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06/04/2015 12:01 AMShortly after my last column ran, titled “Idealistic or Realistic?,” I received an email from a gentleman in Guilford named Larry Backes with the subject line “I’m idealistic too—And I did something.”
A Baby Boomer, father, and grandfather, Backes said that he recently founded an online non-profit, all volunteer-run organization called Citizens Empowered in order to virtually bring together people of all ages and persuasions—red, blue, and other—to find sustainable solutions to problems facing our country.
He urged me to share Citizens Empowered with my disillusioned sons, saying, “I think your sons will find there is a path forward out of our current polarized morass…They will see young adults who help get this concept to launch.”
Serendipitously, Backes had just posted the Citizens Empowered website online, and within the next few weeks it will have a full launch, supported by social media and a marketing campaign.
I was intrigued, so I called him, and we talked in great depth about why he founded Citizens Empowered and what the organization hopes to achieve.
He explained that Citizens Empowered is based on balancing three pillars: Citizens, Commerce, and the Commons (things that are common to all of us like laws, infrastructure, and the environment). It educates and informs its members and the public on the importance of sustainable governance and what is required to implement sustainable solutions.
“We are a data-driven organization and strive continually to parse the facts from the political noise,” he stresses.
The way it works is people are brought together virtually through video conferencing, moderated discussions, etc., to discuss issues they’re passionate about. Citizens Empowered then asks its Problem Solver Team members to develop solutions that are balanced across the three pillars mentioned above. Once a truly sustainable solution has been found, it’s converted into actionable legislation, and a representative is asked to sponsor it.
“We do not attempt to compete financially with special interests through political donations,” Backes makes very clear. “Our voice and our vote are the ‘currency’ we use to drive our representatives to govern sustainably.”
Backes and his family moved to Guilford from the Midwest in 2009. In 2011 he become director of global engineering services for Covidien (now Medtronic) in North Haven. His wife, Jodi Backes, is on the Citizens Empowered leadership team along with Chris Anderson of Guilford. Guilford residents Catherine Bradshaw and former state senator Ed Meyer are on the advisory board. Citizens Empowered also includes members in other parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Florida and plans to build a national online presence.
Backes feels a sense of urgency about launching Citizens Empowered because he fears that if we don’t act soon, the problems our children and grandchildren inherit from us may be devastating.
“Our elected officials have demonstrated an inability to even debate, let alone solve, these issues,” he says. “I believe that in a democracy, ‘We the People’ are ultimately responsible for governance. When representative government fails, those who are able to have the responsibility, the civic obligation, to restore our democracy.
“What kind of world are we leaving for our children and grandchildren?” he asks, “when you can’t even have a discussion about what’s happening to our climate, about the seriousness of these things, because of the politics of it. We’re robbing them of a joyous life we’ve come to take advantage of.”
He also emphasizes that Citizens Empowered isn’t affiliated with any political party and does its best not to be partisan in any way. Its board and leadership teams consist of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents; the goal is diversity of membership.
“I have found that when people are willing to have a respectful discussion, even the most ardently opposed ideologues can find common ground to work together,” he says.
The organization also doesn’t accept money from corporations, unions, churches, government, or any other group. Only individuals can become members and make donations, if they, wish to help with operating costs.
Although he’s a younger Baby Boomer, Backes says the spirit of the generation certainly filtered down to him, and he is absolutely idealistic about being able to effect positive change.
“Kennedy’s famous quote about our problems being man-made and solvable by man is something that resonates with me,” he says. “When Obama was campaigning on hope and change, I thought he was going to bring some of this into his administration. And then it became apparent that he doesn’t have the power to do it. I think in his heart, he’d love to do it. But he’s controlled by special interests that control our form of government.
“It’s really about what people are passionate about, really excited about, and want to see changed,” he says. “It’s not about winners or losers, but about everybody winning.”
To find out more about Citizens Empowered and to become a member, visit www.citizensempowered.org.
Amy J. Barry is a Baby Boomer who lives in Stony Creek with her husband and assorted pets. She writes arts features and reviews for Shore Publishing newspapers and is an expressive arts educational facilitator. Please email your responses and ideas for future columns—both people and topics— to aimwrite@snet.net or visit www.aimwrite-ct.net.