For far too long in this country, politics (and debates in general) has been run by the two major parties – Democrats and Republicans. While both of these parties are close to the center of the political spectrum and represent a lot of people, there are others out there with other ideas. Yes, we have third parties, but they haven't won an election (or even been competitive) in decades. Part of the reason they aren't more ...more »
Over the past several months, experts in public dialogue, facilitation and collaborative decision-making worked together to develop 7 "Core Principles for Public Engagement." The authors and editors of these principles have spent years creating and honing innovative techniques that help people talk constructively about difficult issues that effect their lives--issues like health care, crime, and conflict between ethnic ...more »
Ad hoc, randomly selected, well-informed citizen deliberative councils like Citizens Juries, Citizen Assemblies, and Consensus Conferences have been used hundreds of times around the world to provide policy guidance to public officials and the citizenry. The U.S. lags far behind in their use. These similar approaches all enable a microcosm of a country or community to generate informed public judgment about specific ...more »
A healthy democracy needs the capacity to involve its citizens in key decisions. Government cannot be left to leaders, experts, and pundits with the public only weighing in on election day. People from all walks of life should be encouraged to wrestle with tough questions, seek common ground, and develop and articulate their views. President Obama should call for regular national discussions of one million Americans ...more »
What if Americans of all ages, races, backgrounds and beliefs could come together in a series of national conversations on topics of significant importance to the nation? What if we could create a listening and learning environment through structured conversations to lead us to better understand one another, establish common ground and transform ideas into action? What if all of us had a role in making this a reality? ...more »
Most financing for federal political campaigns comes from the top 2% of individuals and corporations and elected officials nearly always reflect those who have given them big money. Public financing would take that element out of the public process and make officials more accountable to the public at large. Maine and Arizona already have public financing and it has worked very well. All corporate lobbying should be ...more »
I would suggest that the best way to strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness, while making government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative, would be for the Obama Administration to lead the American People in Developing and Implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability. It is commonly recognized that those of us in the United States are not living sustainably today. With ...more »
I think we need to let the people decide on this issue. Bring it to a national vote so that it's not a bunch of politicians deciding what is good for us based on irrational fears and personal gains.
Stop the bailouts, corporate subsidies, the money-printing, the insane borrowing.
I know, probably too radical.
If we are to preserve our environment we have to take note of the size of the growing human footprint on Earth and especially in our country. We need a national population policy. Bringing more consumers to our country hurts our environment. Allowing more and more unauthorized persons inside our borders threatens the integrity of all our laws, our sovereignty as a nation and our personal safety.
Hey I have a novel idea why doesn't the Fed get back to doing what is enumerated in the Constitution and stay out of the states sovereignty. In addition quit trying to be a dictatorship.
The basic idea is to make sure that any important information about past, current or upcoming government projects or programs in the areas of transparency, participation and collaboration is captured and shared in a timely manner and easily accessible to anyone interested in or affected by these projects/programs. The project directory would contain project briefs, contact information, key performance indicators, lessons ...more »