Can a bunch of ordinary people really get together for a few hours, chew the fat, and then tell D.C. leaders how to get a handle on the national debt? That’s what an outfit called AmericaSpeaks says is going to happen Saturday, June 26, when Dallas becomes one of six main sites for an “unprecedented,” nonpartisan, national town meeting on ways to put the federal budget on a sustainable path.
Organizers are hoping as many as 500 people will gather at the Dallas Convention Center that day. They’ll be linked up there with other sites in other U.S. cities, using keypad polling and groupware technology. To make sure the attendees are racially, politically, economically and age diverse, the local participants are being solicited via groups like the League of Women Voters, the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce and LULAC. (You can also register on the web site.)
All of which sounds great. Whether anyone winds up listening to their ideas is something else again.
