Disagree, but engage: That's civility
On issues ranging from abortion to guns, it is possible for adversaries to find common ground
February 10, 2011|By Robert Fersh and Andrew L. Yarrow
EXTRACT: These processes are most successful when participants have strong, informed opinions and can make a difference if they reach agreement. This was the case in the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project, where 34 diverse American leaders joined in an influential consensus report in 2008 to show a way forward for the United States in its relations with Muslim majority countries. The group included a former Clinton administration secretary of state, former Republican members of Congress, high-ranking former officials of the George W. Bush administration, 11 Muslim-American leaders, a former director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, clergy of differing faiths, and others. Vin Weber, a former Republican congressman from Minnesota, said: “This report provides clear-headed ideas and analysis that the American public and bipartisan leaders can get behind in working to improve U.S.-Muslim relations. The process by which the group reached consensus is a good model for dialogue for the tough issues our country faces.”
Phi Beta Iota: The problem with this well-intentioned message is that in practice it is aimed ONLY at the two-party tyranny and their non-governmental parasites. In reality, the USA does not have free and fair elections (open ballot access, tightly-drawn districts, instant run-off, etcetera), which means two things: first, that half the population (63 of the 65 parties including all the Independents and most of the Libertarians, Greens, and Reforms) are disenfranchised; and two, that for President Barack Obama to call for “free and fair elections” in Egypt when they are not available in the USA, is the height of hypocrisy. Egypt today, USA tomorrow–it's time to “out” the reality of Washington.
This is why NO LABELS bombed. They are–like IndependentVoting.org–a front for “four more years” of the same Wall Street/Goldman Sachs ownership of the two-party “system” that is actually a corporate tyranny. Until Electoral Reform becomes the ONE THING that we can all agree on, and is implemented, the USA will continue to operate on 2% of its intelligence, and no more than 10% of its stake-holders “in charge.” Perhaps we need to take a page from Egypt, and actually demand free and fair elections in our own country, no longer a Republic.
