Forum Post: Citizens Deliberation Councils

Brief Introduction {Short Excerpt from} "Greed as Psycho-Pathology and Addiction" by Mitchell J. Rabin, Holistic psychotherapist and host [of] A Better World Radio http://huffingtonpost.com/mitchell-j-rabin/greed-as-psychopathology-_b_1656791.html []

I'm suggesting that greed, which is the pursuit and acquisition of money at any expense, is a pathological activity, is actually an addiction, and should be societally regarded as such. When it harms others or the environment, it is also a form of criminal insanity and should be treated legally and psychologically as such. It is currently ruining our society, the lack of leadership in the White House and Congress continues to condone the unethical and often illegal but unprosecuted acts, and as a result, our government and elected officials are complicit in these ongoing acts which were not stopped when our economy was crippled -- again -- in September 2008. Glass-Steagall, the strongest piece of legislation to criminalize the combining of different banking activities, was not reinstated, and the political will to do so is faint. When we as a People, recognize that we are giving energy to the addicted criminals because of the high regard in which we collectively view the wealthy, as somehow beyond reproach, then we will start to see more legislation to criminalize these activities, to reinstate Glass-Steagall and to treat the pathology of greed as an addiction, fundamentally based on a profound fear 'of Not Enough' as well as "I'm not good enough", the deep wound of the greedy, miser-Midas archetype, that dominates their psyche. []

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Empowering Public Wisdom http://exopermaculture.com/2012/08/10/a-revitalized-democracy-must-tap-into-three-types-of-power-power-over-power-with-and-power-from-within/

CHAPTER 6: Citizen Deliberative Councils: Their Character, Variety, and History []

[A citizens deliberative council is 12 to 200 people selected randomly from the public, representing a diverse range of views, who deliberate on major issues.] [A] citizens deliberative council['s] [] deliberations are informed by inclusive, balanced briefing materials and, usually, interviews with, testimony from, and/or conversations with diverse experts, advocates, and other stakeholders involved with the matter under consideration. At its conclusion, it releases its findings and recommendations to its convening authority, concerned officials, the media, the electorate, and/or the larger community from which its members came— and then it disbands. Ideally, the report stimulates further community dialogue, some of which may be purposefully convened and/or reported on as part of the overall process. []

CHAPTER 7: How Citizen Deliberative Councils Could and Should Be Used []

Citizen deliberative councils (CDCs) could and should play many roles, [such as] []

• Providing Periodic Citizen-Based “State of the Union” Declarations []
• Studying Issues on Behalf of the Public and Public Officials []
• Reviewing Proposed Ballot Initiatives and Referenda []
• Creating Proposed Ballot Initiatives to Deal with Identified Issues []
• Ensuring Sober Public Evaluation of Controversial Legislation []
• Reviewing Candidates for Elected Public Office []
• Reviewing Government Budgets []
• Reviewing Government or Corporate Performance [].

Chapter 8: Public Empowerment, Public Engagement, and the Role of Journalism []

So how do we use citizen deliberative councils strategically to empower public wisdom? What can we do to make such councils part of our usual political process? []

• Convene processes like Wisdom Councils to evoke the public’s awareness of their collective wisdom and power as We the People. []
• Organize public campaigns to demand that public wisdom processes be given official or unofficial advisory roles in government decision making. [] We can also solicit pledges from politicians stating that they will take seriously the recommendations from a properly convened citizen deliberative council—that is, they will either do what it says or publicly explain why they can’t or won’t. An example of such a pledge can be found at www.co- intelligence.org/PoliticiansPledge.html.
• Convene public wisdom processes to advise voters on issues and/or candidates—and actively publicize their recommendations. Oregon’s official Citizens’ Initiative Review process uses a citizen deliberative council to review ballot initiatives and referenda on behalf of the voters. []
• Create a lobbying network or political party specifically dedicated to pushing the policy recommendations generated through public wisdom processes. This has not yet happened, but there are precursors showing up in some parts of the transpartisan movement, bringing people from the Left and the Right together and then promoting what they come up with. []
• Create nonpartisan political organizing websites that help citizens find others who share their passion on specific policy options. []
• Convene public wisdom processes and promote their findings to advocacy groups who already favor the policies the wisdom process recommends. []
• Build an alliance of issue-oriented groups who have concluded that their pet issues won’t get far without changing the decision-making machinery that decides policy on all issues. []
• Create internet-based systems that enable grassroots activists to affordably self-organize public wisdom processes on whatever issues they or their community are working [], whenever they need [] or want to.
• Promote the establishment of a fourth branch of government that functions through the deliberations of randomly selected citizen panels. []