American Mythology and the Loss of Democracy

Governance With RCS: It's hard to lose democracy, but it can get very rusty from lack of practice.               

             Decades of lack of practice are resulting in a loss of our hard won democracy. We are governed by others and are now on our way to passing into superfluousness. 

            Read our Declaration of Independence. When we don't use it, we lose it.

            Nader is reminding us of that which we can do. Listen carefully for what can be done. 

            Also he says that it takes only about 1% of us to be strongly effective. 20% is much better.

            We can learn to do it by doing it.

            We must learn more about cooperation and organization. 

            We must learn how to more effectively cooperate and organize. 

            We may also benefit from reconsidering the nature of freedom, as in free press, free communication, free elections, freedom of privacy and more about free men and women.  

 

            Without active citizenship and active self-governance we become useless.

            Do you remember what superfluousness means?

                                                                    by Richard

Little "d" democrats

Governance With RCS: Democrwatic tendencys in the not so distant past in the good old US of A.    

                   In the distant past there were democrats. There were democrats in the recent past. There are still some democrats. A democrat might be thought of as a person who believes in people and in their ability to learn and do. I know little about what democrats are doing at the moment. I do have a sharp memory of that which some democrats did in my lifetime.  

                Democrats have tended to promote certain doings. Some of  those doings tended to be definitive of their beliefs.

Democrats have promoted:

~ enhancement and protection of democracy among us.
~ the study of legislation affecting democracy.
~ vigorous ongoing education about the use and doing of democracy.
~ improved communication among political parties and within them.
~ development of widespread leadership rather than super leaders.
~ enhanced education for participation in governance.
~ cooperative self-governance.
~ willingness to thoughtfully and promptly change a bad law for the better.
~ strong respect for our laws.
~ inclusivity  and diversity in public life.
~ cooperation within and among groups.
~ knowledge of the history of democracy including it's  limitations and advantages.
~ respect for the varieties of democracy around the world.
~ our Constitution and it's Bill of Rights.
~ our national Bill of Rights.
~ loving care of each and every child.
~ respect and honor for the individual, the family, and the neighborhood.
~ more nearly equal opportunity for access to healthcare for each person.
~ strong support for public health.
~ respect for and support of the position of minorities.
~ wide, ongoing educational opportunities for all.

                The above could suggest planks for the platform of a present party or candidate.


                                                                                  by Richard Sheehan

There Are Still Some Real democrats

Governance With RCS: There Are Still Some Real democrats: Why the little "d" in democrats?

                In the distant past there were democrats. In the recent past there were some democrats. And, there are still some democrats. A democrat might be thought of as one who believes in our ability to learn and to do. I know little about what those who call themselves democrats are doing now. I do have a sharp memory for much of that which democrats have done in the past.

                I hope you understand that I am not using the word “democrat” to refer to a member of a political party, but rather to one who holds a certain philosophical position. A Democrat can be a democrat, but she doesn’t have to.

                Democrats have tended to promote certain doings. Those doings have tended to be definitive of their beliefs.

Democrats have promoted:

~ improved communications within political organizations and among them.

~ enhancement and protection of democracy among us.

~ the study of legislation affecting democracy.

~ vigorous ongoing education about the use and doing of democracy.

~ development of widespread leadership rather than super-leaders.

~ enhanced education for participation in government.

~ cooperative self-governance.

~ willingness to thoughtfully and promptly change a bad law for the better.

~ strong respect for the law.

~exclusivity and diversity in public life.

~ cooperation within and among groups.

~ knowledge of the history of democracy, including its limitations and advantages.

~ respect for the varieties of democracy around the world.

~ our Constitution at its Bill or Rights.

~ loving care for each and every child.

~ respect and honor for the individual, the family, and the neighborhood.

~ more nearly equal opportunity for access to healthcare for each person.

~ strong support and oversight for our public health systems.

~respect and support for the position of minorities.

~ the practice of better dialogue.

~ wide, ongoing educational opportunities for all.

~ honesty.

This list can be greatly improved. However, there is already enough here to suggests planks for the platform of a present political party or candidate, or, a new party and candidates.

 

 

by Richard Sheehan

 

Governance: Organization, Effective Citizenship, and the Power to Do

 Governance With RCS: Organization, Effective Citizenship, and the Power to Do

               

                 Your organization can make you a more effective citizen. There seems to be a new or renewed urge toward new political organization and active citizenship these days. Many of us have a growing understanding of democracy. We see that more active citizenship brings more democracy.

                A new organization is much like an old organization. It takes people to organize, but many of those organizing are new not old. Persons new to organizing, especially political organizing, have a lot to learn. Their energy and enthusiasm will be an important aid to their progress. 

                An organization may have a beginning in individual minds, but its realization will be in a group. A group of people is most often a mess and a mess of people is not an organization. To become an organization there are doings such a mess of people must do. They can begin with a bit of togetherness and continue with a growing ability to cooperate. 

                Agreement that a new organization is necessary or a darn good idea can be a useful beginning. Agreement, perhaps tacit, to work together can be another important step. Finding ways to cooperate is important. Old organizers found many ways to facilitate cooperation.

                Soon the purpose of the organization must begin to be identified and clarified. Clarification of purpose is an ongoing process and activity. This may often be begun by a small group of leaders, but must be carried on by many others.

                Say that the original growing group is made up of citizens who have discovered that they want a brand new political organization. They have some willingness to work together. The also have understandings and misunderstandings to work out. A lot of work.

            

Do less yourself and let others do more

                Members of this very new organization need to maintain an ongoing understanding of the aims, values, and wants of others in the organization in so far as they affect the organization. Not easy, but important to their ability to increase their effectiveness.

                An important benefit of an organization is that which needs to be done, need not be done by one or a very few, but rather can be shared among and by all members. In fact the more involved with the important work of the organization that are all members, the better the moral and effectiveness of the organization is likely to be. 

                The members of a well functioning group can feel themselves to be effective doers, and can be those effective doers in fact.

There are some doings and practices which have helped others to start and maintain their organization.

Doings and practices to begin promptly:

~ Consider how you intend to keep in contact.

~ Begin identifying your goals and aims.

~ Clarify goals and aims.

~ Restate goals and aims.

~ Arrange to have each member help to achieve these goals and aims.

~ Take care of all business promptly.

~ Arrange for the ongoing education for all members.

~ Practice dialogue skills.

~ Arrange for members to have opportunity to be educators.

~ Enjoy your participation.

~ Keep in mind that teaching one another is important. Outside help can be very good, but seldom as good as that which we do for ourselves. As we teach, we learn.

~ Demonstrate abundant and appropriate trust of one another.

~ Keep in mind that the fewer the secrets the better. "No secrets" is a good policy.

~ Be inclusive.  as a policy, help anyone who wants to be a member to be one.

~ Encourage equality.

~ Remind one another that each of you is important to and responsible for the maintenance of your organization, its philosophy, and its doings.

~ Lay out clear steps for achieving important and doable goals and plans for your organization.

~ Aims and goals ought to be not only doable and important but also be an attractive and challenging big deal.

~ Set out one or two doings or goals to be worked on today. Your organization will benefit by having important things to be done right now.

~ Keep in mind that there is much to be done and that each member ought to help with those doings.

~ Make clarifying the "grand vision" of your organization an ongoing activity. "Learning, teaching, and practicing democratic self governance for all" might be an example of such a vision.

~ Aim to govern yourselves by practicing self-governance.

                There was a 'comments' window below for comments on the content of this posts.

                Have you already reviewed the other posts on this Governance site. 

                                                                                                           RCS

A New Political Organization

 Communication, co-operation, organization, working together with common understandings through dialogue practice.

 

                The title of this blog begins with the word governance. For me, governance is about taking care of ourselves. To take care of ourselves takes co-operation. To be effective, cooperation takes organization.

Co-operation and Organization

                A new political organization is much like an old political organization. It takes people to organize, but many of those thinking to organize are new, not old. It's good that new people often can learn fast and well, because there is a lot to learn.

                An organization is made up of individuals; it's a group of people. A group of people is often a mess. A mess of people is a pretty poor organization. There is a lot to learn about organizing. To become an organization there are many things a mess of people can do. They mostly do it one thing at a time, but but sometimes nearly all at once. They do it with a bit of togetherness called cooperation.

                We already know a lot about cooperation, but there remains much to learn. For the moment we can begin by remembering that cooperation begins with operation. The heart of operation is work. By the way there is no law about work being fun or not. The "co" in cooperation means ''together." So, it is good to remember that cooperation is about working together.

                There is much to learn about politics and about organizing. It helps to know much about individuals and much about society. Still, one need know very little to make an important beginning. The less we know the more mistakes we are likely to make. Each mistake may be a great learning experience; a chance to enhance our understanding and effectiveness.

                One can try to find out how we have organized in the past. It is helpful to consider the nature of a successful organization. For exampled, the quality of communication may me important to the success of an organization. 

                I am about to begin a new blog called Dialogue With RCS It can be an aid to the oral communications of an organization and to the process of organizing.

                                                                    rcs