Feedback and Critical Commentary on
"Renewing the American Experiment"
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by David C. Korten
The following are excerpts from initial responses of colleagues
who have reviewed the paper. Note that some of these were responses to earlier
drafts. Note that the author has incorporated many of the suggestions into
subsequent revisions. Follow the links to the full response for critical
commentary.
John Robbins, author, Diet for a New America
and The Food Revolution
The effort to renew the American Experiment is dear to my heart,
as it is to yours. Every day I see people seeking, sometimes blindly, sometimes
with extraordinary sophistication, to forward this cause. I’ve sometimes called
it the deeper American dream, contrasting it with the more superficial dream of
making money for its own sake. I believe that someday we will understand that
our true purpose is not unlimited consumption, but unlimited compassion.
Vicki Robin, president, New Road Map Foundation
I think there is a structure to "our" story of delight in
continuous learning and growth, that this is the nature of the life well lived
whereas the structure in the conservative story is of a universe delivered whole
by the divine with embedded moral laws and the life well lived is a life that
adheres to the highest moral standards required by the Creator. [Read
full comment]
Betsy Toll, Living Earth: Gatherings for Deep Change,
Portland, Oregon,
www.LivingEarthGatherings.org
The reality of vulnerability, helplessness, lack of skill and
knowledge with which we each begin our lives positions us as totally dependent
on and at the mercy of those large figures of authority and power in our lives;
their superior position, and our complete dependence on them, is beyond
question. It is, one could say, God’s design. [Read full
comment]
Lee Drutman, Communications Director, Citizen Works
My reading of intellectual history is that the elite class has
always tried to create a set of myths that justify and enhance its position in
society —
The divine right of kings, social Darwinism, etc. But at times, these myths have
been exposed as frauds, and when they have, revolutions in society have taken
place. [Read full comment]
Kim Corrigan, Education Outreach, Positive Futures
Network, Bainbridge Island, WA
Although
I found myself nodding my head in total agreement throughout much of the piece,
I couldn't help asking, how can we broaden this from an indictment of the elite
to an indictment of conventional wisdom? [Read full
comment]
John Cavanagh, Executive Director, Institute for Policy
Studies, Washington, DC
We have a values choice: we can have a WalMart economy with
everyday low prices but it comes at the price of decency and fairness. It
is screwing workers here and abroad and it is destroying communities. We
can afford to pay a bit more for the values of community, fairness, and decency.
[Read full comment]
Ellison Horne, Celebrating Solutions!, San Francisco
I would add the means to communicate the stories
is just as essential. We recently developed new language for the Solutions
project that ties in perfectly with your powerful insights about the need for
new stories. [Read full comment]
Tom
Ambrogi, retired theologian/professor and advocate on political and economic
issues, Claremont, CA:
There’s a
freshness to the analysis that can be very attractive to thoughtful
progressives. It really could energize the whole new dialogue which you suggest
and which I find both urgent and exciting.
[Read full comment}
Raffi, troubadour, entrepreneur, and founder of the
Child Honoring initiative.
As you note, the dilemma you’re describing is not a partisan issue;
Clinton’s embrace of NAFTA, near criminalization of poverty, WTO attest to
that; the Democrats contributed to the circumvention of democracy via int’l
trade agreements. I wonder if the non partisan (systemic) aspect of this needs
more emphasis, i.e., this is a systemic problem needing systemic solution. [Read
full comment]
Richard Conlin, Seattle City Council Member and Board
Member of the Positive Futures Network
I think you are exactly right about the importance of the
story and how it has been seized on to persuade people to go along with things
that they would otherwise not embrace. [Read full
comment]
Rich Lang, Pastor, Trinity United Methodist Church,
Seattle, WA
I think you are accurate concerning the 'elite
sacred story' and I, of course, applaud you for what I think is the REAL
CHALLENGE facing progressive people ... the articulation of a New Story. [Read
full comment]
Leonard J. Duhl, MD, Professor of Public Health and
Urban Planning and Director of International Healthy Cities Foundation <www.healthcities.org>
You deal with most all the issues I have been concerned about, and come up
with beginning answers. We need some strategies and tactics to proceed and
reach more Americans.
Evelyn Messinger, Executive Director, Internews
Interactive <www.citizenschannel.org>
I was surprised and pleased that you've articulated a concept I've been
fiddling with for over a year, in light of the coming election. As you've
written, we had better begin generating the positive stories ASAP. I lay this
task on the Democratic Party, as this seems the only way to escape the course
Bush has set the country on.
Jeffrey T. S. MacDonagh, Socially Responsible Investor
One general concern I had with the paper (perhaps intentional
on your part?) was that it focused overwhelmingly on outlining this
"neo-royalist elitism," which left very little room for making the case that
progressives need "stories" of their own to compete with the elites.
[Read full comment]
Updated February 17, 2004 Posted January 11, 2004
