2.2: Making it Happen
The President takes the first step by identifying an issue of high concern and calling on the American people to take part
in a national conversation in order to form and communicate a set of conclusions.
Other Information:
Taking public deliberation to a national scale will not be easy. While a broad array of non-governmental organizations can
facilitate the process, the Federal government must play a pivotal role. The most realistic way to begin, we believe, is through
executive sponsorship. We envision the President taking the first step by identifying an issue of high concern and calling
on the American people to take part in a national conversation in order to form and communicate a set of conclusions. This
initiative could be overseen by a non-partisan working group of citizens appointed by the President and the majority and minority
leadership of the House and Senate. The working group could be modeled after the Citizens Health Care Working Group, created
by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003. The new White House Office of Citizen Engagement
should manage the national discussion and ensure a strong link to the President and Federal agencies. The following elements
are crucial to the credibility and utility of a National Discussion: Scale and diversity. A diverse group of more than one
million Americans, reflecting the rich diversity of the nation, must be recruited for each national discussion. Balance and
context. Participants should receive balanced, accessible educational materials to ensure that everyone begins with adequate
context to come to informed judgments. High-quality deliberation. A national network of skilled, neutral facilitators should
support high-quality deliberation among participants. Report and feedback. Following the national discussion, a summary of
the considered views and priorities of the participants should be conveyed to Congress and the President. Congress and the
President should provide regular information about their response to the public’s input. Local and Regional Action. Recognizing
that sustainable solutions to our nation’s problems require action by the public and private sectors, as well as by local,
state and Federal policy makers, the national discussions should be designed to identify actions that can be taken by multiple
sectors and at every level of government. Where possible, discussions should be designed to encourage citizens to take action,
and for communities to build local and regional capacity for continued public engagement. Link to Policy-Making. After delivery
of the report, the committees of jurisdiction in the House and Senate should be required to hold hearings, and the President
should be required to issue a written response. Once we have demonstrated the possibility of conducting meaningful National
Discussions, the long-term challenge will be to develop a national infrastructure that can support people coming together
to deliberate about policy issues on a regular basis. With such an infrastructure in place, National Discussions could be
quickly convened when pressing issues arise. A National Discussion of terrorism and foreign policy might have occurred, for
example, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. While it may be some time before we have the capacity to support
regular deliberations of this kind, even a single National Discussion would do much to demonstrate the value and efficacy
of the idea and to set the stage for future discussions.
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