Information to provide context and contribute to the national dialogue 

Thank you for visiting this website. My intent is to present an overview of the crisis and opportunity in American democracy by connecting selected articles and adding my commentary. I think of this as participating in a national conversation by highlighting information and perspectives of others and adding my own. I'm working on bringing the major points together in a online "book" to tell the "big story."  A hugely ambitious project being done with deep humility.

You are invited to take anything from my webste and circulate it with your own comments. Please attribute as appropriate. And/or direct people to this website. And sign up to get the e-letters "regularly" by going to the bottom of the left side of home page.

The important thing is to broaden and deepen the dialogue and keep it flowing. Your active participation in democracy is critically important. It's only through honest, sincere sharing of opinions and beliefs that we'll come to a genuine national consensus so we can move forward. Conservative extremists have mastered the art of message manipulation and control over the past 30 years. They have endless deep pockets to promote their bizarre worldview and have made a major negative impact on American democracy. 

Far too many people accept this worldview as the "real" America because they do not hear alternatives. Of course, everyone has a right to their opinion, and the liberty to voice that opinion. That does not, however, mean we are obligated to accept the loudest voice as the true voice. I am deeply offended by, and opposed to, many assertions of this new "conservatism" and know there is a better way.

One "article of faith" of the new "conservatives" that is hugely dangerous and infuriating to me is that America was founded as, and remains, a Christian nation. The idea of replacing the Constitution with the Bible as the "law of the land" is outrageous. Freedom of, and freedom from, religion is imbedded in our Bill of Rights.  Thomas Jefferson expressed his enlightenment principles of individual conscience and reason in the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence by referring to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God."  America is now the most religiously pluralistic nation in the world.

Moderate conservatives and Republicans of the past were mostly voices of knowledge, reason, universal values and responsibility. They understood that government has a critical role to play in assuring "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" for everyone.  Now the moderate voices are virtually silent and this new extremist ideology dominates. Moderate conservative perspectives are desperately needed now.

Progressives need to speak out and remind our fellow citizens that progressive values are authentic American values. We aren't moving to the left or the right. We're moving forward. 

With audacious faith, Phyllis Stenerson

We must move forward in the days ahead with audacious faith. The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 
Democracy doesn't work without citizen activism and participation, starting at the community…What's right and good doesn't come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it – as if the cause depends on you, because it does. Bill Moyers
 
What the American people want is very simple. They want a country as good as its promise. Barbara Jordan