but it is better for government in the long run to insist on accountability. We, therefore, encouraged public participation, public access to documents, a meaningful seat at the table for the public interest, and a vigilant local press that, in keeping with democratic theory, ought to be more watchdog than cheerleader for local government.

In our view, good information + good dialogue = good government.

At its outset, the blog was attacked by some Councilors and some members of the previous administration-- largely for letting the sun shine in on local government, i.e., sharing information that had previously been regarded as ‘privileged,’ even though it never was. A short lived panic and worry emerged among those who feared everyone would eventually “go the blog way,” which meant asking lots of questions, FOILing documents, challenging the authority, speaking truth to power, and confronting those who appeared not to be acting responsibly in the public interest.

Ideas we raised here slowly made their way into the community and even into the hearts and minds of many of our detractors. Some of the ideas we discussed are actually making their way into public policy. Of course, we don’t claim ownership of those ideas, nor do we believe that good policy begins and ends with the blog. Instead, we see our role as another avenue of participation for the average citizen. Anyone who wants a say can have it here, so long as they’re willing to stand by it (by signing their name) and have a good faith discussion about the merits or drawbacks of particular ideas.

At NoStringsGeneva, we’re guided by two concerns: unchecked government power and blind populism. Who keeps us in check? We strive to be a fact-based point of view. We take a stance on the issues, but we do our best to support our position with sourced facts and information, readily accessible to our readers. We also post responsible, signed responses to our posts, with our additional comments, Whether our ideas are seen as good or bad is, for us, secondary to our larger purpose of attempting to model responsible civic engagement, to get the facts, to let the facts do the talking and to make sure that those facts ground any and all policy-making. In that vein, we think we’ll take some credit for at least being mildly successful—for the time being. Check out the rest of our interview with Ted Baker in the radio archive.