if you're not at the table, you're on the menu

If you do not have a prominent or influential role in something, you are liable to be exploited or cheated. There's no question that we have to expand our involvement in global matters like this—unless we want the competition to steamroll us, that is. If you're not at the table, you're on the menu, right? We need people with firsthand experience in mental health issues to be the ones deciding how to provide resources to those who need it. In the world of publicly funded services, if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. As an "ordinary," middle-class person, I know I have no say in the board's decisions. If you're not at the table, you're on the menu, right?