A Big Idea To Reduce Partisanship, Save Government Money And Give Voters A Voice

Hollie Russon Gilman's recent paper was highlighted in a Forbes article about the potential of participatory budgeting to bridge political divides. 

While I'm not entirely sure how America can fix its partisanship issue, I'm pretty sure that, ultimately, it'll involve physically bringing voters together in the same room. And, in the process, hopefully, they'll discover a deep sense of empathy with all of the stakeholders involved in solving complex problems.

"There’s a large demand by people to have a deeper involvement in policymaking—in offering hyper-local, specialized expertise about their communities—than by simply voting every two or four years. PB has the potential to fuel that involvement," write New America's Hollie Gilman and the World Bank's Tiago Peixoto (pronounced in Portuguese, "Tea-aago Pe-show-toe").

And, here's the kicker that could make this idea easier to implement: participatory budgeting could actually save the government money. Researchers found that, in developing nations, citizens paid more taxes when they belonged to regions that involved them in the budget making process.