The U.S. has "Monster Problems"
"Monster Problems" are existential issues that seem impossible-to-solve but which must be solved. A short list of national Monster Problems are:
- Unraveling of public institutions —threatened autocracy, fake news, runaway Supreme Court, foreign manipulation of elections, breakdown of the rule of law, threats to voting rights, captured agencies/revolving doors for executives, etc.
- Increasing polarization, media silos, separate versions of "truth," lack of shared vision;
- Radicalized people, conspiracy theories, social media info-sphere, rage without evidence, calling for violence, lack of listening;
- Pandemic mismanagement, government mandates, distrust of science, never-ending variants;
- L-shaped distribution of wealth and power, U.S. is an oligarchy, poverty, homelessness, oppressive school debt for young adults;
- Increased corruption, special interests dominating the public interest, legal bribery of politicians;
- Poor collective thinking, partisan gridlock in Congress, avoiding the BIG issues, threatened loss of democracy, massive need for governmental reform;
- Declining trust in elections, the courts, governments and one another; loss of the spirit of community;
- Systemic racism, misogyny, caste-system prejudice, violence directed at minorities;
- Destruction of the commons ... e.g. aquifers, forests, trust, spirit of community;
- Our system is destroying our people ... e.g. money comes first, our food system builds unhealthy bodies and destroys soils, economics encourages over-consumption, people are stuck without meaningful work;
- .... and many more
Our SYSTEM is causing these Monsters
Our System no longer fits our Situation. The U.S. Constitution may be the greatest social invention of all time. It is the underpinning for the national System in the U.S and much of the developed world. It structures how we think, talk and make collective decisions. It establishes "the rules of the game" and assures individual freedoms, the pursuit of "happiness" and competition as the basis of governance, economics and culture.
Most people think there are only two basic Systems of governance by which we might organize ourselves as a large nation: autocracy or "democracy". At the Center for Wise Democracy we call them the "Triangle" and the "Box" Systems. The Triangle has a "Dear Leader" as the ultimate authority, who tells us what is the Truth. The Box has a Social Contract like the U.S. Constitution as the ultimate authority, which allows people to "pursue their own happiness" independently of who is in the government. For the Box System to work it requires that people are in-dependent, then there is a competition of merit and a win/win dynamic where the whole system benefits. But as people become increasingly inter-dependent collaboration is needed. The competitive structure breaks down and generates Monster Problems that are existential and seem impossible-to-solve. Because the Box is breaking down in this way many people in this country seek a "strong leader," basically a return to the dystopian Triangle of the past.
Good news: There is a third possibility, the Circle System. It's a way out of this dilemma, but it's not easy to see and appreciate because it requires a set of Social Innovations that are not yet well understood. Periodically, all of us need to take "time out," face the Monster Problems together respectfully and creatively, reach shared conclusions (Here's where the social innovations come in!) and provide responsible leadership to government, the economy and the culture. If done in an ongoing way, then the missing "We the People" conversation is added to our existing Box System (or Triangle), which restructures our System to the Circle. With this added "We the People" conversation We not only achieve breakthrough progress on each Monster but over time We transition to the Circle System and stop creating these Monsters in the first place. So with this change the ultimate authority of society transitions from 1) the "Dear Leader" of the Triangle, to 2) the Social Contract of the Box, to 3) the living "We the People" of the Circle. The Constitution remains untouched. It's still there and enforced. But as we all get involved and reach shared perspectives over time it will dawn on us, and even dawn on the Supreme Court, that there is no higher authority than 'We the People' of today."
The Wisdom Council Process can facilitate this national transformation. It offers a way that a few of us can convene and facilitate this nation-wide, all-inclusive "We the People" conversation. We call application of the Wisdom Council Process to the nation: "The Wise Democracy Project". Each of the steps is accessible and beneficial. At first, it just creates a legitimate voice of the Public Interest, which gets added to the normal political conversation, a battle of Special Interests. This voice grows in power to affect legislators, philanthropies, NGO's and the culture. Partisan battling is reduced and legislators become free to serve the Public Interest. Then as a legitimate thoughtful responsible "We the People" comes into being, where we all learn to appreciates the diverse views of others as necessary for solving the Monsters. And we our System is now the Circle, with Wise Democracy and an economics that more fully serves the whole. ... Note! There is no identifiable risk to any of this. It's just adding a conversation to what exists that is totally voluntary, but where people want to participate.
This works because of choice-creating, the "magic sauce." Naturally, we need to start facing our Monster Problems together in a collaborative spirit. But our so-called "democracy," the Box System, pretty much prevents this. Instead, it sets up a competitive dynamic, which worked well for a long time. And it sets up the wrong kind of conversation, based in judgment rather than creativity, which we might describe with words like debate, discussion, dialogue, deliberation, negotiation, input, and decision-making. These forms of talking and thinking work well within the Box and are often preliminary to voting. But a different kind of conversation is required if all of us are to come together as "We the People." We call it "choice-creating." This is where we periodically all step back away from the judgment-based dynamic, face the high-care impossible-seeming issues creatively, listen respectfully to diverse views and seek a unified perspective through shifts and breakthroughs. That's pretty much the kind of conversation that happened in the Constitutional Convention where the founders were ostensibly using Parliamentary Procedure but where they had a "Dear Leader" in George Washington who refused that role and everyone knew they needed all the states, all the delegates and most all the people to say "yes." (Of course at that time they had a limited idea of who was "all" the people, not including women, slaves, non-property holders, etc.)
Choice-creating is the magic sauce in this solution strategy. It allows us to address Monsters, achieve unity, spark a powerful "We" into being and if the process is inclusive and ongoing, shift the System to the Circle. Dynamic Facilitation reliably evokes choice-creating. And the Wisdom Council Process is designed to evoke choice-creating among a large System of people. The Wise Democracy Project is the way out of the national dilemma.
Most people think there are only two basic Systems of governance by which we might organize ourselves as a large nation: autocracy or "democracy". At the Center for Wise Democracy we call them the "Triangle" and the "Box" Systems. The Triangle has a "Dear Leader" as the ultimate authority, who tells us what is the Truth. The Box has a Social Contract like the U.S. Constitution as the ultimate authority, which allows people to "pursue their own happiness" independently of who is in the government. For the Box System to work it requires that people are in-dependent, then there is a competition of merit and a win/win dynamic where the whole system benefits. But as people become increasingly inter-dependent collaboration is needed. The competitive structure breaks down and generates Monster Problems that are existential and seem impossible-to-solve. Because the Box is breaking down in this way many people in this country seek a "strong leader," basically a return to the dystopian Triangle of the past.
Good news: There is a third possibility, the Circle System. It's a way out of this dilemma, but it's not easy to see and appreciate because it requires a set of Social Innovations that are not yet well understood. Periodically, all of us need to take "time out," face the Monster Problems together respectfully and creatively, reach shared conclusions (Here's where the social innovations come in!) and provide responsible leadership to government, the economy and the culture. If done in an ongoing way, then the missing "We the People" conversation is added to our existing Box System (or Triangle), which restructures our System to the Circle. With this added "We the People" conversation We not only achieve breakthrough progress on each Monster but over time We transition to the Circle System and stop creating these Monsters in the first place. So with this change the ultimate authority of society transitions from 1) the "Dear Leader" of the Triangle, to 2) the Social Contract of the Box, to 3) the living "We the People" of the Circle. The Constitution remains untouched. It's still there and enforced. But as we all get involved and reach shared perspectives over time it will dawn on us, and even dawn on the Supreme Court, that there is no higher authority than 'We the People' of today."
The Wisdom Council Process can facilitate this national transformation. It offers a way that a few of us can convene and facilitate this nation-wide, all-inclusive "We the People" conversation. We call application of the Wisdom Council Process to the nation: "The Wise Democracy Project". Each of the steps is accessible and beneficial. At first, it just creates a legitimate voice of the Public Interest, which gets added to the normal political conversation, a battle of Special Interests. This voice grows in power to affect legislators, philanthropies, NGO's and the culture. Partisan battling is reduced and legislators become free to serve the Public Interest. Then as a legitimate thoughtful responsible "We the People" comes into being, where we all learn to appreciates the diverse views of others as necessary for solving the Monsters. And we our System is now the Circle, with Wise Democracy and an economics that more fully serves the whole. ... Note! There is no identifiable risk to any of this. It's just adding a conversation to what exists that is totally voluntary, but where people want to participate.
This works because of choice-creating, the "magic sauce." Naturally, we need to start facing our Monster Problems together in a collaborative spirit. But our so-called "democracy," the Box System, pretty much prevents this. Instead, it sets up a competitive dynamic, which worked well for a long time. And it sets up the wrong kind of conversation, based in judgment rather than creativity, which we might describe with words like debate, discussion, dialogue, deliberation, negotiation, input, and decision-making. These forms of talking and thinking work well within the Box and are often preliminary to voting. But a different kind of conversation is required if all of us are to come together as "We the People." We call it "choice-creating." This is where we periodically all step back away from the judgment-based dynamic, face the high-care impossible-seeming issues creatively, listen respectfully to diverse views and seek a unified perspective through shifts and breakthroughs. That's pretty much the kind of conversation that happened in the Constitutional Convention where the founders were ostensibly using Parliamentary Procedure but where they had a "Dear Leader" in George Washington who refused that role and everyone knew they needed all the states, all the delegates and most all the people to say "yes." (Of course at that time they had a limited idea of who was "all" the people, not including women, slaves, non-property holders, etc.)
Choice-creating is the magic sauce in this solution strategy. It allows us to address Monsters, achieve unity, spark a powerful "We" into being and if the process is inclusive and ongoing, shift the System to the Circle. Dynamic Facilitation reliably evokes choice-creating. And the Wisdom Council Process is designed to evoke choice-creating among a large System of people. The Wise Democracy Project is the way out of the national dilemma.
What is your wish for the U.S.? ... Make the biggest wish you can.
By shifting from the Box to the Circle System a new reality is created, way better than what we've got. One way to understand that this shift is needed is to WISH for what you want. Aim high!
I wish ... . .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
We think the Wise Democracy Project will achieve your wish. To illustrate we've created a Monster Wish, which likely encompasses your wish, that can be achieved through "The Wise Democracy Project." See The Monster Wish.
The Wise Democracy Project —8 steps to accomplish the "Monster Wish"
The Wise Democracy Project is eight steps designed to facilitate all the people to come together as a legitimate, contemporary "We the People" of the United States, capable of providing wise leadership to government, the economy, the culture and the world. Originally as described in the 2002 book, Society's Breakthrough! Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People by Jim Rough, it was assumed that this only an Amendment to the existing Constitution could spark a change of the deeper System. (i.e. the Wise-Democracy Amendment). But then through experiments and experiences we've discovered that the Amendment isn't needed. Instead, the immense benefits of the Wise Democracy Project can be realized by just a few well-meaning people with enough resources who understand the Social Innovations and how they work. (See the Essential Wisdom for Solving Society's Biggest Problems Seminar)
Below are the basic steps of The Wise Democracy Project. For more detail see The Wise Democracy Project.
Below are the basic steps of The Wise Democracy Project. For more detail see The Wise Democracy Project.
- Gather "Just Us" and adequate resources
- Identify the first Monster Problem to address
- Randomly select 10 to 16 people
- Use Dynamic Facilitation to reliably evoke the spirit of "choice-creating" in each Wisdom Council
- Convene a live "national community" meeting where the Wisdom Council presents the story of its journey & unified conclusions
- Structure national Wisdom Councils to be held regularly
- Provide for the new whole-nation conversation to become ever more inclusive
- Provide ways for all to learn more about this holistic model of change, especially the mode of thinking (i.e. choice-creating) and our way to reliably evoke it (i.e. Dynamic Facilitation)
Video: "American democracy is collapsing: A BREAKTHROUGH is needed"
This talk was presented to the Fix Democracy First network just after the election of Donald Trump, the second time. Many in attendance were worried that Trump would turn American Democracy into an Authoritarian state. (45 min)
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What are the benefits of the Wise Democracy Project?
Benefits happen in many ways, including ...
- THE 8 STEPS. Pretty much each step of the Wise Democracy Project is a benefit to us all. For instance, identifying the current issue we are all working on; creating a living symbol of us all that we can picture; achieving shared sense of the Public Will; the many resulting local and web-based small group conversations; the added learnings about choice-creating, Dynamic Facilitation and the Wisdom Council Process; etc.
- The CONTENT of what Wisdom Councils say. Each Wisdom Council will address a chosen issue and develop shared conclusions on what is really going on (i.e. the Truth); what we want (i.e. the Vision); and what we need to do about it (the Strategy). Depending on the extent of growing public support for these conclusions, policy decisions shift to be more in the Public Interest than the Special Interests. These content conclusions also powerfully influence the market, the culture and individuals.
- The PROCESS of thinking. Overall, we shift our thinking from a basis in judgment (i.e. decision-making) to a basis in creativity (i.e. choice-creating) and away from self-interest to service of the common good. Also, the process is heals various ills since the nature of choice-creating is healing ... e.g. healing deep anxieties, healing extreme polarization, healing deeply held traumas, healing the loss of meaning, etc. ...
- The SYSTEM. This Project adds the missing "We the People" conversation, which is a shift from the Box System (or the Triangle) to the Circle System. We shift from being a "constitutional republic," where a social contract is ultimately in charge, to being a "Wise Democracy," where a wise and responsible "We the People" is ultimately in charge. This System's transformation is a restructuring of our economics as well, away from profit maximization and commodification of people to a pursuit of meaning and service. We call the new economics "ToBe-ism."
- YOUR WISH. Because this Project can achieve the Monster Wish we believe it can achieve your wish as well. What do you think?
Checking back on the Monster Problems
To describe all the ways this Wise Democracy Project will affect the Monsters gets complex. Below are just a few hints about what can happen.
- Increasing polarization, information silos, separate versions of "truth," no shared vision; ... The Wise Democracy Project facilitates a new kind of public conversation where people naturally listen to one another and co-determine "what is truth", "what we want", "how to get there" ... So just implementing the new conversation is a solution to the mis-information and information silos.
- Radicalized people, conspiracy theories, rage without evidence, calling for violence lack of listening ... There is no creative, collaborative thinking process in our System, just adding up individual judgments. Of course, these dysfunctions result. What we need is one ongoing whole-nation Choice-creating conversation where we all talk together about the big issues and reach shared conclusions. The Wise Democracy Project adds back this missing "We the People" conversation and turns diversity and emotions into necessary assets needed to co-create the shared perspective.
- Pandemics, excess government mandates, distrust of science, Covid variants ... Our System focuses on individual freedoms with little regard for the collective need. So to meet the need for "herd immunity," for example, government mandates go against this basic national nature. However, the Wise Democracy Project provides a way for the people to talk things over and choose a multi-layered plan for what's needed. "We the People" choose together what we want to do. ... And if needed our conclusions may include government monitoring, support for research, questions to science, etc.
- L-curve distribution of wealth and power, U.S. as an oligarchy, poverty, homelessness ... Our current System is like the game of Monopoly: In the end one player wins everything and everyone else loses. What's missing is the spirit of national collaboration and community that turns the spirit of "winning the competition" into "deeply embarrassing greed."
- Increasing corruption, special interests dominating the public interest, legalized bribing of politicians and judges ... There is little sense of the "Public Interest" in our current System. Instead we have set up a competition of Special Interests with the presumption that ultimately the "invisible hand" will operate to make things better for everyone. But the invisible hand doesn't work in an oligarchy. Society's Breakthrough creates a clear expression of the Public Interest and a clear desire among all of us to realize this shared vision.
- Unraveling of public institutions —threatened autocracy, fake news, runaway Supreme Court rulings, foreign manipulation of elections, breakdown of the rule of law, threats to voting rights, captured agencies/revolving doors for executives, etc. ... Society's Breakthrough establishes a new collective thinking capability and a new public institution, "We the People", which is ongoing. This provides a way that We can establish trustworthy public institutions and reshape our social contract.
- Partisan gridlock, avoiding the BIG issues, politicians incapable of agreeing, threatened loss of democracy ... Quality leadership cannot come from within the partisan battle. A way to transcend the partisan battle is to enlist the participation of all people in a creative endeavor, solving real problems. This is a higher form of democracy, what we call "Wise Democracy." Here we face the Monster Problems one at a time, reach unity and provide responsible direction to elected officials, the marketplace and the culture.
- Declining trust in government, elections, the courts and one another; loss of the spirit of community ... When the people face difficult problems and come together on what's needed, this builds trust. Here's a way that "We the People" of the 21st century can take responsibility for our System and institutions back from an 18th century "We the People" that is currently in charge. Now, in unity, we can start designing a 21st century system.
- Systemic racism, mysogyny, prejudice, violence directed at minorities ... Our current System is rooted in "decision-making", which literally means "cutting away" ... e.g. a judging process that "cuts away" the minority. On the other hand an ongoing national choice-creating conversation sets up a system of valuing diversity. In choice-creating minority voices are necessary to achieve creative shifts and breakthroughs.
- Destruction of the commons ... e.g. aquifers, forests, trust in government, spirit of community ... The Tragedy of the Commons happens because we are structured to be self-interested parties taking from the commons, with essentially no provision for the well-being of the whole. Society's Breakthrough restructures our System so that we all meet to consider the well-being of the commons and to responsibly manage it.
- Our system is destroying our people ... e.g. special interests and making money comes first, our food system builds unhealthy bodies and destroys soils, pursuit of over-consumption ... Together we are all riding in an airplane on auto-pilot, heading toward a mountain. We are stuck in a System that is forcing us to over-consume. And increasingly people know it, and feel the desperation of our situation. With Society's Breakthrough "We" can check in on our situation and our 18th century system. And make adjustments. Here's a way all of us can get involved in making real headway.
- etc.
We already have experience with this process at large scale!
This short (5 min) video (in English) describes one national Wisdom Council experiment in Germany. Note: German-speaking governments refer to the Wisdom Council as "Bürgerat" (i.e."Civic Council").
Note also ...
Additional resources
- Video Seminar (5-parts): "Essential Wisdom for Solving Society's Biggest Issues
- Article: 'A Rebirth of 'We the People', Jim Rough, The Good Society, Penn State University Press, Volume 13, Number 2, 2004 pp 44-48
- Video: ... Healing Polarization in Society (4min)
- Handout ... "How to Fix America ... And Become a Real Democracy"
- Chart: Seven strategies to achieve the "Ideal of Democracy" in America
- Short video on “How to reform democracy”
- Book (2002) “Society’s Breakthrough! Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People”