National Issues Convention

Homeward Bound

By some measures, the National Issues Convention failed. The two front-runners for president stayed away, and, largely for that reason, media coverage was light. But a California man in his 50's called it the best three days of his life. A woman from upstate New York said she'd come to Austin not expecting to like the average Americans gathered here, but had found them more moderate and reasonable than the political leaders who claim to speak for them. Seth Rotramel of Seattle told the fifteen or so members of his discussion group that after two days of dialogue with them about the direction of the country, he had felt something new during a forum with presidential candidates.

"The first time in my life I think, as I gazed out over the audience and saw all different shapes and sizes and colors and backgrounds, it was the first time in my life that I've actually felt patriotic. A surge of patriotism that these people are beautiful and I am from these people."

That kind of talk is music to Jim Fishkin, the University of Texas Professor of Government who conceived the convention and spent seven years finding sponsors for the idea. Fishkin says the Austin gathering was the first time in U.S. history that a demographically and politically representative sample of the population got together in one place.

"People from all walks of life who wouldn't ordinarily talk to each other, from all parts of the country, from all socioeconomic categories, occupations ranging from a pipefitter to a telephone repair clerk to a sea urchin fisherman, to a B-52 pilot, to a zoo director, to full-time mothers, to people who are unemployed, to factory workers, all talking in the same room together about our public issues, the issues that face us as a country."

The delegates were polled last fall on the economy, foreign policy and family issues. They repeated the poll at the end of the convention Sunday. The purpose of the so-called deliberative poll is to find out how people's opinions change through discussion and information. Some question Fishkin's claim that the poll will reveal what Americans would think about the issues if they were engaged and informed. Some delegates said they did not get enough factual information to be considered 'informed' after two days of discussion. Organizers respond that delegates got the most important and influential kind of information, the real-world experiences of other citizens. There were many stories of delegates generalizing, for example, about welfare recipients, only to find themselves sitting next to a welfare recipient. Sandy Barnes of Minneapolis said her support for a higher minimum wage was tempered by conversation with a corporate manager.

"And he sees the effect that raising the minimum wage has on the number of employees because they typically will get rid of a couple of employees because now the amount of dollars for salary only goes to x amount of people, so a couple of employees are lost. Which I've never had a lot of experience with that, so that was real interesting to get the perspective and I think it helped all of us... this person sees it, it's part of his job."

Barnes added that her opinion on the minimum wage has not changed. Organizers say the ultimate impact of the National Issues Convention may not be known for years, and will depend on whether the idea takes hold and is replicated across the country or is ignored as just another one-time experiment in democracy. Some of the delegates left with high hopes. A New Jersey man said he hoped the National Issues Convention would mark the beginning of the "rebuilding of America." A rancher from Montana told a reporter he would pitch in half his income to ensure the experiment in deliberative polling is repeated. The results of the poll will be released Friday, as part of a special broadcast on PBS.

For Democracy Place, I'm John Biewen in Austin, Texas.