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CHOICES
TOGETHER
The Power Of Public Deliberation
October 2003
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
The case for public deliberation can aware of the differences in the way
be put simply: For democratic politics to others see those costs and benefits. That
operate as it should, the public has to act. enables them to find courses of action
It is not enough to vote, not enough to that are consistent with what is valuable
understand or support our elected offi- to the community as a whole. In that
cials, not enough to merely have way, the public can define the pub-
opinions or keep up with current lic’s interests — issue by issue.
affairs. Before people can act as a Public deliberation is neither
public, however, they first have to a cure for all that ails politics
decide how. nor a wondrous antidote for
Public deliberation is one name popular cynicism. Yet it is an
for the way we go about deciding essential part of democratic
how to act. In weighing — together politics.
— the costs and benefits of
various approaches to
solving problems,
people become
2
Hannah Arendt, On Revolution (New York:
Penguin Books, 1963), p. 167; and Daniel J. Elazar
and John Kincaid, “Covenant and Polity,” New
Conversations 4 (1979): 4-8.
4
Daniel Webster, The Works of Daniel Webster,
3
Richard D. Brown, Revolutionary Politics in Vol. 1, (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1853),
Massachusetts: The Boston Committee of p. 135.
Correspondence, 1772-1774 (New York: W. W.
Norton & Company, 1970). 5
Arendt, On Revolution, p. 251.
To increase the chances that our deci- way people used to weigh gold on an
sions will be wise, we can’t just sound old-fashioned scale. How much will each
off, argue over solutions, or clarify our consequence tip the scale? What are the
values. We have to struggle with the hard costs and benefits of doing what we want
choices that every issue entails, consider- to do? Answering those questions
ing the pros and cons of each option. requires a setting in which we can
That is deliberation in a nutshell. explore and test ideas about how to act.
Deliberation helps us know if our deci-
Deliberation also involves weighing
sions are sound — helps us decide if we
the views of others. Careful listening
are willing to accept the consequences of
increases the chances that our choices
the action we are about to take.
will be sound because a wide range of
Most political discussions, however, people have pooled their experiences
are debates. Stories in the media turn pol- and insights. No one person or small
itics into a never-ending series of con- group of people has all the experience
tests. People get swept into taking sides; and insight needed to decide what is
their energy goes into figuring out who or best. That is why it is essential for an
what they’re for or against. inclusive group of citizens to combine
Deliberation is different. It is neither a their perspectives.
partisan argument where opposing sides While we can’t know for certain that
try to win nor a casual conversation con- we have made the right decision until we
ducted with polite civility. Public delibera- have acted, deliberation forces us to
tion is a means by which citizens make anticipate consequences and ask our-
tough choices about basic purposes and selves whether we would be willing to
directions for their communities and their accept the worst possible case.
country. It is a way of reasoning and talk- Deliberation is looking before we leap.
ing together.
NIF deliberations are framed in terms It is about what is most valuable
of three or four options for dealing with to us, not just facts alone
an issue — never just two polar alterna-
We have to deliberate to decide how
tives. Framing an issue in this way dis-
to act in a way that achieves what is most
courages the diatribes in which people
valuable to us. When we are faced with a
lash out at one another with simplistic
difficult choice, we try to get all the
arguments.
information we can. Facts certainly aren’t
unimportant, and yet they aren’t enough
It is dialogue for weighing, not a to tell us what we should do. We use
debate for winning deliberation for those questions like,
To deliberate is to weigh the benefits “How should we act?” when there is no
and costs of various options based on fact or certainty that can give us an
what is truly valuable to us. Think of the
Americans are intensely practical. If different way — looking for the options
they spend time deliberating, they want and their consequences. They also report
assurances that their efforts will produce becoming more involved in civic activi-
something useful. So what are the out- ties. Perhaps changing opinions of others’
comes of deliberation? opinions prompts people to see new pos-
sibilities for working together. Forum par-
Changes in people ticipants come to see themselves as politi-
Based on the results of thousands of cal actors, not just clients or consumers.
forums, the initial effects seem to be As one study on the effects of NIF
personal. Repeated deliberations change deliberations reported: “People learn that
people. Participants say they get a better they are capable of understanding com-
handle on issues; that is, they are able to plex issues, saying reasonable things
put particular issues in a larger context about them, reaching reasonable judg-
and make connections between different ments about what to do.” The study went
issues — all of which helps them under- on to say that, as people deliberate, they
stand what the issues really mean. see there is no faceless “they” to blame,
People then approach policy questions that problems arise out of conflicting
more realistically. Self-interests tend to motives and actions that Americans did or
broaden. The experience of deliberating didn’t take. For example, deliberative
with others makes citizens more confi- citizens are more likely to say that the
dent; they feel they own their opinions desire to spend without raising taxes has
and are able to voice them. intensified the budget deficit. Deliberative
A study of citizen deliberations by forums prompt people to recognize they
Public Agenda found that about half the are often responsible for significant parts
participants (53 percent) change their of their problems. They then reason that,
minds. A much larger percentage (71 if they can create problems, they also
percent) said they have second thoughts must have the capacity to begin to
about their opinions, even though they manage them more effectively.8
did not change their minds. More than
three-fourths (78 percent) say they Involvement — and a public
encountered viewpoints different from
These changes are possible because
their own and thought those views were
deliberation seems to have the power to
good.7
get people to take the first step to civic
A single forum isn’t likely to change involvement. Deliberation also links these
deeply held beliefs about political partici-
pation any more than one trip to a gym 7
Steve Farkas and Will Friedman, with Ali Bers,
will convince us of the benefits of regular The Public’s Capacity for Deliberation (New York:
exercise. But those who have been in a Public Agenda for the Kettering Foundation, 1995).
number of forums say they start reading
8
Doble, Responding to the Critics of Deliberation,
or listening to the news more — and in a pp. 59-60.
Even if Americans are convinced that park by all pitching in to clean up the
public deliberation produces something, trash and plant trees. Public action is
they want to know what can be done powerful because each piece reinforces
with these “products.” Many people ask if the other, it is complementary, and so the
this kind of public talk has any role in whole of the effort can be greater than
making national policy; others are more the sum of the parts.
interested in how public deliberation Without public action, institutional
might affect community action. Public action is often ineffective. Think of the
deliberation’s products have two principal way a good neighborhood watch pro-
uses: One is to make public action — the gram helps a police department do its
action citizens take — possible. The other job. Also, think of the way a good piece
is to inform the policies of governments of cloth, the sleeve of your jacket, results
and, in the process, help change the from the interweaving of vertical and
often troubled relationships between lateral threads. Without both, your elbow
citizens and officeholders. would poke out of your sleeve every time
you bent your arm.
Make public action possible
What stimulates public action and
Democracies depend on public makes it complementary? Public delibera-
action. Public action isn’t the same as the tion. While deliberation doesn’t end in
action of special interest groups; it is total agreement, it can point people in a
comprehensive or inclusive rather than particular direction and give them a foun-
categorical. And it isn’t the same as gov- dation for identifying sharable or inter-
ernmental or institutional action, which is connected purposes. Shared purposes
uniform, linear, and usually coordinated allow for a variety of actions that fit
by some administrative agency. In these together and reinforce one another
cases, the lines of interaction are vertical because they have the same objectives.
— from officials down to citizens and Without a sense of purpose and direction,
from citizens up (or down) to officials. no amount of control can keep all activi-
Public action is richly diverse with many ties pointing toward the same end.
people doing their own thing. The lines
Think of public action as a potluck
of interaction are horizontal rather than
dinner. What keeps the dinner from being
vertical. It is eye-to-eye, shoulder-to-
all desserts is that the people discuss
shoulder, citizen-to-citizen. Public action
beforehand what needs to be done and
isn’t administratively coordinated, yet it is
then divide up the responsibilities. No
coherent and mutually reinforcing
authority controls potluck dinners; no
because all of the actions serve related
contracts are ever signed. Still, these
purposes. Public action is not linear,
dinners happen all the time. They happen
beginning at one point and ending at
because people are aware of what others
another. It is a more organic, ever-repeat-
are doing and don’t need to be told what
ing, series of activities. An illustration is
to bring.
citizens working together to restore a
It was a unique approach: Get people remember,” she said. While working on
from both sides of the abortion issue the forum, she realized she had assumed
together in a public forum. The result? if she gave an inch on the issue, “they”
People who normally talked to one would take a mile. “I gained a lot of
another only in anger suddenly were respect for the other side,” she said.
listening to each other. Although she did not change her basic
Longtime forum organizer Jule Zimet position, Zimet said, her views became
of El Paso, Texas, said that the forum is less black and white and much less harsh.
one of her favorite examples of how She has seen similar changes occur in
deliberation converts popular opinion, others involved in deliberative forums.
which is comparatively narrow and One opinionated woman who helped
shallow, into public judgment, which plan the abortion forum also participated
takes into account the important reasons in a later forum about freedom of speech.
others have for holding different points When Zimet asked what the woman
of view. That conversion is made difficult thought of inviting a certain person to
by the way we’re trained. “Our culture present an opposing point of view, the
trains us to debate people,” she said. woman said, “We need to have that opin-
“So we’re always listening for points of ion well represented. I don’t have to sit
disagreement.” next to him.” Then, after the forum, Zimet
Zimet said she has been amazed by said she found the two of them together.
the way deliberative forums help people “They were talking about the trends in
learn to work together after realizing that, society that disturbed them both.”
in addition to their differences, they have “We learn to listen quite differently
purposes that overlap. But she has been (through NIF),” Zimet said. “You end up
even more amazed by the changes she with trust on a very different level. That’s
has seen in herself. “I’d been on one the basis for making things happen in a
side of that issue for as long as I can community.”
.
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