A controversial bill on guns. A walkout by a group of Republicans from the Oregon Senate, denying a quorum and essentially shutting down the people’s business.

The Oregon House giving a bill intended to protect abortion and gender-affirming care a green light.

Those incidents are just the latest to go down in Salem with the Oregon Legislature and indicate that democracy is, at its best, a messy business. Yet those episodes also should give voters notice they need to pay attention to what is going on at the state Capitol.

Without voter participation — in terms of testimony before committees or letters to senators and representatives — our system of government calcifies.

No doubt it isn’t an easy task to stay abreast of what is going on in the Legislature, especially half a state away. We are all busy. But voters should try to have at least a basic notion of what bills are up for debate and how those bills could impact their lives.

One piece of good news occurred last week when the Joint Committee on Ways and Means met in Ontario to take testimony from voters. A number of local officials — including an area city manager and a county commissioner — were on hand to speak to the committee, and that was a good example of how democracy can and does work.

Yet to fully participate in our democracy, residents of the state and the region must understand how that system works. Without the basic knowledge of how democracy functions, the system will fail.

That means it is important to understand how a bill is created, where it goes once it is drafted and how it is negotiated through the Oregon House and Senate.

If there is no understanding of how that process works, democracy is already in serious trouble.

Every voter has a responsibility to be informed about what their elected leaders are doing at the local and state level.

They should understand the issues and what they mean and be able to discuss such topics with their elected leaders.

Participation is a two-way street in a democracy. Let’s make sure we keep it that way.