The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Conflict and the varied gifts of powerful conversation The power of conversation is real but not total. People sometimes take an oversimplified perspective of the power of dialogue, deliberation, and choice-creating to deal with tensions between people. EIther they think “just talk” can’t do much to resolve serious conflicts or they think talking can resolve …
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Pollsters, politicians and pundits quote public opinion polls to tell us what the public thinks. Deliberative democracy advocates promote public judgment to deepen public opinion. Few people talk about public wisdom – what it could be and what it could do. I think we need all three forms of public sensibility. I think we can …
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Diversity is as big as the universe Diversity is difference. It is a natural phenomenon, intimately related to uniqueness and identity. There is a rich world of discovery awaiting us when we are ready to fully encounter our diversity. But first we have to lift our heads above the bustle around us and look at …
Gifting – and the gifting and the gifting economy Dear friends, For years I’ve known people who gave away their professional services as a gift, explicitly encouraging (though not requiring) gifts in return to allow them to continue their work. I’ve also loved the idea of “paying it forward” – enjoying as a gift …
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Expanding our capacity for “unitary democracy” Below are highlights from Jane Mansbridge’s IN CONTEXT article “Unitary & Adversary: The Two Forms of Democracy”, which was itself an excerpt from her book BEYOND ADVERSARY DEMOCRACY (1983) which has had a significant impact on my thinking. I often use Mansbridge’s distinction between (1) “unitary democracy” based on …
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Dear friends, A year ago Doug Reil, the associate publisher of North Atlantic Books, explored with me the possibility of writing a manifesto to clarify my vision of a wise democracy. The culmination of that conversation is my new book EMPOWERING PUBLIC WISDOM: A PRACTICAL VISION OF CITIZEN-LED POLITICS to be released August 7 as …
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Emerging EcoNomics #4: Community revolution growing with food Dear friends, The remarkable article below speaks for itself and, since it is long, I won’t add much except strong encouragement for you to read it and a note that you can productively and enjoyably jump around in it (as I did) if you’d rather not …
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