California NIF Network Blog

I’m not a person who would normally say, ‘Go see this movie’…but, go see this movie! The movie is “Avatar”…preferably in 3-D, if it’s offered at a theater near you. No, I’m not on the payroll. My reasons for referring you to this movie experience aren’t found in any of the film critics’ reviews…at least the 10 or so I’ve read. From these reviews, you might have the impression that the special effects dominate the film and that the story is predicable and a bit thin…and from that you might feel it’s not worth your time or money for a theater experience. I had the same initial reaction when our son requested that we go see “Avatar” as part of his recent birthday celebration. We were all shocked by our own responses to the film as we left the theater. Go see this movie!

Yes, the special effects are breathtaking, but they carry much more meaning than just WOW! For many people, the WOW-factor is enough to make the theater decision obvious…for others it may have the reverse affect. I have lots more to say about that in a minute. “Avatar” has a multi-layered story line, but none of the obvious parts of the story are as powerful as the foundational world view. I’ll have more on that in a minute too. It also has significant social and environmental message. Yes, it does have some biases built in, but they also play an important part in the overall affect of the movie. There are many reasons to see this movie, but I’m focused today on the reasons we might have as people who believe in deliberation as a means to the long-term goal of more effective public decisions. To those who practice public deliberation in any way, shape or form…go see this movie!

The special effects in “Avatar” are high-end versions of what is already available in immersive virtual worlds, like Second Life (SL). Yes, here he goes again…the SL thing. “Avatar” is visually spectacular…you are immersed in the awe and beauty of a totally different world, like many places in SL. And…SL has its own 3-D without the funky glasses. In the movie as in SL, the ‘avatar driver’ is somewhere else while the ‘avatar’ is fully engaged in the other world. Why is this important? We simply cannot meet face-to-face enough to talk through the complex dilemmas of our times. The expense and time investments are prohibitive, and the carbon footprint of all this travel is ethically problematic even if we could afford it. SL is not the only virtual world environment…others are available now, and more sophisticated worlds will certainly be developed with greater capabilities in the near future. Behind every ‘avatar’ is a real person with hopes and dreams, fears and frustrations. We can meet in a virtual world or two to share our hopes and dreams with a new and remarkable clarity, and to visit our fears and frustrations so we can develop new tenacity and new partnerships in resolving public dilemmas.

The story in “Avatar” has several layers…some more complex than the others, but even the love story has some surprising parts to it. A foundational world view, however, is present as an emerging theme: everything is connected to everything else. You’ll recognize this theme from many world religions and philosophies (yes, even in Christianity, Judaism and Islam…if you look deeper than the superficial and popular level of each) as an integrated, basic assumption. In the movie, it emerges slowly but steadily, becoming a critical plot connector on several levels. I don’t think this hint will ruin the movie for anyone…just watch for it as it starts small and then becomes more obvious. Why is this important? We should have learned by now that we cannot truly understand or resolve complex dilemmas in isolation. Each one of us is part of the everything…and each issue we face in our communities or as a human family is part of the everything. When we realize that we truly need each other, we’re then ready to enter into a deliberative conversation, seeking all voices rather than just the ones who agree with us already. Every issue is connected in some way with every other issue. When we fail to connect issues with each other, we fail to link our currently pressing issues with the many, mostly-resolved issues that have already been addressed…where some common ground in thinking has been discovered and integrated into public policy. We who believe in inclusive public deliberation can recognize the power of this foundational world view…and find new applications for it in our Practice.

As a new decade begins, we can resolve to be more immersed in both the beauty and the tragedy of our world. We can recognize new opportunities for dynamic partnerships with many more people and groups across the country and around the world. We can decide to respect the issues we’re confronting enough to see their inter-connected nature. I’m more convinced than ever that a breakthrough is possible in deliberation and dialogue when we choose to frame global, systemic issues as a complementary part of our local, state and national issue work. It’s time to expand on the 70’s quote that has been attributed to many people: “Think globally, act locally.” In “Avatar” as in SL as in real-life, everything is connected to everything else. Go see this movie…then let’s dream and act big!

Posted by deliber8ca at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

‘Are you the One?’ has been the question of millions of Jewish parents through the centuries, asking if their newborn child might be the Messiah…the one who would lead humanity into peace. As parents and grandparents and neighbors looked into the eyes of each innocent newborn, they wondered and prayed and hoped…and believed. One day…according to Christian belief…a child was born to fulfill this expectation…and we celebrated his birth this month. This isn’t just the hope for a military or religious leader…it was the hope for a genuine leader who would listen to the yearnings of the people for justice, inclusion and long-term stability. Many centuries later, we who seek peace are still asking the question of our newborn babies:  ‘Are you the One?’… or more importantly, ‘Are you one of the Ones?’

I’m not trying to equate religion and politics…but they do have some shared goals, and they do at times practice wishful thinking. Today conditions are worsening for hundreds of thousands more people, and these people are talking more and more about what must change in our political landscape for democracy to work in an adequate or sustainable way. I find myself wondering and praying and hoping and believing today for a new style of leadership to emerge…leadership that puts national service as higher priority than personal gain. I’m focused on those in politics today who can lead us into an era of public trust.

I know many hoped President Obama might be a key person in this shift in politics, and he was actually labeled ‘The One’ during the 2008 campaign. Today, however, I have my doubts that he is even one among many persons who are potentially prepared to bring any deep change to our political climate. While his term is not yet 25% done, his capacity to affect significant change in the way politics is waged has already been significantly compromised. Certainly, the President could turn the corner in his political methods anytime, but his course seems to be pretty well set…practical, low-risk politics.

Prior to Mr. Obama’s identification as ‘The One’, Senator John McCain gave many people some hope. His strident legislative activism for dramatic campaign finance reform was both bold and risky. His willingness to work in a bi-partisan way was creative and practical. His criticism of his own party when he thought it was warranted was refreshing. His unwillingness to pad legislation with ‘earmarks’ that would be there purely to benefit him in his reelection was a mark of courage. But alas, Mr. McCain has retreated to the political safe haven of purely partisan alliances and predictable, low-risk policy positions. Anymore, it appears he too has found the cost of political reform to be too high.

Unfortunately, our news media and its attached clutch of pundits have read our collective minds and have created a popular expectation for ‘The One’ that is seriously off target. The American public continues to look for someone who would single-handedly solve all of our tough problems in just a matter of months…a ruined economy, two unsustainable wars, a health care system dominated by powerful monopolies, etc. It appears that we want change only if it can be done easily and quickly. But even this misguided expectation has its good points. The fact that an increasing number of people seem to be ready for leaders who will finally take a stand for political reform is a positive sign for our nation. It means that many of us are hungry for a more participatory system of government rather than the corporate-dominated structure we have in place today. By this fact, I am encouraged.

Ben Bernanke was named this week as Time Magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’ for 2009. Hmmm…I guess it is possible for a person to be considered a hero, even after his actions significantly contributed to the crisis he then helped to avert. But over a year has passed since the wheels came off of our national and global economic marketplace, and we still haven’t asked any of the really tough questions about what went wrong and what we can do to correct our economic vision and methods. While Bernanke and the Obama Administration did take action to avert a global depression, no one has opened a public conversation about the crisis of trust in local, national or global markets. I believe we need to talk about inspiring trust in our markets, so everyone can participate and contribute.

This week too it was reported that Paul Samuelson, the first American Nobel laureate in economics, had died at age 94. In 1948, Dr. Samuelson published his economics textbook that would become the collegiate standard for market education. I still have my copy from my initial economics course in 1970…it’s amazing how relevant it is in these difficult and complex times. I was pondering yesterday that the best educational minds and the textbooks they write are powerless when we choose to disregard the basics in personal and corporate practices. When ideology or wishful-thinking replace the principles that result from rigorous research, the consequences are predictable and grim. This reflection provides me with an even greater sense of urgency in renewed conversations on markets we can trust.

If we want to have some conversations about market we can trust, I can suggest three inter-connected concepts…each is already being practiced, but could be understood and applied to a greater extent. Who knows…this might provide a basis for a deliberative framing in the future.

‘Competitive’ markets are basic to our understanding of how commerce works, but too often these days it’s been popular to characterize them as ‘free’ markets. It’s unfortunate that some very influential ‘free’ markets are far from competitive, including financial and health care markets. These markets can only work well though when economic, social and media transparency are expected by the public and supported by appropriate legislation. This form of market shaping can be applied to goods and services as producers and suppliers meet the everyday needs of consumers.

‘Social’ or ‘fair’ markets have gained in popular support, but they basically rely on altruistic consumers who are willing to pay more for products they believe have additional benefits attached in terms of social justice, economic stability, religious convictions and environmental sustainability. These markets provide an application of buying power to influence on more than product availability. This form of market shaping can be applied to many different products with different attached social concerns by liberals and conservatives.

‘Local’ markets have been pretty much replaced in many areas by big-box and franchise domination, but in recent years they’re reemerging as an alternative to corporate-controlled markets. These markets have the unique capacity to adapt quickly and accurately to shifts in consumer demand. They can ‘turn-on-a-dime’ and can respond with local sensitivity. This form of market shaping can be applied in all places to include the values and needs of people without imposing those values and needs on others inappropriately.

Sadly, our current markets are not trusted…and for good reason. They aren’t competitive, or integrated into our values, or locally sensitive, or sustainable. This is another of those big-picture topics that influence many of our public policy dilemmas. Let’s talk about markets we can trust.

Posted by deliber8ca at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

On a very basic and pragmatic level, money translates into choices. This might not seem to be much of a news-flash, but it is an important proposition when we’re wondering why many of our public policy decisions are skewed to favor those who have radically more money than the average citizen. As the gap between the very rich and the rest of us grows, it’s more and more obvious that this trend cannot continue without causing some potentially severe consequences. But here’s an almost insurmountable obstacle…how do we talk about reducing the power of ‘big money’ in political decisions without being branded as Communists? So I’m proposing that we need to talk about how we might focus a wide spectrum of consumer choices to increase the clout of ‘small money.’

Here’s just one example of consumer choice that can counteract some lethargic public policies: purchase products that use greener technology. Notice I didn’t say ‘green’ technology, because we’re still in the starting stages in research and development for truly ‘green’ products. We’ve purchased two hybrid cars…not because the technology has been perfected already, but because we want more R&D in alternative energy systems in the future. This is how we send a message to manufacturers…we spend our limited resources on products and trends we want them to continue…and we resist spending on the products and trends we want them to end. It’s really just that simple. The problem is…we’re not communicating about what we need to resist and what we need to support in any meaningful way. We’re basically still just trying to get the best bargain on the most stuff…and it’s keeping us powerless and dependent.    

I’m totally skeptical that the power of ‘big money’ can be reversed or even slowed by the people who are currently our political leaders. This is one of those sticky conundrums that keep us frustrated…we think our only remedy is that somehow our leaders will spontaneously act in a way that flies in the face of their current political wisdom.  Miraculously, they will set aside their desire for reelection donations from the super-wealthy, from big business, and from big unions…and they’ll embrace the public’s desire for a new direction. Hey…it’s not going to happen any time soon.

About 20 years ago, I had this hen-headed idea that consumers could make some significant impact on economic and social issues with their daily purchases. I started thinking…if only consumers could know the true cost of an item they’re preparing to purchase, they might make wiser choices, and they might reshape the market. At that time, I thought about researching a book that would list major consumer items like Consumer Reports does, but this book would identify some of the hidden costs of the item, like child labor abuses or environmental degradation or high energy consumption. Today, this kind of research can be spread as an application through most of the cell phones in the world…letting people know as they input a bar code what the consequences are in completing their purchase.

I apologize for being pessimistic in impacting the ‘big money’ part of our global economy equation. I am, on the other hand, completely jazzed on the opportunities we have in the information age in impacting the ‘small money’ part of the equation…every day with every intentional purchase. This is a tech breakthrough that’s ripe for development and application. Let’s talk about how citizens can gather for careful conversations about what’s important and why. And then…let’s translate that public knowledge into tools that are easily accessible and understandable, so everyone can participate in the choices that can reshape our nation and our world. Money means choices…let’s make our money more effective.

Posted by deliber8ca at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

‘Black Friday’ has become an important economic benchmark. We know in recent years that merchants and the media have used the day after Thanksgiving to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers go from being in the red (i.e., posting a loss on the books) to being in the black (i.e., turning a profit). On a normal Black Friday, the focus is on both the strategy of merchants in offering items for sale and the willingness of consumers to spend their money on those items. The day is a little like Groundhog Day…the outcome of one day is used by prognosticators to see into the near future, projecting either a sunny or stormy economic outlook for the final month of a calendar year. But in 2009, Black Friday wasn’t normal…and we really need to talk together about what was different.

Black Friday in 2009 gave us a pretty clear picture of our national culture…we’re in deep economic denial. Hoping for a miracle, we looked to this unique indicator for signs that the Great Recession had hit rock-bottom. Many of the reports I saw tried to put on a happy face…don’t worry, it’s not as bad as we thought it would be. Interviews showed some happy consumers and some optimistic merchants, but the consumers mostly said they weren’t going to spend near as much this year and the merchants mostly said they couldn’t cut prices any deeper. We want to see the glass as ‘half-full’…that’s the way we are. But Black Friday numbers just verified what unemployment numbers…and unresolved public and private debt numbers…and foreclosure numbers…and currency valuation numbers all tell us: the economic methods we’ve trusted in the past were not sustainable…they’ve collapsed, and they cannot be revived.

We need to start talking with each other about what will replace our unsustainable, debt-dependent consumer culture. What are the foundational values we need to embrace for a stable future for the next generations? I really don’t think we’ll have much difficulty in identifying these values…as soon as we come to grips with reality. My suspicion is that we’ll keep trying to put off the inevitable and dreadfully painful acceptance that a completely new economic framework is needed. Maybe next quarter’s numbers will be slightly better. Maybe the next Black Friday will show that our current economic assumptions can still work for a while longer…until they’re someone else’s problem. It’s already too late to be ahead of this curve. Now we need to run like crazy to catch up with our economic, political and cultural reality.

In our hearts I think we know what issues we need to face honestly and candidly. More old-school jobs will disappear, but totally new kinds of jobs will emerge. More institutions will fail, but new forms of networking and collaboration will be created. Eventually entities that are ‘too big to fail’ today will have to be allowed to fail, but new economic support structures will be designed with integrated transparency and multi-jurisdictional accountability. These issues will continue to grow in urgency and complexity with continued neglect. We can wait for the next benchmark…or the next…or the next, but sooner or later we’ll be talking about foundational values we need to embrace so we might evolve into a more just, participatory and sustainable society.

Posted by deliber8ca at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)