Our projects are designed to address a series of overlapping goals: (1) Emphasize positive problem solving rather than blame, negativity, and in-fighting; (2) enrich the marketplace of ideas by inviting amateur activists to come up with their own solutions; (3) encourage and facilitate cooperation and dialogue between a diverse range of compatible groups and individuals; and then ultimately (4) expand the power of “we the people” by reinvigorating public participation in politics.

1. Positive emphasis: Participants in both ActivistSolutions.org projects will be urged to refrain from negativity or comments that disparage and discourage more than they encourage and improve. Questions asked in search of clarification and understanding will be encouraged. Judgment, condemnation, and punishment will be discouraged.

   Our goal is to initiate a series of interactions that point toward what’s possible, and away from the politics of personal attacks, partisan bickering, and apathy. There are already a plethora of venues available for complaining about one’s political opponents, or for commiserating with like-minded people about the sorry state of the world.

   It’s easy, gratifying, and often necessary to argue about what’s wrong. But, we think this should lead to raising energy around what would be better, and then to joining with people who agree to try to get it done.

   In both projects, the focus will be on collaboration between those who agree, rather than arguing between those who don’t. This is partly to minimize unnecessary conflict and the argumentative cul-de-sacs that have become synonymous with “political discussion.” We are just as interested in avoiding the premature compromises that are often offered up as antidotes to the fighting. We think that the public at large will be better served by having many different points of view presented in juxtaposition, rather than a smaller number presented in opposition to each other, or fewer still put out in well-meaning attempts to bridge the gaps between antagonistic parties.

2. Solutions from the grass roots. Many solutions could and should come from the base. Right now, too many potentially valuable solutions to major problems, and the people who might be capable of creating them, simply fall through the cracks of our political system. Also, too many good strategies for getting those and other solutions implemented never get a hearing.

   The Internet has made it much easier for many people to register support or opposition to public policies formulated by leaders and lobbyists, and this now happens very effectively. What most people still can’t easily do is create their own solutions to national problems, develop their ideas into workable proposals, and then work together with like-minded others to get them heard, responded to, and considered for possible action. As a result, too many individuals who might have been actively involved in political affairs never find a way to contribute productively or enjoyably enough to engage or stay engaged.

   Our goal, therefore, will be to create practical structures for innovative bottom-up problem solving. We expect this process to yield new both new ideas and new leaders. More importantly, it will engage people in growing movements that they shape and influence.

3. Cooperation and Dialogue: Our third objective will be to nurture ongoing solutions-oriented collaboration within like-minded populations. Compatible individuals will work together at the Solution Exchange, initially in informal ways online, and eventually (once the Dialogue Network for Action launches) in more structured face-to-face settings as well. By encouraging activist groups to post their solutions to challenging problems, we hope to help them attract more members. We also hope to help them find other groups that are pursuing similar or compatible goals, and to facilitate joint efforts between coalitions of large and small groups. Because their ideas are largely the same, it will be easier for them to cooperate and to avoid antagonistic or inflammatory interactions.

   For example, individuals working with an online or offline group, focused on a particular aspect of health care, might all start from the premise that the federal government should be responsible for providing health care services for everybody from birth, possibly paid for with tax revenues or with a government insurance plan similar to Medicare. Recommendations to reduce military expenditures or to increase tax revenues of particular kinds might be part of the picture.

   Other contributors to the Exchange, or participants in other health care DNA groups, might start from a different premise -- perhaps that health care should be provided primarily through private insurance, with the costs shared by employers and the government, via temporary Medicaid assistance for people not employed at the time of illness. Some might propose that all health needs be paid for by the patients, with long-term loans available to people without the ability to pay medical costs. Proposals might suggest that all costs that patients cannot afford be covered by charities.

   Those assuming that the government will deal with health care costs would always be asked to indicate where they think the money to do so could come from, i.e. should borrowing or taxes be increased. If the money is to come from budget cuts, what kinds of items should be limited or eliminated, and with what possible impact on the country’s economy, security, and well-being?

   The environment we intend to create in the Exchange or in online and offline DNA groups is intended to maximize ingenuity, teamwork, and democratic process. The working structures we develop will be designed to minimize the conflicts that inevitably manifest in most grassroots political interactions. We assume that harmony and diversity can coexist productively if individuals and groups are matched for compatibility and agreement within working units, while simultaneously forming many very diverse units. That way, participants who start from similar or compatible points of view will benefit from combining their proposals into a more comprehensive approach to the problem. At the same time, ideas for solutions to the same problem that are different from each other will be developed in parallel but clearly separate channels.

   While we believe in the value of dialogue and consensus building, the purpose of ActivistSolutions.org is not to resolve conflict between people with substantially different points of view. We strongly believe that premature compromise and capitulation between conflicting parties is rarely constructive. We have serious doubts about whether clever software and online dialogue alone can meaningfully bridge the distances that exist between those that have strong ideological differences. Rather than attempting to merge highly incompatible points of view, our purpose will be to encourage diversity. As the ideas for solutions generated in the Exchange are circulated to wider and wider audiences, we think the public will be better served by exposure to a number of real choices, rather than tepid compromise statements that don’t reflect anyone’s best thinking.

   This process will not bring fierce partisans closer together, but it is a necessary stepping-stone toward a productive national dialogue, in which people with many different points of view might better understand and accept each other, leaving the important decisions to a better informed, more active electorate. Exposure to diversity can be positive and informative without diminishing the strength of each participant’s commitment to the solution they believe in enough to take cooperative joint action.

   When authors who agree decide to combine similar solutions and support, the number of individuals involved in a specific solution can grow. For example, a coalition to resolve issues around the Iraq War might include groups and individuals who hold very different opinions on every other issue, but agree on one or more specific solutions to either ending or accelerating the war. Each of these positions might be held by enough people to create a small but effective popular movement. Ideally, several such movements would evolve, and all points of view could have strong representation.

   Participants in either Activist Solutions program whose proposals do not generate a lot of support will be encouraged to go on to form other groups, or resume work with their own group on another problem of their collective choice. They will have the option to continue their Exchange interactions and small group activities around other new ideas for as long as they find it rewarding.

4. Participation expanded and improved. The longer term goal of ActivistSolutions.org is to help develop a broad range of flexible, very fluid coalitions of autonomous groups and individuals that cooperate with each other to implement whatever specific solutions or other projects any of those involved find valuable.

   Some coalitions will be composed of individuals and organizations that are in agreement on most issues; others might include many philosophically diverse people and groups that nonetheless agree on one or more specific solutions to a problem they all care about. These alliances will hopefully be motivated to maximize the political clout of the collective and the effectiveness of each organization and individual involved, while remaining flexible enough not to pose a threat to anyone’s independence.

   Eventually some of these coalitions will be called on to create and act on new agendas. Such loosely affiliated groups might sponsor a range of people based projects. Between them, their agendas will express the values, needs, and aspirations of Americans of all political persuasions.

   We hope to help participating organizations develop alliances with each other and with influential individuals (such as popular bloggers), so that they can better implement the solutions that they, and their members, find valuable. Eventually, flexible coalitions of autonomous organizations could emerge. Activist Solutions participants of all kinds might work together to create and act on common visions. We believe that such collective vision statements, written in plain but meaningful language, would resonate with everyday Americans and seasoned activists alike because they will have emerged from collective efforts.

   We are at a critical time in history in which our country urgently needs public involvement that is more substantial and represents a diversity of ideas and interests. To build a strong populist movement (which will really be composed of many distinct movements), we need to create many new channels of communication. Information needs to flow both horizontally, between a diverse array of participants, and vertically, between leaders and the rank and file. Just as importantly, we need to evolve ways of consolidating and summarizing the most valuable solutions created, so that a coherent collective intelligence can emerge from the din of multiple dialogues. For intelligence to be collective, it needs to reflect the values, ideas, and will of the people it represents. At the same time, if the collective is to be intelligent, there need to be mechanisms that distill, intensify, and concentrate the most valuable aspects of every contribution.

   Our country, or any democracy, will be strengthened by the emergence of many such grassroots political action groups, rooted in commitments to ideas that cross existing party lines to serve the needs of many people. Better bottom-up communication, a positive focus, and vehicles for cooperation that are both productive and enjoyable could produce and sustain such movements, made up of people of many political persuasions.