Building a Congress Stack in your District

Discussion draft for the #Reboot2018 conference in San Francisco.

From foreign interference in our electoral system to computational propaganda on social media, 2017 has taught us that the critical digital infrastructure of government in our democracy is uneven, fragile in places and obsolete in general.

Protecting democracy in the digital age is a whole-of nation policy challenge. Problem solving will require a collaborative effort. If we leave it to Silicon Valley, we could end up with perfect laundry and fewer voting rights. But if we leave it up to Washington, we may get top down directives based on an understanding of technology from the 1980’s. (Delivered by messenger pigeon!).

The idea for “Building a Congress Stack” originated with a research project on how Members of Congress are engaging in new ways to gather policy insights from constituents. This practice is called “crowdsourcing expertise” and/or #crowdlaw in other democracies.

It is part of the Resilient Democracy Coalition — a group of us working to make sure Congress succeeds in the 21st century. Democracyfund is the supporter of my work.

A focus on policymaking and Congress is important, because in order to push through this volatile time successfully, we need more citizens involved in the steady hand of democracy: the governing process. Governing in the 21st century requires a different form of participation from citizens and leaders — one that’s less exciting than elections, but essential for solving social problems. The governing process is often slow and rule-bound. Elected leaders spend time making policy — which is a strategy for taking action on the challenges facing American society. In contrast to campaign quips and focus group messages, policymaking is about authentic information exchange. It requires public deliberation and tradeoffs. Elected leaders need help with rigorous research, explaining complex issues, forecasting local implications and finding political compromise. These shared functions of our democracy require one thing in common: trust in the process.

In Congress, the shared process of policymaking has plummeted. The institution is working with 40% less expert staff than it had in the 1970s and is conducting far fewer committee hearings (in some cases less than half). Congress — the world’s most powerful representative assembly — is paralyzed internally and more unpopular than ever.

This paralysis, plus the mistrust driving it, is putting the very reputation of democracy at risk

But Americans are fortunate. Our democratic institutions are durable and our policymaking can be improved by modern technology and abundant data. Today we can visualize and fix problems in new ways. Even better, because of digital tools, more Americans can engage in policy deliberation in between elections. The possibilities for showing up — either online or in person — are unprecedented.

Is digital federalism possible as data redistributes power?

Yes. We envision a 21st century where Americans leverage technology and data to renew democracy.

Look at it this way: Amazon’s recommendation engine suggests books and movies. A trust engine suggests policy process advisors in your district. Not Super-pacs, not big money donors, but local constituents with lived experience, authoritative knowledge, or both. These voices will supplement Congress’ own resident knowledge (in committees, at the Library of Congress, the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Budget Office). The Congress Stack will be a trust engine.

Let’s build a networked system in our 441congressional districts and territories to help elected leaders and citizens reconnect, build trust and share the duties of policymaking.

A stack is commonly known as the foundation of a technology system — your smartphone, for example. The stack behind a phone must be solid and trustworthy so you can benefit from a world of digital connection at your fingertips.

Likewise, when it comes to governing in the digital age, Congress needs a sturdy foundational “stack.” Our most democratic institution requires a public serving system that connects us so that we can share information and deliberate policy ideas. It will also improve accountability, by creating an auditable, systematized supply chain of information before, during and after lawmaking. To be truly modern, our Congress needs a method to curate input, to sort and filter for relevance and credibility.

Important parts of a public-serving information system are already decentralized and in place. For example, 80% of federal employees exist outside of the capital, Washington, DC. With 441 representatives and delegates, Congress is the middle ground between citizens and the federal government. Nearly half of congressional staff are also outside DC.

Similarly, a Congress stack is neither top-down nor bottom-up. It is middle-out. It includes the existing common ground provided by our democratic information sharing institutions. They are in fact vital convenors and participants in this vision.

Digital advances have created ways to decentralize information sharing and deliberation functions in Congress’ own technical architecture. Despite the general neglect of our democratic infrastructure, Congress has created a new set of tools to improve governing. For the first time ever, Congress has the beginning foundation for a modern system — one that can not only course-correct, but prevent bad outcomes (more on this later).

Acting as a trust engine, a Congress stack will be an information intermediary system for information sharing and deliberation. American democracy has evolved a broad and deep set of civic information assets. They are the components of a Congress Stack. This is my research agenda in congressional districts, so I will share lots of details and examples as I roll it out:

• Congressional staff outside of DC are key nodes and bridges between citizens and Capitol Hill.
• Mayors, city councils and state legislators are local examples of civic innovation and collaboration.
• Public universities and community colleges have a historic mission of creating and sharing information for the public good — the cooperative extension program, for example.
• Maker spaces, design labs, tech accelerators and innovation hubs are local sources of youthful, modern“hands on” collaborative energy.
• Museums and libraries are the headquarters of trusted, accessible knowledge curation.
• Locally owned journalism has a professional civic ethic, and new methods of community participation offer exciting possibilities for factual citizen feedback — what would a “CSPAN Channel 4” look like for citizen-generated media?
• Expert process facilitation — Over recent decades, conflict management and peace-building professionals(many in academia) have created an extensive national network of individuals who are experts on shared deliberative process.

Trustworthy communication and authentic public argument is the critical infrastructure of democracy. It’s time to stake a claim for social good outcome in the 21st century, using the new tools at hand. What part of this Congress Stack resonates with you?