Conclusion: Individual Reflections

[Taylor Willingham <taylor@bwillingham.com>]

CLOSING THE CHOICES:
We are now closing out the portion of our deliberation that focuses
on the three choices outlined in the briefing book. As many of you
have noted, none of these choices alone are enough to address the
issue of money and politics. There may be a fourth choice that is
a composite of each of the choices or includes other possibilities
that we did not see in the choices.  The purpose of the choices is
not to give us something to vote on, but to give us a structure to
our conversation that reflects the way Americans view the problem.
This perspective as you may have seen by comparing our conversation
with the debates in the Senate is often different than the way
issues are discussed by experts or politicians or media. You the
public have been engaged in the public?s business and your voices
reflect concerns and ideas that need to be and will be shared
widely.

OUR PLAN FOR TODAY:
But we are not yet ready to make our public voice or our common
ground known because we have not gone through the difficult task
of clearly defining OUR voice. That is the goal of the next two
days. We will do this in two stages.  First we will reflect on our
individual thinking about the issue. Throughout the ?choice work?
I have challenged you to think about how your own thinking about
the particular choice on the agenda changed as you learned and
shared with others. Now it is time step away from the choices and
to think about how our thinking about the issue has changed.

REFLECTIONS
You came into this conversation because you had concerns about
Money and Politics. Imagine it is March 19 and you have logged on
for the first time.  Do you remember what you were thinking at the
time? (For many of us those thoughts may have been fear at tackling
new technology or experimenting with a new application of technology,
but in this case, I?m really asking about your thoughts on the
issue!)

QUESTIONS:
Do you remember particular statements in the briefing book that
struck a chord with you? You may have underlined sentences thinking,
?yes, that?s exactly right!? or "how could anyone think that?!"
Maybe it was easier to post in the early days because your thoughts
were clear and you had lots to say. Now think about where you are.
Do those underlined sentences still hold as much weight or have
you learned things that make you question your earlier opinions?
You may still hold the same opinions, but you may have a greater
recognition of how complex the problem is. You may even be more
certain because others have confirmed your thinking. That is still
a change in thinking! What are your reflections on how this experience
has influenced your thinking?

NEXT STEPS:
On Friday, we will begin thinking about common themes that we heard
from this group. We will move from our individual voice to our
group voice. As you read each other?s personal reflections, start
thinking about how these are the threads of the fabric we will
weave together on Friday. Patty will continue to summarize our
discussion, but because this portion of the deliberation is so
critical, she may periodically pose questions for clarification.
It will be very helpful if you can check in through the day or over
the weekend and respond to her questions. On Friday morning, she
will post a summary that will be move us from individual reflections
to group reflections.

Thanks for being willing to be honest and for being open to each
other and open to change!

Taylor


Taylor L. Willingham
Austin-Pacific Consulting Co.
P.O. Box 1255
Salado, TX 76571
254.947.3793
taylor@bwillingham.com
www.bwillingham.com/taylors_page.htm

Austin-Pacific Consulting Company...Connecting People, Ideas, and Communities