The Wise Democracy Project is a solution strategy for many impossible-seeming problems in the U.S. See "Solving NATIONAL issues."
This Project is the application of the Wisdom Council Process to the United States. It's 8 accessible steps that a few people with adequate resources can take to FACILITATE ALL THE PEOPLE to come together as a wise and responsible "We the People." Each of the 8 steps described briefly below is a benefit with no identifiable downside. All 8 steps together promise a transformation to "Wise Democracy."
This Project is the application of the Wisdom Council Process to the United States. It's 8 accessible steps that a few people with adequate resources can take to FACILITATE ALL THE PEOPLE to come together as a wise and responsible "We the People." Each of the 8 steps described briefly below is a benefit with no identifiable downside. All 8 steps together promise a transformation to "Wise Democracy."
Step 1 ... Gather "Just Us" and adequate resources"Just Us" is a small group of people who look at society's problems, examine this Wise Democracy approach and excitedly say "This must happen!" These people recognize that our System is causing our nation's biggest impossible-seeming problems, that the System must be transformed and that the Wisdom Council Process offers a safe way to spark the transformation. ... Instead, most of us tend to pursue "normal solutions". ...e.g. street demonstrations, lobbying, modeling the new paradigm, elevating personal consciousness, civic education, civic education, electing new leaders, implementing rank order voting, etc. But these normal "solution-approaches" are those provided by the existing System for possible use to improve the System. They cannot avoid societal collapse because they merely mute the problem symptoms and do not recognize that our System is the problem. .... Step #1 is a benefit because this small group brings forward a new facilitative model of change, not top-down or bottom-up. It's a way that all of us can work creatively together.
Step 2 ... Identify a Monster Problem to addressThere are many urgent impossible-seeming global problems that are worsening, e.g. the bitter partisan battle, the mal-distribution of wealth, minority control over the majority, over consumption, meaningless jobs, etc. In this step we draw attention to one of these issues at a time. The issue doesn't need to be well-defined, just some "impossible-seeming mess" that most all people care about. A poll can pick the issue. Or elected officials can identify it. Or donors to this process can select. etc. ... Step #2 is a benefit because it focuses national attention on one vital issue and orients people toward cooperating to solve it.
Step 3 ... Randomly select 10 to 16 peopleHere we identify 10 to 16 random people from the national population and bring them together as the first national Wisdom Council. Of course, achieving an accurate random selection is difficult, but we do the best we can. We ask a respected polling organization to provide us with, as much as possible, a legitimate random sample of people.. ... Step #3 is a benefit because it creates a living symbol of all-the-people where, like the first picture of earth from space, we can appreciate the essence of "We the People."
Step 4 ... Use Dynamic Facilitation to reliably evoke the spirit of "choice-creating" in each Wisdom CouncilEach random group or "Wisdom Council" is gathered to meet for just a few days with someone skilled in Dynamic Facilitation. This is the magic sauce. It evokes a thinking process in the group that is not decision-making or problem-solving but choice-creating. This small diverse group achieves unity through shifts and breakthroughs and co-creates a shared story about how they achieved unity. It's a symbol of "We the People," just ordinary people, facing an impossible-seeming existential issue and co-determining a new clarity about: "the "real problem", the "truth" of what's going on, a vision of what we want, and a wise strategy going forward. ... Step #4 is a benefit because it introduces and sets in motion the beginnings of a new kind of national conversation, choice-creating, where we are all respectful, listening and appreciative of people's diverse views.
Step 5 ... Convene a live "national community" meeting where the Wisdom Council presents the story of its journey & its unified conclusions to the peopleAfter the Wisdom Council reaches its conclusions the members walk onstage and present their story to a large live face to face audience, to the media, and to video cameras for later viewing. The members tell a little about themselves, their conclusions and how they reached their unified conclusions. They are not presenting a "recommendation" or "proposal", which is what ordinarily happens in this kind of mini-public gathering. Instead, this is a reflective sharing from the people to the people aimed at involving all of us in thinking together deeply. Generally, the audience recognizes these conclusions as commonsensical and the process as valuable. After the Wisdom Council members finish, "audience members" talk with one another. And in most experiments we've found they essentially say "Yes, I think so too! And they continue talking in a spirit similar to choice-creating." So here's a way to achieve "We the People" unity throughout the entire national community in a fairly quick fashion. Yes, there will be people who don't hear and those who think differently but rather than them saying "I agree or disagree," this process orients them toward building on the ideas. This is the missing conversation in a real democracy. We the People need to take times out to talk and think together about the Big issues, reach conclusions and provide wise leadership to government, the economy and the culture. ... Step #5 is a benefit because it helps people come together around a particular story of who we are, what is going on, what we want, and what is needed to solve the chosen Monster problem.
Step 6 ... Structure Wisdom Councils to be ongoingThe Wisdom Council Process convenes ONE ONGOING WHOLE-SYSTEM CHOICE-CREATING CONVERSATION about the most important issues the community faces. This generates a new level of "collective intelligence." And since the process is ongoing, where new randomly selected Wisdom Councils are gathered to address Monster issues each month or so, this process by itself restructures the System. It provides missing elements real democracy to exist including... a way that each person can become involved and empowered in the ultimate "decision-making" conversation; a new authority, "We the People," at the top of the hierarchy, even higher than the Constitution; and a way that We, all of us, can restructure our 18th century Constitution to make sense in the modern world. .... Step #6 is a benefit because it establishes a new all-inclusive creative ongoing "We the People" conversation where individuals also achieve new levels of intelligence and consciousness.
Step 7 ... Provide for the new "We the People" conversation to be ever more inclusiveAs the national Wisdom Council Process continues, individuals, experts, leaders, media, celebrities, etc. will increasingly participate in addressing the Monster Problems and co-creating ultimate conclusions. Especially when there is a crisis like a pandemic or the Russian invasion of Ukraine, or some horrible new climate event, people want a meaningful, respectful opportunity to converse with others. This new whole-nation conversation generates effective actions at both the collective and individual levels. Plus, people share a growing understanding of the truth of what's going on beyond the bubble of their mis-information. Everyone is invited.. And everything is voluntary. ...Step #7 is a benefit because it provides a way for each person, whether they are expert or uneducated, corporate or retired, religious or secular, corporate or government, etc., to get involved.
Step 8 ... Provide ways for people to learn more about this facilitative holistic model of change, especially choice-creating, Dynamic Facilitation, and the Wisdom Council Process. The benefits projected for The Wise Democracy Project can seem over-the-top, almost magical. Fortunately, we don't need to see or sell these benefits ahead of time. Or for people to even understand how it works. With adequate resources we (just us) can convene the Project, allowing people to experience the process and the benefits for themselves. Then later, we can help people understand why this is working and how this added conversation achieves miraculous-seeming results. For instance, people may want to learn the distinction between "decision-making" and "choice-creating." And between different kinds of democratic process. Or to understand the difference between Citizens Assemblies and the Wisdom Council Process. ... Step #8 is a benefit because it can help people feel a new level of empowerment in their lives, even in the face of seemingly impossible societal crises.
Once we ("Just Us") implement these 8 steps it is likely that a legitimate "We the People" will arise, who will choose to implement a 9th step.
Step 9 ... "We the People" will amend the Constitution to assure the continuance of the Wisdom Council Process.Often when Wisdom Councils report their conclusions, they will emphatically state that "this process needs to keep happening." So it is likely that the national Wisdom Councils will also speak in this way and choose to implement something like the Wise-Democracy Amendment
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Besides benefits arising from each step of this project, Immense Benefits will also arise from the total package including ...
- 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 transformation. 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."
- Achieving YOUR WISH. Because this Project can achieve the Monster Wish we believe it can achieve your wish as well. What do you think?
Additional Resources
- Solving National Problems ... This key webpage describes how our System causes today's Biggest problems and how the ToBe Project addresses them.
- Essential Wisdom for Solving Society's Biggest Issues ... This is a free 5-part edited video seminar.
- "American Democracy is collapsing ... we need a breakthrough!" ... This is a talk given to the organization "Fix Democracy First" by Jim Rough:
Also note ...
1) During the years 1993 to 2002, we thought a U.S. Constitutional Amendment was how to change the System. The "Citizens Amendment" was the focus of the 2002 book by Jim Rough: "Society's Breakthrough! Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People". ... But then came 20+ years of experiments with the core process in the Amendment, the Wisdom Council Process. We now know that the Wisdom Council Process by itself can establish a legitimate "We the People." The "magic sauce" lies not in the Constitution but in our ability to facilitate "choice-creating" at large scale. However, future Wisdom Councils will likely implement something like the "Wise Democracy Amendment" as a way to assure that more people participate, action will come from what they determine, and that the process will continue indefinitely.
2) It is difficult to find any risk to this strategy at the collective level. Basically, we just gather a small number of random people. They give a presentation to the public and go away. Then in a few months a new random group is gathered and the process is repeated. Where is the risk? ... But obviously since this process will transform everything including our System of Thinking, just hearing the idea can seem risky. But the real risk is to assume we can continue with the existing System, where what we call "democracy" is dissembling.
3) Our current System generates little collective intelligence. Voting, for instance, gives people a set of options and they make judgments about which options are best. The results are added know which option wins. There is little collective thinking in this approach. We need a "We the People" conversation where "We" finally start facing the issues and working together to solve them.
2) It is difficult to find any risk to this strategy at the collective level. Basically, we just gather a small number of random people. They give a presentation to the public and go away. Then in a few months a new random group is gathered and the process is repeated. Where is the risk? ... But obviously since this process will transform everything including our System of Thinking, just hearing the idea can seem risky. But the real risk is to assume we can continue with the existing System, where what we call "democracy" is dissembling.
3) Our current System generates little collective intelligence. Voting, for instance, gives people a set of options and they make judgments about which options are best. The results are added know which option wins. There is little collective thinking in this approach. We need a "We the People" conversation where "We" finally start facing the issues and working together to solve them.