​​OS Topic 3: Reviving Congress District by District
​​for "DandDTrans," a "community of inquiry and action" regarding the role that Dialogue & Deliberation can play in addressing the mega-crises of our time
​​Image courtesy of www.NewStories.org
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​Reviving Congress One District at a Time
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  • ​​Initiated by: Laura Chasin  January 13
​​Description: Pilot projects to increase voter engagement and congressperson accountability at the district level
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​​NOTE: THE CONVERSATION BELOW IS BASED ON A FRAMING PROVIDED BY INITIATOR LAURA CHASIN ON 1/13. THE DISCUSSION THAT WAS PREVIOUSLY TAKING PLACE HERE HAS NOW BEEN MOVED TO ​+THIS NEW PAD, AS "OS TOPIC 3A."​
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​Framing for this Conversation 

​​Added 1/13 after conversation jump started. NOTE: I am especially interested in your responses to the questions that follow this section. Laura.
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​​The responses of participants who attended the workshop bearing this title at last October’s conference inspired me to articulate some of the assumptions underlying my strategic ambition more clearly. 
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​​MY ASSUMPTIONS
​​A. The congressional district is a relatively ignored structural unit of the American political system. Relatively little scholarly or practitioner attention has been paid to relationships between congresspersons and their constituents between an election and the next campaign. *(See “sparkling exceptions” below.)
​​B. The congressional district is the context in which resident citizens have direct access to a member of congress and recognized standing to express their views. However, most citizens have low views of Congress’ performance and many have a generalized sense that their voice does not matter. On the whole, only a few who have highly individual needs or more extreme political views approach their congressperson between campaigns. 
​​C. Simultaneously, many representatives are frustrated by how few constituents communicate with them—especially about how legislation or current government operations (or absence thereof) effect their lives. 
​​D. The representative—constituent communication gap is a widespread and critical systemic problem. Finding ways to bridge the gap would give representatives the wherewithal to govern in ways that better reflect the interests of their constituents, while giving them grist to resist the pressures of interest group and party claims. The same changes could foster empowerment among citizens, and could even lead to an increased sense of civic community within a district.
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​​MY CURRENT VIEW
​​These assumptions spotlight a specific point of dysfunction in our national political system —one that I believe is actionable and well matched to many of the resources of the NCDD community. I believe members of this network, possibly with the support of the national office, could play key roles in piloting efforts to interrupt the cyclical patterns that sustain this gap—IF we were to become countercultural and decide that the congressional district is worth a studied, exploratory and entrepreneurial look.
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​​SOURCES OF MY CONFIDENCE
​​The primary source of my confidence is the history of the Public Conversations Project. (As family therapists, we were strangers to conflict resolution, abortion, and to D+D which did not exist.) None the less, we began 25 years ago by mapping the micro-behaviors that perpetuate polarizing conversations about abortion. Then we conducted “action experiments” to learn what kind of structures and communication behaviors would stimulate and support to a different kind of conversation. It actually was good that we did not know what we were doing because we were freed to learn from those who participated in the pilot dialogues which features of each experiment should be continued. 
​​Since then, our relationship-centered approach has been to collaborate with those involved in a situation to identify the micro-behaviors that comprise what is not working and then to co-design concrete practices that would work better.
​​In the case of the constituent-representative gap, the dysfunction lies in what is not happening rather than what is. However, our experience indicates that a similar approach can work in that kind of situation. 
​​The good news is: 1) in many districts there is awareness on both sides of the gap that there is a problem and that 2) many NCDD colleagues have approaches and ways of working that could be effectively applied. If many districts are ripe for constructive change, the critical question becomes—are any colleagues ripe for catalyzing an exploratory initiative in their district?
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​​Other sources of confidence, inspiration, and information
​​VOICE OF THE PEOPLE had three promising pilot projects going on using the Citizens Cabinet in congressional districts, one district coextensive with a state. http://vop.org/
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​​A key piece of the original strategy of NO LABELS http://www.nolabels.org/   centered on changing the relationship between constituents and their congresspersons so that the latter were rewarded for resisting polarizing pulls and acting in bipartisan, “problem solving ways." Over time, a bipartisan “problem solving bloc” formed in congress that needed the attention of No Labels’ staff to become increasingly effective. Activity on the district end of things lapsed. This may change.
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​​The direct experience of my No Labels colleague and Public Conversations Treasurer, Bob O’Hara, who has visited the legislative offices of every MA congressperson at least once which is the source of some of what I have written.
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​QUESTIONS

​​Please share your answers to these questions in the Open Space section below.
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  • ​​What is your congressional district? Who is your congressperson?
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​​If you were to wake up tomorrow possessed with the idea that you MUST try to enhance the effectiveness of your congressperson and the civic engagement of your fellow district residents—what would your first steps be? What assumptions would underly these steps? 
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​​Are you aware of other “sparkling exceptions”, initiatives, articles, people, etc. who are already doing something that has similar intent, or written something that would be useful to know, consult with etc? 
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  • ​​What questions will be important to ask myself/others?
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​​Do you have experiences that incline you to share or reject any of the assumptions I am making? Sample? 
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​Open Space for Conversation 

​​Use the space below to share your thoughts on Laura's questions. It is suggested that you include your name and the date with each post, and use indenting and italics to identify responses, responses to responses, etc.
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