is "cGov" a "dangerous idea"?

Embrace "dangerous ideas", said Jeff De Cagna to his blog's audience of association leaders last October. The "dangerous idea" he supports? Collaboration. Jeff lists a few "dangerous" ideas such as "sharing knowledge, building networks and communities, and engaging volunteers". It's NOT doing these things that is the real danger!

Citizen collaboration is the next step for government leaders as well: we need to move beyond the simple goal of "electronic government" (or "eGov") and start to embrace what I call "collaborative government" or "cGov". The solution to many of our social challenges today simply can't come from government services. With budgets shrinking and Internet-connectedness growing all the time, government needs to develop a new role as an orchestrator, allowing citizens to participate more fully in governing themselves. As De Cagna asks, can we really afford to ignore the participatory revolution that is taking place on the Web?

In fact, ideas like collaboration and participation really aren't "dangerous" at all. It's the diverse and creative ideas that come out of increased participation that are very likely to shake up the status quo. Perhaps this is what our leadership is concerned about?