(Cross posted from DeStefano for Connecticut.)

On Wednesday, from five to six in the evening, Mayor DeStefano will participate in Connecticut's first-ever, candidate-sponsored online Town Hall Forum. I encourage everyone to try and visit the blog at that time, read the comments and add your own comments. If you can’t join us then, please feel free to send the Mayor any questions or comments at john@destefanoforct.com. The Mayor has already received some great questions in the email.

I want to take a moment and wax philosophical about this. Lincoln spoke about a government “of the people, by the people, for the people”. Unfortunately, too often our government isn’t of, by or for the people. Too few people are registered to vote. Too few people actually make it to the polls. Too few people get involved in campaigns as volunteers or donors.

Even worse, too often politicians are elected based on false promises that they know everything and will fix everything. People are left out of the process of finding solutions to the problems that face our state.

Instead, we need leaders that can engage in deliberative dialogs with everyone about how to solve the problems we face as a state or nation. Mayor DeStefano has exhibited this sort of leadership through his monthly Mayor’s Night In and Mayor’s Night Out. His Mayoral campaign slogan of “working together” epitomizes this approach.

“Working Together” isn’t just a pretty phrase. Getting people with different opinions to the table to talk openly and honestly is hard work. Helping people find common ground and solutions based on this common ground is hard work. Instead of issuing a press release and a band-aid, Mayor DeStefano engages in this hard work and calls all of us to be involved as well.

We need to “expect more” of our leaders. We need to expect them to encourage all of us to be more involved. We need them to expect more of each of us.

Over the past couple weeks, Cindy Sheehan has captured the attention of the nation. Some of this is because of she is a mother grieving the loss of her son in Iraq. Some of it is because of her clear voice opposing the war in Iraq. Yet she also symbolizes the desire for an open and honest dialog about what is going on with our foreign policy.

Over the past couple months, we’ve had several interns at the DeStefano campaign. This week, we will be saying goodbye to them as they head back to school. They have gotten involved in electoral politics in a way that too few people do.

Whether you are standing with Cindy Sheehan, helping with the campaign as an intern, or joining with us on Wednesday for Connecticut's first-ever, candidate-sponsored online Town Hall Forum, we all need to dedicate ourselves to the great task of seeing “that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth.”