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Assessing Public Participation In Maine: The Old And The New In Civic Involvement, David D. Platt

Maine Policy Review

Lack of citizen participation in American government is a complaint frequently voiced by politicians, political scientists and media commentators. The steady decline in voting, the rising number of Americans who say they are disaffected with their government, and the increase in two-earner households all have been cited as evidence of this decreased involvement by Americans in public life. Maine, with its long tradition of participatory democracy, reflected in town meeting government at the local level, is not necessarily a microcosm of what is occurring nationally. The state has, however, experienced its share of some of the civic maladies note nationally, …