An opportunity for Civil Conversation

Thu Dec 11 08:16:25 PST 2003

Folks - Up for a little radical Democracy???

For years I have been hopeful that the politics of the elite and
powerful might give way to a deeper power - that of the civil
conversation. Radical Democracy, in a word. Doubtless we will never get
rid of the power of the elite, but if we could shift the balance towards
the people, that would be an improvement. The key, in my thinking, would
be the convening of Civil Conversations - not unlike the old New England
Town Meetings where everybody said what was on their minds and decisions
were taken for the good of the commonweal. Not always, not perfectly,
but more often than not. In recent years, politicians in search of votes
have also convened what they termed to be Town Meetings - but as far as
I can see, those efforts are usually but a thinly disguised opportunity
for the politician to do his stump speech one more time. Any
relationship to genuine civil conversation is purely coincidental.

We know how to convene effective civil conversations. And that of course
is the heart and soul of Open Space. The question is how do you open up
a little space in the current (US) political process so that a genuine
conversation of the people can take place? I think we have an
opportunity, although it does come with certain partisan trimmings.
Those of us who have been watching the development of the Dean campaign
will have noticed a most surprising thing. It has, in large part, come
from the bottom up (if you think of the people as the bottom, which I
resist). It is also very much self-organizing thanks to such Internet
wonders as Meet-Up and Move-On. The traffic moves from electronic to
face-to-face as Meet-Up groups are created, and the rest is pretty much
history - but definitely history in the making. No matter what you may
think of Dean, he and his campaign have definitely and (I think)
irreversibly changed how politics is being done here in the US of A.
Here is the opportunity for Open Space - and the most important business
of opening more space for the people. And it is simple, Just get on
Meet-Up (see below) announce a group - and hold the gathering in Open
Space. If it feels as good, and works as well as I think it might -
other groups might (will) follow. And wouldn't that be fun? A
countrywide Open Space. There is no need to go through the political
establishment - just do it. Of course political contacts would never
hurt, and if you had them - use them. But most of all just open space,
and of course, let us all know how it works out. There is a lot to
learn.

Of course, there is the matter of partisanship. If you happen to be in
favor of Dr. Dean - no problem, and personally, I find myself leaning in
that direction. But even if your candidate is somebody else, I would
believe that the adventure might be a useful one. Instead of announcing
a theme narrowly focused on the Dean candidacy, try something broader
something like "Building the America we would love to Live in: Issues
and Opportunities". Who knows you might get a whole bunch of great folks
from all spectrums of the political world and the conversation would be
not only fascinating but useful.

If this interests you - and I hope it will - connecting to Meet-Up is no
big deal. www.meetup.com <http://www.meetup.com/>  will do it. And just
to give you a flavor of what is going on see the following from
Montgomery County, MD. Granted it is very partisan (what else?) but you
could do the same in flavors more to your choosing. So if you are tired
of politics as usual, you might just give all this a spin.

Harrison

Recent Email from Dean folks in Montgomery Country.

Your next Montgomery County, MD Dean in 2004 Meetup is
Wednesday, Jan 7 @ 7PM. The exact venue is open for a vote.
Vote for your preferred venue now:

http://dean2004.meetup.com/

(AOL/Hotmail users: cut & paste this address into your browser.)

Want a Meetup in your town or neighborhood?
----------------------------------------------------------------
Here's how to make it happen...

1) MeetupPlus members can add a preferred local venue directly
to the ballot. To nominate a venue, visit:
http://dean2004.meetup.com/nominate/

2) Spread the word! Invite friends to attend here:
http://dean2004.meetup.com/tellfriends/

3) Get 15 votes for your venue and you've got a Meetup!
http://dean2004.meetup.com/

When nominating a venue, PLEASE take into consideration the
size and dynamics of the group when deciding on a venue.  Also,
please ensure the venue is both willing and able to host this
Meetup group.  Thank you for your careful consideration.

Message from Dean for America Campaign Headquarters
----------------------------------------------------------------
The Meetup on Jan 7 is the last before Iowa and New Hampshire!
And plan now to join thousands of Dean supporters who will
travel to Iowa and New Hampshire in the days after Meetup to
campaign on the front lines with Governor Dean:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/volunteer04

Thank you for all the letter-writing you did at the November
and December Meetups.  So far, you've sent more than 93,000
personal letters to undecided voters in Iowa and New Hampshire,
and they're making a difference!  You don't have to wait to
keep writing -- you can have an impact from home right now:
http://letters.deanforamerica.com/

Dean Meetup T-Shirts
----------------------------------------------------------------
Make sure to have a Dean Meetup T-Shirts for your next Meetup!

http://www.cafeshops.com/deanmu
----------------------------------------------------------------

Need help? Visit: http://dean2004.meetup.com/help/
Remove yourself or update your account settings at:
http://my.meetup.com/

Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland   20845
Phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
<http://www.openspaceworld.com/>
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20031211/6190b137/attachment-0015.htm>