Building A New America With Jonathan Arias.

“We the People,” as the preamble to the Constitution begins, suggests that the new federal government would be run by its citizens and administered to serve their interests--justice, tranquility, and to secure the blessings of liberty.  The Founders, however, were skeptical of direct democracy.  For this reason, the Constitution established a representative form of government where citizens would elect officials to govern them.  A representative form of government certainly has its negatives.  Whose interests are really being served?  We see too many examples of politicians who lose touch with their constituents in favor of wealthy donors and special interests.  In these circumstances, democracy is violated.  A functioning government, therefore, needs a combination of representative and direct democracy.  In a direct democracy, the people who show up have the power.  So how do we combine the two?In this episode of BANA, I’ll be speaking with Obama Fellow and Co-Executive Directory of the Participatory Budgeti