We're not going to fix government until we fix citizenship.

The line argues that governmental performance is downstream of civic culture. Pahlka’s point is that better services, policies, and institutions cannot be sustained solely through technocratic “fixes” inside agencies; they also require citizens who participate, stay informed, demand accountability, and accept shared obligations (not just individual benefits). Read this way, “fixing citizenship” means strengthening democratic habits—engagement beyond elections, trust-building, and a willingness to collaborate across differences—so that reforms have public backing and legitimacy. The quote also implies a reciprocal relationship: when citizens disengage or treat government as an alien “them,” incentives push institutions toward dysfunction, polarization, and short-termism.