I want the Santa Barbara City Council to agendize and vote to reinstate virtual meetings for advisory boards.
One of the great problems in this country is that ever more people are not participating in government, mainly because they are fed up with the fact that government keeps taking more and giving less.
Virtual meetings make it easier for the public to participate and learn how government works.
Public participation in governments all over the world are being stifled and the natives are restless and angry. If you don’t believe me, take a look at France, one of the oldest and greatest democracies in the world. They are turning to the right, and the next election there will show how far to the right they have gone.
Some of you wanted to cut back on council meetings’ public comment time and that effort failed. You, the Santa Barbara City Council, have a moral and legal obligation to promote public participation in our local government. Shutting down virtual meetings makes you look like you want the opposite; to stifle public input into your proceedings and also to cut off the flow of ideas and information on what you are and are not doing.
Take a look at what is going on in Russia. There is no public input or outflow, and the government and media lie about everything that the government does. It has happened before in countries like Germany, and it can happen here.
The Republicans will take over Congress in the next election, not because they offer more, but because the Democratic left has squandered away its leadership and thrown the American working class under the bus!
Work to have people engage in government and don’t work to shut them out! If you do, you will regret it!
You need virtual meetings!
Ernest Salomon
Santa Barbara
