The 2002 book "Society's Breakthrough! Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People" presents a strategy for transforming "The System", which is causing society's biggest problems. The book suggests an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, what was then called "The Citizens Amendment." But through experiments with the Wisdom Council Process since then, we've discovered that the Amendment is more like step 10 than step 1. That is, we (just us) can set the process in motion effectively. As ongoing Wisdom Councils gain popular support, the Amendment will come into being naturally.
The "magic sauce" for transforming "the System" lies not with an actual change to the "system," the Constitution. More importantly it lies with our ability to reliably facilitate a legitimate, inclusive, empowered "We the People" into being. And that depends on our ability to reliably evoke the spirit of "choice-creating" at large scale.
The Wise Democracy Amendment
Benefits include:
The Wise Democracy Amendment provides a way to:
The "magic sauce" for transforming "the System" lies not with an actual change to the "system," the Constitution. More importantly it lies with our ability to reliably facilitate a legitimate, inclusive, empowered "We the People" into being. And that depends on our ability to reliably evoke the spirit of "choice-creating" at large scale.
The Wise Democracy Amendment
- Section 1--A national Wisdom Council Process. There shall be an ongoing series of Wisdom Councils, at least three per year, for the nation. Each Wisdom Council is comprised of ten to twenty-four citizens randomly selected from voter registration roles. They gather for two to five days. Each Wisdom Council is presented with an issue of vital importance and is dynamically facilitated to create a unified perspective.
- Section 2 —The issues. The issues may be determined in a number of ways. In rotating fashion where first the executive branch identifies an issue. And then one of the political parties can have a turn to determine the issue. Than the executive branch. And then the next political party. In addition, Wisdom Councils may be convened to address citizen-determined issues when enough signatures to support these issues are gathered. Note: Since each Wisdom Council is dynamically facilitated, the original issue may evolve to become something different than was first presented. So in great measure the randomly selected Wisdom Council ultimately determines the issue
- Section 3 — The National "Community Cafe." All citizens are invited to come together to hear the Wisdom Council present 1) its unified perspective; 2) the story of how this perspective evolved into being; and 3) personal reflections from members of the Wisdom Council on their experience in the Wisdom Council. Then that Wisdom Council disbands and the citizen audience takes over. They visit with one another in face to face small groups and online conversations, share their reactions and continue to build on the unified views of the Wisdom Council in the same spirit as the Wisdom Council. Afterwards, there is a brief check-in to determine the level of audience resonance with the Wisdom Council perspectives. Note: The report of the Wisdom Council is not a set of recommendations to decision-makers. Rather it is a reflection to the citizens of what "the people" think and how "we" feel. This reflection facilitates a new level of citizen participation and whole-system conversation, where a thoughtful unified voice of "the People" emerges.
- Section 4—Supporting the rise of "We the People." After the live Community Cafe, people are encouraged to continue talking in a similar way, where whole-system unity is the ultimate aim. This conversation can continue online and in the public media until the next Wisdom Council is randomly selected. To the extent that people talk about important issues in this creative collaborative way, seeking unity, we are merely adding a new element to our system, where "all" the people come together as "We the People," creatively address the most pressing issues and provide responsible leadership to government, the economy and the culture.
- Section 5—The Quality of Conversation. Each Wisdom Council must be facilitated in a way that reliably evokes a creative collaborative quality of thinking, which we call "choice-creating." This is approach is independent from but complementary to the normal "decision-making" system. In choice-creating no votes are taken. Feelings are valued in that progress happens through shifts of group energy. And diversity is valued because group unity requires creative shifts and breakthroughs rather than influence and agreement. Choice-creating is required for an inclusive unified “We the People” to come into existence. Dynamic Facilitation is used to reliably evoke choice-creating in each Wisdom Council. The Wisdom Council Process, with ongoing randomly selected Councils presenting their unified results, "dynamically facilitate" choice-creating in the whole-system national "We the People" conversation.
- Section 6—The Wisdom Council Commission. A rotating group of twelve former Wisdom Council members will manage the process, assuring that the necessary We the People conversation emerges. A maximum of three people from any one Wisdom Council will be selected by all the members.
- Originally, people would point to how difficult it was to get a new Amendment to the Constitution and dismiss this idea just because of that. But we've learned that it may actually be better for a small group of well-meaning, well-funded citizens to initiate a national Wisdom Council Process. And then as people gain growing experience with the process it is likely that Wisdom Councils will identify the need for this process to be officially added to our social contract.
- Most people don't have experience with choice-creating (or Dynamic Facilitation) but they still hold out that this kind of talking can exist. Our ability to reliably evoke choice-creating at large scale is the magic sauce for establishing a legitimate "We the People" and "Wise Democracy."
- The Wisdom Council Process is already proven to work at large scale. The Westernmost state of Austria, Vorarlberg, has adjusted their state constitution to include it since 2013.
- The Wise Democracy Amendment is a new name. Originally it was called the "Citizens Amendment."
Benefits include:
The Wise Democracy Amendment provides a way to:
- Transform the quality of political conversation so that it becomes more inclusive, respectful, creative and consensual.
- Co-create shared truth that can obsolete media silos.
- Generate a shared vision and clear sense of the “public interest.”
- Generate new solutions to impossible-seeming public issues, along with the will to implement these solutions.
- Generate a spirit of national (and global) trust and community.
- Facilitate a new system of ”Wise Democracy" where “We the People” provide responsible leadership to government, the courts, the economy and society in general.
- Preserve and enhance individual freedoms, celebrate diversity, and support the expression of people’s individuality.
- etc.
Resources
1) Chart comparing the "Citizens Amendment" of 2002 and the "Wise Democracy Amendment" of today.
2) Website for the 2002 book "Society's Breakthrough".
3) Five part video seminar "Essential Wisdom for Solving Society's Biggest Issues"
4) Video interview on the Wise Democracy Amendment (8/27/10) See below ...
2) Website for the 2002 book "Society's Breakthrough".
3) Five part video seminar "Essential Wisdom for Solving Society's Biggest Issues"
4) Video interview on the Wise Democracy Amendment (8/27/10) See below ...