|
Background:
(N.B. This is a conceptual draft. The
form and content of the Consensus Council must be field-tested
rigorously to refine the protocols.)
The Consensus Council is intended as an
effective remedy to the ravages of
oppositional dualism
and competition.
By encounter and direct experience, we hope to induce a
paradigm-shifting satori wherein the traditional political enemy
- the person who votes the other way, is seen instead as cohort and
ally.
It's a structured, facilitated “town hall
meeting” forum designed to bring us together in community, to
exercise our right and habit of public assembly, to open and
stimulate the channels of social and political dialogue between
people of differing political positions and values priorities, to promote respect and re-humanize us to each other, to elicit
points of agreement in a small-group consensus process focusing
on common values and interests, to brainstorm and agree on
solutions and changes that would effect the representation of
those values and interest, and to reinforce the value and
potentials of community-building and cooperative endeavor.
The recorded points of agreement are collected into a national
database that will constitute a broad referendum of popular
priorities and will and define the political agenda for any
given electoral cycle hence.
Invitation
Come together, good neighbors. Come
as you are, believe what you believe, want what you want, and
offer no apologies. Come ready to share your truth, your
passion, your vision for America's revival. Come ready to
listen, to honor others as they are, even as you surely disagree
on may points of the traditional party platform.
And come ready to be surprised; for on many points of
fundamental and common importance we will surely agree, and that
hallowed common ground is where we must focus our attention and
resolve, uniting our voices in demand to be heard and heeded.
Together, then, protected by enduring Constitutional right as an
expression of inalienable natural right, we can be free to
debate our differences.
Time and space, requirements
The Consensus Council is a scaleable
interpersonal process that may be called at any location, public
or private - home, school, boardroom, church, city hall, prison,
park... and at any time, by any full member
of the Patriot Circle.
The only limiting requirements are that at
least six participants be present (in addition to the
facilitator) to form one Working Group unit, at least one of whom
stands politically "opposed" to the others on the left-right spectrum; and
that Part Two of the process be consummated. The full process
takes about ninety minutes. Larger events may require more
than one facilitator and aid from community volunteers, but
there is no limit to the number of participants.
Part One, Introduction: In
which the facilitator describes the processes and intentions of
the gathering; introduces the consensus paradigm and process and
the talking stick; proposes the use of dialogue and
reflective listening rather than debate; presents, directly or by a film produced for the
purpose, an overview of the issues and challenges of our
predicament; places our objectives and methods in context; names
the failures and injuries of the oppositional and competitive paradigm and makes
the case for consensus as the only viable course towards
reclaiming our power; and
clearly sets out the imperative to unite in action to
realize that power. The Patriot
Circle is invoked and the container for the consensus process
created.
Emotionally, the intent of Part one is to:
- Leverage the pain
of our crisis and stir outrage towards the atrocities of the
oppositional paradigm;
- transcend the fear
and despair; and
- stimulate the
desire for healing.
Part Two, Exercise: The
participants are asked to stand and organize themselves across the room from
right to left (and left to right) according to where they
perceive themselves to stand on the political spectrum - a
representation in space of the political demographic of the
room. They are then asked to come forward and form,
with a political-position composition proportional to that
of the room, into groups of six people, the unit of the Working Group.
Each group is given a worksheet, a
pencil and a talking stick and
directed to follow these steps, with the facilitator keeping
time:
- Passing the talking stick, go around your
circle and speak, one at a time, for one minute, on the
values that are of
greatest importance in one’s life and for one's America. The other five
listen respectfully.
- Then, for five
minutes, in dialogue and reflecting back what each has heard
from the others in the circle, write on the form those
shared values on which all agree.
- Go around the
circle again and speak for one minute each on what our needs
are. The other five listen respectfully.
- Then, for five
minutes, in dialogue and reflecting back what each has heard
from the others in the circle, write on the form those
shared needs on which all agree.
- Go around the
circle again and speak for one minute each on what we want
for America, what changes
in society and in government might create or restore those
items of consensus noted in steps 2 and 4. How we might
secure those things we all value and need? The others again
listen.
- Then, for five
minutes, in dialogue and reflecting back what each has heard
from the others, write down the points on which all agree.
Part Three, Validation & Action:
The forms are collected and read back to
the room. The success of the exercise as an action in
community building and cooperation is validated and reinforced.
Participants are invited to share back their experience of the
process and reflect on the value of the consensus dynamic.
Follow-on actions are suggested and next
steps promoted.
After the event, the facilitator
uploads the consensus results into the central database
where they are tabulated and published live for all to see
as a statistically-prioritized referendum on the values,
needs and wants of
the American people that will later inform The Package of
legislation and executive orders prepared for ratification by
the People's candidates for office. |
