The most important way citizens can participate in the government is by voting, and by preparing themselves to vote: begin informed about the problems and about the actions of politicians
Other ways include: signing petitions and pressuring the elected politicians to do something, for example by writing letters to the representatives. They can also participate in a campaign and themselves run for an office!
Answer: The difference is the entire idea and quality that made you make that successful decision in the first place. For an un successful decision, the determination to success when you made that decision was not yet met to criteria just yet.
Hope this helped!
