Residents to Get Their Say on Nation's Issues

Residents to Get Their Say on Nation's Issues

by DANIEL KATZ
New Haven Register
10/05/04

NEW HAVEN — As the presidential election draws near, some 100 area residents will have a unique opportunity this month to weigh in on key issues facing the country and to ultimately share those perspectives with the nation.

Chosen at random, they represent a microcosm of Greater New Haven, and will come together Oct. 16 to deliberate on national security and the American jobs as affected by the global economy.

Sixteen other communities, mainly in the swing states expected to determine the outcome of the presidential election, will take on the same task.

The process and a survey of the conclusions reached by the nearly 2,000 participants will be broadcast Oct. 21 under the aegis of "By the People: America in the World," an initiative of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions at PBS.

Gail Leftwich, executive director of "By the People" said the idea is a kind of "back to the future" replication of the town meetings of early America when "everybody came together and debated the issues that were of significance in their own communities."

Making use of the Deliberative Poll process developed by professor James Fishkin of Stanford University, the citizens get background materials on the topics, deliberate among themselves and then get to question a panel of experts.

The results of how the group felt before deliberating and what they think after reflecting on the issues will then be made public.

Leftwich said using a random sample "ensures that you don’t have the usual suspects" participating in a polarized political debate that depends more on sound bites than discussion.

Seth Green, a founder of Americans for Informed Democracy, the local sponsor of the event in New Haven, said in talking to the participants he found that they "are really excited to talk about these issues."

Often the conventional wisdom is that citizens, caught up in their own busy lives, don’t have the interest or stamina to pick apart complex issues of trade, the global economy and whether America should back a pre-emptive war strategy.

Leftwich said the program is nonpartisan and is not concerned with the conclusions, as much as the dialogue itself.

"We are not driving to an outcome. You kind of take people where they are and give them a place to come together and learn from each other," she said.

What they hope to pass on to candidates, is that "the public really does want to be engaged seriously around issues," that foreign affairs "are central to their own personal concerns."

New Haven is not unfamiliar with the deliberate polls, having held three of them since 2002 on state issues of taxes and education.

This one is different because of the involvement of PBS and CPTV, which will cover the event Oct. 16, along with the New Haven Register, and broadcast its own program Oct. 22.

The Register will also post the background materials used by the participants on its Web site, while CPTV will send streaming video of the Oct. 16 events to the site.