People have experimented with more methods of government than most of us can name, and the reason #Democracy works is not that it is "more efficient" than other systems of leadership. Democracy works, and delivers results, because of the essential principle of free speech that is established by the #FirstAmendment.

The system isn't perfect, because it isn't possible to have every single person working in the government. So we elect leaders at the federal, state, and city levels who have the responsibility to make it as fair and equitable as possible. In Atlanta, we have a City Council; and the most valuable tool they have at their disposal is the input provided by the people they are supposed to represent. If they do not know what the people want, then how could they ever hope to make our country better, or even keep it running for that matter?

City Councils were created to give a voice to the people, and they are elected to office because we trust them with that task. Atlanta City Council has an important job that we hired them to do. They can only do that job when they keep their finger on the pulse of our community. This is the whole reason why elected officials have a process in place for taking comments from the public. It is a time-honored tradition that is not only morally correct, but it is the law, since we are allowed a redress of our grievances when we feel that an injustice has been committed.

No matter your stance on the Rayshard Brooks case, it is undisputed fact that Atlanta residents were thrown into a state of turmoil. He died in June of 2020 (just 18 days after George Floyd). The City Council's next meeting was obviously going to be more stressful and emotionally charged than usual. Our city was still in shock over the incident, especially given the political unrest that was going on throughout the country at that time. We didn't know what was going to happen and we had a lot to say to the City Council. Isn't that to be expected?

That meeting lasted more than a full day, in large part due to the high number of comments from citizens. In all fairness, a meeting lasting more than 24 hours would be a lot to handle for anyone. But the members of the City Council have a duty to the public to serve, and it isn't like they weren't allowed to take breaks. Most of us have jobs that we have to do day in and day out, so something taking more than 24 hours isn't the most unbelievable thing to us. You just go home at the end of the day, and come back the next day. Clear and simple.

That wasn't how the Council dealt with it, though. They decided to pass a resolution on the spot that would limit our ability to be heard in all of their remote meetings in the future. Thanks to J.R. Matzigkeit, who proposed the resolution, excessive restrictions were put in place where none previously existed. The City Council unilaterally decided that public comments could only be made by telephone for a span of three hours the day before each remote meeting. Their comments would also be filtered so that the only content they heard would be whatever "made the cut" by whoever decides what is and isn't relevant to the issue at hand.

When the public's free will to speak up on matters relevant to them is being censored, then it's clear that as a society, we're gradually migrating from democratic leadership into something else. This should not be. If the people still possess the right to elect the candidate they trust to represent them, why shouldn't that candidate take into account their comments and requests?

The very concept of Atlanta City Council's resolution limits democracy and as such, it shouldn't be allowed to stand. We are already on a very slippery slope. Today, it's restricting how comments are made. Tomorrow, who knows what it could be?