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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
  • Section 1--A national Wisdom Council Process. There shall be an ongoing series of Wisdom Councils for the nation, at least three per year. Each Wisdom Council is comprised of ten to sixteen citizens randomly selected from voter registration roles. They gather for two to four 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. 1) In rotating fashion where the executive branch identifies an issue. And then one of the two political parties identifies the issue. And then the other. Then back to the executive branch. 2) Or, citizens may determine the issues when enough signatures to support a particular issue is gathered. Note: Since each Wisdom Council is dynamically facilitated, the original issue may evolve to become something different than was first presented. So essentially, 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 its unified perspective; the story of how this perspective evolved into being; and personal reflections from members of the Wisdom Council on their experience. Then that Wisdom Council disbands and the citizen audience takes over. They visit with one another face to face in small groups and online conversations, share their responses and continue building on the unified views of 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, 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 building on the report of the Wisdom Council. Whole-system unity is the aim. This conversation can continue online and in the public media until the next Wisdom Council is randomly selected. Note: This Amendment merely adds a new conversation to our system, where the people creatively address the most pressing issues. To the extent that they reach unity there is no higher authority. 
  • 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." Note: Choice-creating is complementary to normal "decision-making" and "problem-solving." Feelings are valued to help spark breakthroughs and shifts of group energy, which is how unified views come into existence. Dynamic Facilitation is used to reliably evoke choice-creating.  
  • Section 6—The Wisdom Council Commission. A rotating group of twelve former Wisdom Council members will oversee the process, assuring that the necessary We the People conversation emerges. The members of each Wisdom Council will select a maximum of three people. 
The idea for this Amendment was first presented in the 2002 book, "Society's Breakthrough! Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People." Since then we have learned valuable lessons:
  1. Originally we thought the Amendment was Step 1. Today, we think the process is better started by a small group of public spirited people. And that a similar Amendment will naturally result last as people gain experience with the process.
  2. Most people don't have experience with choice-creating (or Dynamic Facilitation) but they still recognize 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." 
  3. 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 state of Salzburg as also adopted the process. 
  4. 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 understandings that can undermine the hold of media silos.
  • Generate a shared vision and clear sense of the “public interest" in a System previously comprised of competing special interests.
  • Generate new solutions to impossible-seeming public issues, along with the will to implement these solutions.
  • Generate a spirit of national trust and community.
  • Facilitate a new System of ”Wise Democracy" where “We the People” provide responsible leadership to government, the courts, the economy, philanthropies 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 ...