[Oe List ...] Want to discuss consensus?

Tue Mar 2 18:52:48 CST 2010

Tim
What a great meditation - I share your frustration with the current
political processes - in Australia we have almost a two party system so when
in opposition they spend their time sniping at the Government. We do have a
small Greens party which is gaining traction in local government elections,
but at the State and National level they are only represented in the Upper
House (State) or Senate (National). At present they do not hold the total
balance of power in the Senate but with a couple of Independents they do -
however one of the Indpendents is more conservative even than the
Conservative(Liberal/National Party coalition) so it is difficult for the
Greens to have much influence on legislation. Back in the late
eighties/early nineties we had a Democrats party which did espouse some of
the values you have articulated - they held the balance of power in the
Senate for a while and then imploded after Cheryl Kernot, their leader was
seduced by Gareth Evans to join the Labour Party on the promise that she
would hav more direct influence on forming policy - Ha-ha.

When the Labour Party got elected as the national government in 2007 and
Kevin Rudd became Prime Minister we thought that maybe a new day had dawned
as he called a 2020 Summit to which 1000 Australians from all sectors of
society were invited and we were all able to make submissions on-line. It
was a great talk-fest and probably generated some good ideas, some of which
no doubt have been taken up at various levels but as far as continuing to
engage the broader community in ongoing discussion and formulation of
strategy etc. it seems to have stopped dead. At the National level there
used to be a number of parliamentary committees which had representatives of
all the parties on them and they would investigate various proposals and
options and report to the Parliament or Senate but when John Howard was PM
and his party had a majority in the Senate he did away with a lot of these
Committees. The Senate is still able to refer legislation to a Senate
Committee for review and does from time to time and they hold public
hearings and members of the public can make submissions but you still feel
like everything is 'controlled' by the two major parties.

Recently, at an afternoon at the home of Robyn & John Hutchinson, we were
talking with a businessman friend of theirs who is very interested in
education and 'democracy' and he was suggesting that by using the internet
we should be able to mobilise people at the grassroots level and even elect
people who espouse values of consensus etc. - a bit like how Barack Obama
used the net to elicit support for his campaign from a broad base of
citizens.

So, hasten the day when this becomes reality.

John

2010/3/3 Tim Casswell <tim at creativeconnection.co.uk>

> I think this is an interesting debate. It has produced a heartfelt if not
> altogether thought through meditation of my own...
>
> As we go towards a hung parliament in the UK we are facing a period where
> consensus and collaboration will be precisely the process skills that are
> needed. In almost every other country apart from the USA the democratic
> process is multiparty coalition government. In our two party polarisation we
> watch our politicians stuck into their party lines locking horns as if they
> wete in court in a shockingly wasteful display of adversarial stupidity.
>
> As we face the complexity of global financial, ecological, political, and
> resource challenges it will be probably  through conflict but just maybe
> through collaboration that we work out our salvation.
>
> I am weary of the "Reality" TV gameshow approach the personality
> politicians adopt which effectively excludes us from the social process
> other than as consumer - voters.
>
> The situation before us now requires collaboration. I yearn for a
> politician or a party that declares a stand for consensus.
>
> A party that declares that the global financial, ecological, political, and
> resource situation we face is so complex, so critical, it is a state of
> catastrophe in which we all are faced with the choice of caring for one
> another or competing, looting, and fighting with one another over broken
> pieces and depleted resources.
>
> The adventure we face today is so overwhelming it probably cannot be won or
> even survived. However I know which way I want to die. In a community of
> people listening, caring, dancing, chancing, cherishing, in a slow,
> frustrating, exquisite, subtle, elusive, consensual community of human
> relationships Community is still the most fascinating dance of all.
>
> I think the tide is turning. We are tired of the adversarial alpha male
> good shepherd rhetoric we once admired and flocked to in our herds. Now we
> know it really is in our hands and we have a choice. Consensus,
> collaboration, trust, listening, understanding, generosity, responsibility,
> and decisions based on love, or conflict, suspicion, hostility, hoarding,
> and decisions based on fear.
>
> I long for a politician to declare "I stand for consensus. If you elect me
> it is because you know I can do nothing for you just that you dare to share
> a dream of a collaborative sharing world where rights are what we give
> rather than fight for. Voting for me is a vote not for what you can get but
> for what you can give and a declaration that we are choosing to take up the
> challenge of this awesome moment ourselves"
>
> Wasn't this the language of MLK and Ghandhi?
>
> I see again the scene towards the end of that film where the field is full
> of people who were once slaves declaring "I am Spartacus". Slaves no longer
> to charisma, power, manipulative political forces. The complexity of the
> catastrophe makes it simple. This is the time for each to dream and if you
> let me be in your dream you can be in mine.
>
> Let's dance with Zorba let's sing with don Quixote, let's shout our dreams
> to the empty sky with Thelma and Louise, and work out our consensus with
> diligence.
>
> Consensus is not the abandonment of beliefs. It is the art of human being.
>
> Tim Casswell
> creativeconnection.co.uk
> 07956 851 852
>
> On 2 Mar 2010, at 02:43, "Carlos R. Zervigon" <carloszervigon at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>  If you are pure in your stance you finally are a group of one that can
> get nothing done. Stand on your principles and be ineffective. Politics is a
> healthy science that acknowledges that we live in community and must make
> decision s as such. Effective and creative leadership helps form consensus
> on a creative, inclusive, depth and futuristic context but does not bully
> it’s way through charismatic demagoguery. Margaret Thatcher was a guardian
> of the illusionary past and did not contribute much to a future for the
> planet. Herman Greene however has made his mark many dimensions above
> Margaret.
>
>
>
> Carlos R. Zervigon, PMP
>
> Zervigon International, Ltd.
>
> 817 Antonine St.
>
> New Orleans, LA  70115  USA
>
> 504 894-9868 Mobile: 504 908-0762
>
> carlos at zervigon.com
>
> http://www.zervigon.com
>
>
>
> *From:* oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] *On
> Behalf Of *Herman Greene
> *Sent:* Monday, March 01, 2010 11:00 AM
> *To:* 'Order Ecumenical Community'
> *Subject:* [Oe List ...] Want to discuss consensus?
>
>
>
> I received this morning meditation today:
>
>
>
> Lord, guard me in my convictions.
>
> "To me consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs,
> principles, values and policies in search of something in which no one
> believes, but to which no one objects--the process of avoiding the very
> issues that have to be solved merely because you cannot get agreement on the
> way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner
> 'I stand for consensus?'" <image001.gif>-- Margaret Thatcher in a 1981
> speech as reported in *The Wall Street Journal<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103092727795&s=3496&e=001eUju4wGW3ExAKBDtBm2ehjlXGb3YxBf-t0TT45xntPymCjCHoa9cvglQCnaVSN6AAkSTC-KjNqdp3cyKQ8pBNcolEOJ8IuyQFCTahsyOlp0=>
> *
>
>
>
>
>
> *_____________________________________________*
>
>
>
> Herman F. Greene
>
> 2516 Winningham Drive
>
> Chapel Hill, NC 27516
>
> 919-942-4358 (phone and fax)
>
> <hfgreene at mindspring.com>hfgreene at mindspring.com
>
> Skype: hgreene-nc
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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