Thank you so much for articulating this issue so well. I just think we are at least 50 years off. I am not intending to be negative. If the politicians and bureaucrats turned around tomorrow and said, 'ok go for it', there would likely be a mute response. The NGO networks we see today have taken at least three decades to evolve.
Grassroots democracy is likely to take at least that long again.
Perhaps the hierarchies are flattened somewhat, and the bureaucracy more flexible and consultative. Even something relatively simple as a Seattle protest rally requires core organisers and leaders, and is not the seemingly spontaneous manifestation that brought down the Berlin wall. PO Box 263E, Earlville, Qld 4870, Australia.