Who is invited: Anyone who cares about good government in service of citizens (YOU and your FRIENDS of all political stripes)
Why: Too much polarization and shallow-ness in media and politics. We need to take human civility and democracy back to their roots. Food and face-to-face communication always helps. This is inspired by Soup Night — a concept initiated by a friend of a friend several years ago in Brooklyn, NY to meet new people and share good, simple food together. And, because soup is a good metaphor for society. Variety of ingredients and seasonings make for a more flavorful soup, and a plural society comprised of diverse people make for a more flavorful democracy.
When: The second Saturday of the month from September 2017 until May 2018, from 2–10PM
Where: Our home (or, host at your own home!)
Past Discussions and Soups: see the recaps at the bottom of this page
Upcoming Soups:
February 10, 2018: Miso ginger with soba noodles
March 10, 2018: [your most awesome soup recipe here!]
April 14, 2018: [your most awesome soup recipe here!]
May 12, 2018: [your most awesome soup recipe here!]
THE QUESTION: What do YOU think are the 3 most important issues today facing the United States?
RECORD YOUR ANSWERS HERE:
(Please share your thoughts even if you can’t make it to the event!)
https://goo.gl/forms/GkgZZ0JSH1yP1KsD2
Join us to celebrate the soup of democracy and to break bread together in informal, lively, messy, respectful discussions and debates on democracy, policy issues, and what we can do for government to work better for us, for our neighbors, and for our communities both locally and globally.
We’ll be sending out a link each month to a summary of our previous month’s discussion, and we can refine, elaborate and add to it each month.
ALL political viewpoints are welcome, along with respectful debate, and deep thinking and articulation of why we hold the viewpoints that we do, and how our respective actions as citizens can be most effective. The discussion and debate will be completely organic and unstructured, and may include other taboo topics (money, religion, philosophy, art, love, death, etc.).
Just want to listen and eat soup? That’s OK too.
We (along with monthly volunteer Soup Chefs!) will make soup the day before, and bread the morning of. Do you make an awesome soup? Choose a month between September and May to share it with us! We will buy the ingredients and do most of the prep work if you provide the recipe and your expertise.
Some Guidelines and Ground Rules
Discussing topics that feel important isn’t always easy. Democracy is messy. Debate can sometimes feel threatening, or that we might offend someone. It helps to prepare for, and try to minimize this discomfort for ourselves and others. We have two ears and one mouth, and should probably use them in the same proportions. Below are some thoughts from others that have been thinking about civic dialogue for years.
Civility Pledge
From The Coffee Party: http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/civility_pledge
I pledge to conduct myself in a way that is civil, honest, and respectful toward people with whom I disagree. I value people from different cultures, I value people with different ideas, and I value and cherish the democratic process.
Ground Rules
Adapted from Living Room Conversations: http://www.livingroomconversations.org/conversation_ground_rules
Speak from your own perspective and experience.
Speaking from the “I” perspective keeps your statements rooted in your own experience and observations and closer to truth and honesty. Making statements based in our assumptions (or even educated guesses) about what others are thinking, or why they do what they do, often takes us away from truth. Statements like “these people (think or do) X” are less precise and supported than statements like “I once overheard (description of a person) state X, which I interpret as meaning Y,” which more accurately places ownership of our thought processes and assumptions on our own shoulders. Gently catch and correct yourself and others in generalizations or assumptions about other people or groups.
Be curious and open to learning.
Conversation is as much about listening as it is about talking. Listen and be open to hearing all points of view. Maintain an attitude of exploration and learning.
Show respect and suspend judgment.
Human beings tend to judge one another; do your best not to. Setting judgments aside opens you up to learning from others and makes them feel respected and appreciated.
Find common ground and appreciate differences.
Look for a common ground you can agree on and appreciate the differences in the beliefs and opinions of others.
Be authentic and welcome that from others.
Share what’s important to you. Speak authentically from your personal experience. Be considerate of others who are doing the same.
Be purposeful and to the point.
Notice if what you are conveying is or is not pertinent to the topic at hand. Be cognizant of making the same point more than once.
Own and guide the conversation.
Take responsibility for the quality of your participation and that of the conversation. Be proactive in getting yourself and others back on track if needed.
Discussion (and Soup) Archive
Soup of Democracy #8: April 7, 2018
The Soups:
TBD
For Discussion:
Survey responses for: “What do YOU think are the 3 most important issues today facing the United States?”
Human Relations (32.6%) includes the following responses:
- Racial inequity at the Institutional Level
- Racial Divisions
- Systemic Racism
- Ideological Conflict and Divisions
- Gender Based Discrimination
- Improving American Reputation Globally
- Xenophobia and increasing alienation from the rest of the world
- Neo-Nazis/alt-right/hate groups
Economic Mobility (28.7%) includes the following responses:
- Poverty
- Income Inequality
- Affordable Housing
Democracy (23.3%) includes the following responses:
- Corporate $ influence on public policy
- Government corruption
- Overturning Citizens United
- Weakened democracy
- Fair and auditable voting
- Our politics have become decadent
Climate Change, Nuclear Weapons, and Global Over-Population (4.7% each)
Technological Disruption, Education (.8% each)
Soup of Democracy #7: March 10, 2018
The Soups:
Cauliflower Chowder — recipe coming soon!
Richa’s Curried Beet — recipe coming soon!
The Discussion:
Coming soon!
Soup of Democracy #6: February 10, 2018
[CANCELED due to illness]
Soup of Democracy #5: January 13, 2018
The Soup:
Golden Lentil Coconut (vegan)— recipe coming soon!
The Discussion:
Coming soon!
Soup of Democracy #4: December 9, 2017
The Soup:
Hungarian Mushroom Soup
The Discussion:
Gordie recommends:
Eboo Patel, “Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America,” 2012:
Find at your library | Find at your independent bookstore | Find on Amazon
About interfaith dialogue, pluralism, bringing together faith communities with a service mission, and an Interfaith Youth Corp.
Kathy’s top issues:
1) “I don’t think we will every reclaim our democracy until Citizens United is overturned.”
Gave an update on the Massachusetts group working to overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court decision with a Constitutional Amendment. See http://www.wethepeoplema.org
2) Supreme court and federal court justices
Alexa’s top issue: LGBT rights
Megan’s top issues:
1) Election integrity
2) Mass Incarceration
3) Economic Inequality: “Citing a study from 2015, “The Color of Wealth,” the Boston Globe listed the median wealth of a series of Bostonians based on their racial and ethnic backgrounds. The median net worth for white households in Boston, for example, was $247,500. For Caribbean-born black people, it was $12,000. But for blacks native to the U.S., the median net worth of an entire household was just $8. Some readers thought it was a typo, prompting the Globe to publish another article explaining that it wasn’t. Put another way, that means the median white household in Boston is worth nearly 31,000 times more than a black American household. Net worth was even lower for Dominicans living in the Boston area. The median net worth of their households was $0.” ~ The Root
Kathy: Perhaps the best way to counter racial and economic inequality is through pluralistic co-housing where decision-making is shared.
Steve recommends:
The Thomas Jefferson Hour podcast
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-thomas-jefferson-hour/id206783908?mt=2
Steve, Tony, and Megan discussed public education, school vouchers, federal vs. states’ rights, the military. We all agreed that 1) The US military is too big and 2) civil rights enforcement is a federal, not a state issue.
Soup of Democracy #3: November 11, 2017
[CANCELED due to illness]
The Soup:
Tony & Megan’s Coconut Ginger Butternut Squash Soup
Soup of Democracy #2: October 9, 2017
The Soup:
Nadezhda’s Borsch (vegan, and heavenly) — recipe coming soon!
The Discussion (please make annotations!):
Policy
- Affordable healthcare
People / Culture
- Polarization of politicians and citizens and culture
- Information overload
- Mistrust of media / media is profit-driven
- Lack of information criticality (an informed citizenry)
- What makes a movement successful (protest, topic-focus, strategy)
- Racist incident at Salem State University, and student, protester and administrative response
Politics / Elections
- Citizens United
- Campaign Finance Reform
- Term Limits — there was debate about whether term limits would be beneficial or detrimental to government.
- Gerrymandering (drives political polarization)
- Lobbying limits
- No follow through from politicians
Top 3 issues:
Megan:
1) Integrity of elections
2) Economic justice
3) Mass incarceration
Norm:
1) Social morality around technology (ethics)
2) Education (not just general education) — the ability to narrow in on a field and develop expertise, lack of education for unique and gifted students, schools not nurturing unique abilities
3) Peace and hope
Nadej:
1) Racial harmony
2) Tech ethics
3) Peace and hope
Richa:
1) Mental health awareness across cultures, institutions, organizations, families
2) Technology ethics — children don’t understand trouble of social media
3) Teaching kids how to be bored — they can’t be still
Alyssa:
1) Voter intimidation
2) Metrics for success shift behavior. District Attorneys are judged on conviction rates. What if they were judged on other criteria that were more humane?
3) Economy based on growth is not sustainable. Steady state & “dynamic equilibrium”
4) Non-compensated labor is not counted (in GDP?)
Caroline:
1) Medicare for all: People could change jobs, could move, could work part time (Nadej comment: Russians believe healthcare is a right)
2) Racial injustice: White low-income people being pitted against non-white low-income people. Need to shift focus from race to economics.
3) Climate change — reducitarian
Carol:
1) Sacred cows make great steaks
2) When you change yourself, you change the world
3) Learning to talk across broken places. Finding our shared humanity.
4) Keeping our own empowerment
Dennis:
1) Higher education tuition costs
2) Arms sales — US as a producer and seller
3) Agriculture: food production; environmental production; health implications; farm subsidies; more transparency; integrated pest management Comments:
Nadej: California is requiring farms to disclose antibiotics given to farm animals
Alyssa: best attack on a bad thing is to focus on the good thing
Carol: Western Massachusetts Credit Union gives interest-free loans for farm share co-ops
Gordie:
1) Israel & Palestine: Owning US responsibility. genocide when state was created; genesis of a lot of Islamic fundamentalism; akin to US genocide of native Americans; Americans don’t have a good picture of history; Israel lobby prevents us from knowing what we should know — undermines US and Israel; IPEC, Anti-Defamation League; Counter: Jewish Voice for Peace
2) Electoral Revamp/ Campaign Finance
3) Civility — anonymity of the internet and trolls are undermining human civility
References from our discussion (please make annotations, corrections, comments, questions!):
The Right Question Institute: A catalyst for microdemocracy
http://rightquestion.org/
“The Right Question Institute makes it possible for all people to learn to ask better questions and participate more effectively in key decisions.”
All Sides
https://www.allsides.com
“Unlike regular news services, AllSides exposes bias and provides multiple angles on the same story so you can quickly get the full picture, not just one slant.”
In Defense of Elites, by Neil Swidey, Boston Globe Magazine, Oct 8, 2017
Digital pre-print (Oct 5, 2017)
Reader responses to Oct 8 print publication
The First White President: The foundation of Donald Trump’s presidency is the negation of Barack Obama’s legacy, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, October 2017
Article in the New Yorker on what makes a movement successful (couldn’t find reference — Caroline, please add or email the link)
Occupation of the American Mind: Israel’s public relations war in the United States, 2016, Directed by Loretta Alper, Jeremy Earp
http://mediaed.org/occupationmovie/
Find at your library
Summary from IMDB: “Israel’s ongoing military occupation of Palestinian territory and repeated invasions of the Gaza strip have triggered a fierce backlash against Israeli policies virtually everywhere in the world — except the United States. The Occupation of the American Mind takes an eye-opening look at this critical exception, zeroing in on pro-Israel public relations efforts within the U.S. Narrated by Roger Waters and featuring leading observers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. media culture, the film explores how the Israeli government, the U.S. government, and the pro-Israel lobby have joined forces, often with very different motives, to shape American media coverage of the conflict in Israel’s favor. From the U.S.-based public relations campaigns that emerged in the 1980s to today, the film provides a sweeping analysis of Israel’s decades-long battle for the hearts, minds, and tax dollars of the American people in the face of widening international condemnation of its increasingly right-wing policies. Narrated by Roger Waters, and featuring Amira Hass, M.J. Rosenberg, Stephen M. Walt, Noam Chomsky, Rula Jebreal, Henry Siegman, Rashid Khalidi, Rami Khouri, Yousef Munayyer, Norman Finkelstein, Max Blumenthal, Phyllis Bennis, Norman Solomon, Mark Crispin Miller, Peter Hart, and Sut Jhally.”
Republic Lost: how money corrupts Congress, and a plan to stop it, 2011, by Lawrence Lessig
Find at your library | Find at your independent bookstore | Find on Amazon
Publisher synopsis: ‘A powerful reminder that this problem goes deeper than poor legislative tactics or bad character. As progressives contemplate how best to pick up the pieces after recent setbacks, a robust agenda to change how business gets done in the capital needs to be part of the picture. This time, we’d better mean it.’ Matthew Yglesias, The American Prospect… ‘No one is more skilled at making arcane legal and technological questions terrifyingly relevant to everyday life than Lessig.’ Sonia Katyal, Texas Law Review…’As an initial matter, Lessigian thought is deeply critical in nature… Perhaps it is the luxury of academia, or his nature generally, but Lessig is not afraid to say (loudly) at times: This doesn’t work! We need to change. He says it often, and people are listening.’ Russ Taylor, Federal Communications Law Journal”
American comedian Hasan Minhaj on racially-based double standards of reporting by media organizations
https://umdwritersbloc.com/2017/10/28/hasan-minhaj-combines-humor-and-politics-at-homecoming-comedy-show/
Excerpt: “While addressing the double standard of labeling a shooter as a ’terrorist,’ a montage of these media repeatedly described white male shooters as lone wolves. ‘How is every white guy part wolf?’ Minhaj said. The crowd went from reflective to holding their sides as they laughed.”
Soup of Democracy #1: September 9, 2017
The Soup:
Megan’s Corn, Tomatillo and Habichuelas Chili with Lime
The Discussion (please make annotations!):
- Election integrity and security
- Jobs & globalization of the economy (including concepts of universal basic income)
- Politicians disconnected from the realities of war
- Education (cost of higher education, education debt, mis-match of skills taught and industry needs)
- Financial markets, high frequency trading, historically high stock valuations
- Mass incarceration
- Drugs and the opioid epidemic
- Social justice — equal access to opportunity and protections
- How to manifest our values and bring beauty and balance into systems that have become corrupt and self-perpetuating.
References from our discussion (please make annotations!):
All Quiet on the Western Front, 1928, by Erich Maria Remarque
Find at your library | Find at your independent bookstore | Find on Amazon
From wikipedia: “(German: Im Westen nichts Neues, lit. ‘In the West Nothing New’) is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers’ extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front. The novel was first published in November and December 1928 in the German newspaper Vossische Zeitung and in book form in late January 1929. The book and its sequel, The Road Back (1930), were among the books banned and burned in Nazi Germany. All Quiet on the Western Front sold 2.5 million copies in 22 languages in its first 18 months in print.”
Crown Heights, 2017, written and directed by Matt Ruskin
Find at your library | Find on Amazon
From wikipedia: “a 2017 American biographical drama film …adapted from a This American Life podcast, the film tells the true story of Colin Warner who was wrongfully convicted of murder, and how his best friend Carl King devoted his life to proving Colin’s innocence. The film stars Keith Stanfield as Colin Warner and Nnamdi Asomugha as Carl King. It premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2017 and won the Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic Film. The film was released on August 18, 2017, by Amazon Studios and IFC Films.”
From Generation to Generation, 1959, directed by Edward F. Cullen
From wikipedia: “a 1959 American short documentary film produced by Edward F. Cullen. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.”
Review on IMDB: “I Loved From Generation to Generation, which I saw at Harriton High School in Biology class back in 1964. It’s dated, but I should like it if I DID see it now. It involved a farmer, his wife, and their four-year-old son, in Pennsylvania. The farm was still out of reach of electricity, so dependent on smoking lamps for illumination. The film showed the actual reproductive process in animation form, but the scenes showed the family trough the four seasons, living their lives, including the wife while pregnant. There were love scenes, but what I found delightful was the sweet background music. For an educational film, this was superb indeed!”
Hillbilly Elegy: A memoir of a family and culture in crisis, 2016, by JD Vance
Find at your library | Find at your independent bookstore | Find on Amazon
Publisher synopsis of reviews: “`Powerful and highly readable account of the light of the poor white Americans in Kentucky’, Books of the Year, Financial Times …`The memoir gripping America … Vividly articulates the despair and disillusionment of blue-collar America’ Sunday Times…`Hillbilly Elegy’ offers a starkly honest look at what that shattering of faith feels like for a family who lived through it…`Vance’s description of the culture he grew up in is essential reading for this moment in history’ David Brooks, New York Times `Clear-eyed and nuanced, a powerful antidote to the clamour of news’ The Times `With exquisite timing Vance’s `Hillbilly Elegy’ offers something profound at this time of political populism … a great insight into Trump and Brexit’ Ian Birrell, Independent `I bought this to try to better understand Trump’s appeal to those white working-class people who feel left behind, but the memoir is so much more than that … It’s an important social history/commentary but also a gripping, unputdownable page-turner’ India Knight, Evening Standard …`A beautiful memoir but it is equally a work of cultural criticism about white working-class America … [Vance] offers a compelling explanation for why it’s so hard for someone who grew up the way he did to make it … a riveting book’ Wall Street Journal”
In Our Hands: A plan to replace the welfare state, 2006, by Charles Murray
Find at your library | Find at your independent bookstore | Find on Amazon
From Amazon: “Imagine that the United States were to scrap all its income transfer programs — including Social Security, Medicare, and all forms of welfare — and give every American age twenty-one and older $10,000 a year for life.This is the Plan, a radical new approach to social policy that defies any partisan label. First laid out by Charles Murray a decade ago, the updated edition reflects economic developments since that time. Murray, who previous books include Losing Ground and The Bell Curve, demonstrates that the Plan is financially feasible and the uses detailed analysis to argue that many goals of the welfare state — elimination of poverty, comfortable retirement for everyone, universal access to healthcare — would be better served under the Plan than under the current system. Murray’s goal, shared by Left and Right, is a society in which everyone, including the unluckiest among us, has the opportunity and means to construct a satisfying life. In Our Hands offers a rich and startling new way to think about how that goal might be achieved.”
Life in Code: A personal history of technology, 2017, by Ellen Ullman
Find at your library | Find at your independent bookstore | Find on Amazon
Amazon: “The last twenty years have brought us the rise of the internet, the development of artificial intelligence, the ubiquity of once unimaginably powerful computers, and the thorough transformation of our economy and society. Through it all, Ellen Ullman lived and worked inside that rising culture of technology, and in Life in Code she tells the continuing story of the changes it wrought with a unique, expert perspective. When Ellen Ullman moved to San Francisco in the early 1970s and went on to become a computer programmer, she was joining a small, idealistic, and almost exclusively male cadre that aspired to genuinely change the world. In 1997 Ullman wrote Close to the Machine, the now classic and still definitive account of life as a coder at the birth of what would be a sweeping technological, cultural, and financial revolution. Twenty years later, the story Ullman recounts is neither one of unbridled triumph nor a nostalgic denial of progress. It is necessarily the story of digital technology’s loss of innocence as it entered the cultural mainstream, and it is a personal reckoning with all that has changed, and so much that hasn’t. Life in Code is an essential text toward our understanding of the last twenty years―and the next twenty.”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888), English poet and cultural critic
from Wikipedia: “Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822–15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator. Matthew Arnold has been characterised as a sage writer, a type of writer who chastises and instructs the reader on contemporary social issues.”
