Engaging the Public as Citizens
We live in a highly “consumerist” culture and Americans pride themselves on “getting the best deal” and being “smart shoppers.” Unfortunately, this consumerist stance has also bled over into our relationship to the public sector. The public often defaults to a consumerist view—as opposed to a citizen view—when they consider their own relationship to government. This “lens” on government is problematic for a number of reasons and gets in the way of more productive considerations of the public sector’s roles and responsibilities. When they are in this mode of thinking, they tend to utilize a “what’s in it for me” analysis of government action, focusing narrowly on getting the most for their money and making the best point-of-purchase decisions. They are not thinking as citizens about collective action and investment, about long-term needs, shared responsibility or working together to solve problems.
To elevate a citizen stance toward government, our research suggests that we should:
- Avoid portraying government as a laundry list of services that individuals "buy" with their tax dollars; and
- Emphasize our shared responsibility to maintain the public structures, services and programs that create our quality of life.
The Citizens’ Guide to a Strong Economy uses the concept of citizenship throughout the presentation.