My friend Arjun is speaking at Northern Voice right now. What a booming voice and feeling of authenticity within government. Arjun is on the City Council of Kamloops, and it is inspiring that he blogs publicly and uses it as a forum to communicate with his constituents.
Somebody in the audience just mentioned that this is a powerful idea for a politician to publicly speak about issues. I wonder if anybody in the US does this?
As a politician, he has an ego, but this is still a challenge.
When Arjun started his blog, he had to write a disclaimer about why he was going to blog about it. It also made people nervous, especially since he is on the inside. “I almost have to be an ambassador for transparency.” Wow, great quote.
Somebody just shared that the mayor of Dawson City is also a blogger.
Arjun is discussing some really interesting items about how he interacts with his neighbors and colleagues in his town. It must be a challenge for him to hear criticism of his voting and his work from the population. I have never seen such clear interaction between a politician and the ordinary folk. I can’t imagine American politicians (nobody national, and not even local in Manhattan) having something like this without being so nervous about social media.
I wonder if my politicians have ever considered this? I should look into this. Thank you for beginning this conversation for and with us, Arjun!