Election winners frequently tout their success as a mandate to do as they choose, suggesting that they have been ordained to represent and act on overwhelming public opinion. This is generally the argument regardless of the winning party and it’s generally wrong. I have to think that this is something that the authors of the… read more →
What if you were in a coma for six years and woke up to the social media apocalypse of 2016? Ask blogger Hossein Derakhshan. He was jailed from 2008 to 2014 in Tehran for his online activism about Iran. In his November article for MIT Technology review, he writes: “when I left prison and came… read more →
In the December 29 issue of the Washington Post, Fareed Zakaria writes an interesting column on the trajectory of democracy in the United States. In it, he discusses the concept of “illiberal democracy” where elections and populism are in place, but the rule of law, respect for minorities, freedom of the press and other… read more →
What is a town hall meeting? In the United States, a town hall meeting is an informal public meeting, function, or event derived from the traditional town hall meetings of Colonial America. Typically open to everybody in a town community and held at the local municipal building, attendees would present ideas, voice their opinions, and… read more →
Whew! The holidays are behind me. As I reflect on the past several weeks, I realize that preparing for a house full of family around the holidays is a lot like preparing for a public meeting. Anticipation. We all know that the actual time needed for planning and designing a public workshop or meeting is… read more →
Across the US, civility is declining. We could argue about why – but the bottom line is that our communities’ capacity to have constructive conversations about things that matter is not what it used to be. People are not always interested in finding agreement and some even come to public meetings with a goal of… read more →
Lots of things changed on November 8, not the least of which was our time-honored tradition of conducting and relying on public opinion polls as reasonable predictors of outcomes. It was fascinating on election night to watch as it slowly dawned on the media that their entire paradigm had shifted; everything they had taken as… read more →
Community development is in trouble. By that I mean people who work for government and who help develop communities are in trouble. Not every public sector agency or employee, of course, but these are difficult days for those who believe that the pursuit of facts, truth, reason, building communities, and public service are honorable things.… read more →
Ground Rules for Citizen Engagement Across the US, civility is declining. We could argue about why, but the bottom line is that our communities’ capacity to have constructive conversations about things that matter is not what it used to be. People are not interested in finding agreement and some even come to public meetings with… read more →
As you have perused our website, you have been treated to several blogs about consensus building. What is it? What isn’t it? How do we achieve it? Why does it take so much time? What are some specific techniques to help you and your group gain consensus? The Red, Yellow, Green Card technique can help!… read more →