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Why
PROBLEMS
- Gridlock - Congress cannot move forward on issues, important questions never discussed
- Partisanship - political leaders demonize each other, creating mistrust and dividing the nation
- Fragementation - issues not connected to one another, leaders not connected to the people
- Money rules - corporate power and influence control national policy, not the people
- Ideological over-simplification - decisions often based on one-sided or simplistic ideas
- Oscillation - voters go back and forth between inadequate alternatives
- Overload - there is too much going on, things are too complex, nobody can understand it all
- Lack of teamwork - issues are overwhelming, leadership drops the ball
- Truth and wisdom is lost - spin, distortion and marketing dominate
- Deep voter frustration - apathy and cynicism, blame and anger, mistrust and suspicion
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SOLUTIONS
- Community
- Mutual respect
- Dialogue
- Golden rule
- Common ground
- Shared purpose
- Resonance
- Co-creativity
- Integral context
- Holistic vision
- Transpartisan unity
- Servant leadership
- Global shift
- All is one
- Conscious evolution
- Collective intelligence
- Sacred circles
- Yes we can
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- Listen to all voices
- Find enough time
- Build trust
- More friends and fewer enemies
- Look for ways to understand
- Everybody on the same team
- Develop solutions that work for everybody
- Overcome spin and distortion
- Everything is connected to everything else
- Bring all factors to the table
- Expertise from everywhere
- Diversity empowers creativity
- Connect the good
- Unity in diversity
- Voice of the people
- One nation, one people
- Build a wisdom culture
- Many minds sharing big tasks
- Computer support for complex issues
- Realize the full potential of democracy
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STRATEGY
- Build a neutral and comprehensive meeeting place where all perspectives are respected.
- Introduce some new ideas on how politics and democracy can be understood.
- Draw together a wide array of wisdom-sources for guiding the interaction of participants.
- Don't reinvent the wheel. Become aware of and convene existing resources.
- Design a framework that is fast, simple, stable, comprehensive, and fun.
- Document and link every facet of the project to sources and existing institutions.
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WHY THIS APPROACH CAN BE SUCCESSFUL
- People participate in politics if they believe their participation counts for something. We are listening. People can believe in this project.
- Our concept and design is easy to use and fast. It is transparent. It is informed and accurate. It can be trusted.
- By listening to all voices and "gathering motivation from everywhere", we can use the natural forces inherent in society to drive growth.
- The project isn't fringe - it is comprehensively balanced and inclusive. It is the ideal way for a free democratic society to make decisions.
- By bringing in organizations and institutions from everywhere, plus the voices of talented independent citizens, we bring in the full expertise of the American conversation.
- The work pulls the participants towards a common deep center, helping the nation define its ethical compass in a sea of melting pot diversity.
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GUIDING INFLUENCES
- Collaboration and teamwork
- Collective intelligence
- Community organizing
- Conscious evolution
- Environmentalism - ecology, green
- Global shift
- Group process - dialogue, circles
- Holism
- Integral design
- Populism - voice of the people
- Psychology
- Spirituality
- Systems engineering and cybernetics
- Transpartisan politics
- Universal oneness
- Women's movement
THEMES
- All is one
- Bring all factors to the table
- Build a wisdom culture
- Build trust
- Co-creativity
- Collective intelligence
- Common ground
- Community
- Computer support for complex issues
- Connect the good
- Conscious evolution
- Dialogue
- Diversity empowers creativity
- Divine guidance
- Everybody on the same team
- Everything is connected to everything else
- Expertise from everywhere
- Find enough time
- Global shift
- Golden rule
- Heal the nation
- Holistic vision
- Integral context
- Listen to all voices
- Look for ways to understand
- Many minds sharing big tasks
- Meditation
- More friends and fewer enemies
- Mutual respect
- My neighborhood
- One nation, one people
- Overcome spin and distortion
- Prayer
- Realize the full potential of democracy
- Resonance
- Sacred circles
- Servant leadership
- Shared purpose
- Solutions that work for everybody
- The blind men and the elephant - see all aspects
- Transcend and include
- Transpartisan unity
- Unity in diversity
- Voice of the people
- We are the Human Network
- Yes we can
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ISSUES UNDER CONSIDERATION
- Abortion
- Alternative Medicine and Healthcare
- Anger in Society
- Balanced Judgment
- Big Money in Politics
- Campaign Finance Reform
- Church and State
- Citizen Participation and Engagement
- Civil Discourse
- Civil Rights
- Climate Change
- Collective Bargaining
- Cooperation
- Corporate Power
- Corporate Taxes
- Creating Opportunities for Conversation
- Death penalty
- Developing Collective Intelligence
- Developing the TagNet system
- Disabilities
- Drugs
- Education
- Election Reform
- Energy
- Environment
- Federal Reserve
- Fragmented or Disjointed Thinking
- Free Market Capitalism
- Freedom
- Gangs
- Grassroots Mobilization
- Guns
- Haiti
- Health Care
- Homelessness
- Human Trafficking
- Immigration
- Implementing Simpson-Bowles
- Inclusion and Diversity
- Jobs
- Justice
- LGBT Issues
- Media
- Mistrust
- Misunderstanding
- Money in Politics
- National Debt Crisis
- National Security
- National Unity
- Native Americans
- Negative Politics
- Nuclear Power
- Partisanship in Politics
- Peace
- Privacy
- Race
- Reforming Congress
- Social Security and Entitlements
- Spin and Distortion
- Taxes
- Terrorism
- The Culture of Blame and Accusation
- The Role of Government
- The Spirit of Democracy
- Too Big to Fail
- Unscientific or Irrational Thinking
- USA Constitution
- Violence
- Wall Street bailout
- Water
- Welfare
- Wisdom
- Women
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Our concept is based on a fast-click approach to issues, where points of view or facets of something complicated are represented by brief bullet-points and
everything is written as a bottom line.
In our space, you come in and make a few quick choices about what is important to you, and you are invited to introduce new themes or subjects or issues or approaches to issues, always in the form of bullet-points that other people can quickly check off if they agree or are interested.
In this way, we believe we can build a kind of broadband democracy that gets all critical issues on the table at the same time, gives everybody a voice, calls in expertise from everywhere, and liberates our national governance from the crushing limits of our intensely partisan system.
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Convene concerned individuals and organizations from anywhere on the political spectrum