Announcing: “Discussion Salons” with Ben Roberts
What: A diverse gathering of people “with things on their minds”
When: Mondays, 7-9 pm
Where: Mocha Coffeehouse in Sandy Hook, CT
Who: Participation in the Salon is open to all. No reservations are necessary, and all opinions are welcome. Ben Roberts acts as moderator, facilitating expression of the widest possible range of views and attempting to guide the discussion in ways that generate greater mutual understanding and respect. In his "day job," Ben is a financial advisor specializing in socially responsible investing. However he will not provide any financial advice at the Salons, where his role is solely to make the discussion as interesting as possible for all participants.
How: You can just show up if you like, but an RSVP to Ben (ben@ConsciousFinancialDirections.com or 426-5088) would be much appreciated. Those who RSVP are encouraged to suggest topics (anything goes) and also attach or provide links to background material if they so desire. The topics will be posted at www.consciousfinancialdirections.com. Topics may also be suggested at the start of each Salon. Three will then be selected by vote, with at least one coming from those suggested in advance.
Why: Ben worries that many of us spend too much time either isolated or conversing only with like-minded people. Meanwhile, we all have issues we want to discuss, questions we want to ask, and thoughts we want to share. This is an opportunity to do just that, with a diverse mix of friends and strangers. Ben also hopes that the group will have fun, laugh a whole lot, make new friends and give Mocha plenty of business!
Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested.
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Rather than continuing to have participants email topics to me for posting here, I have now set up a "web 2.0" community where advance topic ideas can be suggested directly by members. In addition, comments can be posted on the previous week's discussion. If you would like to join the Discussion Salon Online community, please email me a request. Meanwhile, you can get a sense of some of the things we have discussed in previous Salons by scrolling through the list below. And of course, you can simply show up at Mocha and suggest a topic at the start of each week's Salon.
Topic suggestions for June 22nd:
Regular "salonista" Jim Whiteside has a series of suggestions for the week of June 22nd and the future. He writes:
As you know two core issues are now before the public and are in the process of developing plans to restrict if not disembowel the needs of the public: health care and banking. It seems to me that it would be useful to undertake an in-depth discussion of both. Failure to do so will make most discussions of other topics largely irrelevant since the money to solve anything will have been diverted elsewhere.
Therefore, a likely topic for this week should be whether or not the group would like to sink its teeth into these current and very important debates:
Topic A: Are we ready to attempt an in-depth discussion of the two crucial issues now before the Congress: health care and national finance?
If this can be agreed upon there becomes the need for a more sustained preparation and discussion of these issues. To start that discussion a survey of group knowledge on one or the other of the topics could be addressed:
National Finance Based on the NY Times /CBS survey of June 12-16, 52% of the interviewees believe that “The government should not spend money to stimulate the economy and should focus instead on reducing the deficit.” The poll thus reveals the general ignorance of the country as to what deficit spending is and how it works and ‘balancing the budget’ continues to be the uneducated folklore of the majority of the public.
Therefore a preliminary topic of discussion to provide a floor of opinions for consideration would be:
Topic B: Is it a necessity that the country return to a federally balanced budget as soon as possible and why?
Health Care
The major current Congressional discussion of this issue centers over where the money is going to come from. The swirling elements are contrived around how it can pay for itself, so to speak. That is, there appears to be absolutely no appreciation that money could be found in any one or more of the major bloated special interests elsewhere such as the military (the F-22 fighter has been extended), agribusiness (corporate subsidies have been continued), etc.
As presently composed the debate leads to the impression that the money must be found in ‘within’ the health care system itself but without eliminating the major waste—health insurers. Single-payer advocates were not allowed at the table and therefore the most important debate has been truncated to what only the special interests involved want.
Topic C: Is it really true that the health care debate has now been castrated so as to focus only upon how the special interests involved in the system can thrive?
Meanwhile, Mocha proprietor and host Rob Kaiser submitted the following:
Michael Lewis, in his new book of essays "Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood." writes:
"At some point in the last few decades the American male sat down at the negotiating table with the American female and, let us be frank, got fleeced. The agreement he signed foisted all sorts of new paternal responsibilities and gave him nothing of what he might have expected in return. Not the greater love of his wife who was now encouraged to view him as an unreliable employee. Not the special love of his child who, no matter how many time he fed and changed and wiped and walked her, would always prefer her mother in a pinch. Not even the admiration of the body politic which pushed him into signing the deal."
Has the new American male been fleeced?
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Topics discussed at the June 15th Salon:
1. What are some tangible benefits of travel? Should more emphasis be placed on getting to know "your own backyard" than international culture differences? Do the travelers have a responsibility to their destination to treat it with respect and dignity?
2. Why are public displays of atheism approached differently than displays of "faith"? Is atheism a rejection of others' beliefs or a belief in itself?
3. Perhaps the most contentious topic in local politics is school funding. At one of our last town meetings on the subject, it appeared that the demographic most opposed to the proposed school budget consisted of people who no longer had children in school and who were often living on a fixed income. What interests and obligations should these individuals have in supporting the educational needs of the town's children? How should these be balanced against the very real financial constraints many face? How can the town come together on this issue?
Topics discussed at the June 8th Salon:
2. Obama's Cairo speech
3. "Equal Justice" and the inequality of resources available to district attorneys versus public defenders
Topics discussed at the June 1st Salon:
1. "Freedom of the Press to be negligent"
2. Is North Korea "our" problem?
3. Is humankind scientific, religious and/or superstitious by nature?Topics discussed during May Salons:
1. Are we willing to change our habits to address global climate change?
2. Water scarcity in California and around the world.
3. The nature of the "pro-life" position in the abortion debate
4. What is money?
5. Teacher tenure versus merit pay
6. The "No Child Left Behind" law
Topics suggested in advance for the April 27th session:1. Obama recently shared a friendly handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas. His gesture touched off a firestorm of criticism from conservative pundits and a few moderate thinkers as well. Is America really ready for Change?
Background: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-koehler/wall-of-fear_b_190334.html
2. Political polarization immobilizes our government and our nation. One solution: a third-party platform founded on meaningful political debate. Hypothetically speaking, if we were given the charge of creating such a third party, what would it look like and who would be at its helm?
3. Should we establish a Truth Commission to investigate interrogation methods used against suspected terrorists? Do we dismiss the past and move forward, or probe the past and punish the wrong-doers? Background article link here.
Topics suggested in advance for the April 13th Salon (1,3,4 and 7 discussed):
1. Issues surrounding the consumption of meat, including its effect on the overall food supply, our health and the environment.
2. The commercial viability of all-electric cars.
3. Even In An Economic Crisis, Follow the Money – This is The Commentary that appeared in this Friday’s Bee (4/10) on pg 2 or http://www.newtownbee.com/Opinions/2009-04-09__14-23-27/Even+In+An+Economic+Crisis%2c+Follow+The+Money. It takes a look at political contributions. Is our TARP money being used to make contributions to our elected officials? Is it time to change rewrite campaign contribution laws again? Should the amount of time candidates are allowed to campaign be shortened? Does the one with the most money win? Is there a way to make it fair for both candidate and constituent?
4. Free Speech on the Internet – Should people still be able to post comments on the web anonymously? There was a segment on NPR’s ‘Where We Live; that talked about 2 female Yale Law School students who were verbally abused on a law web site. Beyond the basic name calling and stating that the women had sex with all of the men in admissions dept, the individuals posting even went as far as encouraging violence against these women. http://www.cpbn.org/program/where-we-live/episode/wwl-free-speech-and-internet Should you be able to do on the internet what you can’t do in a newspaper?
5. Should marriage rights be extended to gays?
6. Should professionals be allowed to opt out of providing services that conflict with their 'conscience'?
7. Many states are now considering eliminating the death penalty due to its costs. Should the death penalty be eliminated?
Topics suggested in advance for the April 6th Salon:
1. America as a disposable culture- affecting everything from the rootless communities which keep coming up in discussion to the most recent financial crisis which was based on suspect investments no one wanted to "own."
2. [from "Salonista" Greg Pings] I was thinking about the poverty discussion and how the idea that some people simply lack motivation is what's responsible for poverty. I grant that motivation can move you from a bad place to a better place, but many people did not get where they're at through motivation. So how come they're not poor? How much motivation does an assembly line worker at GM have? How long can you bolt the same damn seat into the same damn holes? The teacher who drones through the class -- where's the motivation? The executive who sleepwalks through meetings and Power Point presentations -- where's the motivation? These people are not poor. Some are well-off. What else is going on?
3. Media: liberal or conservative?
Topics suggested for the March 30th Salon (1,2 and 3 chosen)
1. [from Salon “regular” Julie Stern] I'm interested in the topic of how we can stop the proliferation of guns- both as a factor in the Mexican drug wars and also as a toxic presence in the imagination of this country, that leads too many angry and troubled people to act out their fantasies by mass murder. I'm not against hunting, but I think that both hand guns and automatic weapons are inappropriate, and do not constitute the "well regulated militia" that the founding fathers felt the colonies had a right to have, given that we had been at the mercy of the British army for too long.
2. [from Salon “regular” Pete Stern] At our last meeting we had a lot of discussion of belonging to that group called Americans. Although some people spoke to some of the salient characteristics of that group we left it at that and seemed to have accepted the fact that we existed as a nation. I would like to point out that there are problems in paradise. Particularly here in Connecticut. We live in one of the wealthiest states in the union, yet three of the poorest cities in the nation exist in our borders. Why? Is it racism, politics, governance, old business practices catching up with us or whatever? More importantly, what can we do about the problem? If we think it is a problem.
3. Is America's superpower status on the decline?
4. The drug related violence in Mexico, coupled with Clinton's admission that the war on drugs is not working, has stimulated debate on drug legalization. The current situation invites reexamination of our national drug policy and raises many questions: Why have past policies failed? What should be the objectives of our nation's drug policy? What are the best ways to achieve these objectives? Does drug legalization have a role?
Topics suggested for the March 23rd Salon (Nos. 1, 3 and 4 chosen for discussion)
1. Is war ever justifiable? Someone commented last Monday that they believe war is never justified. How should nations conduct themselves when threatened? Is there any such thing as a just war?
2. How much weight should be given to public opinion in deciding how to respond to the economic crises? Alternatively (and more broadly), should we have a direct or a representative democracy? A participant on Monday expressed deeply felt frustration and anger at the economic decisions being made and asked "when does she get a say?" How should these decisions of such staggering consequence be made, especially when the burdens and responsibilities imposed on each of us are so significant and lasting?
3. Is it only skin deep?/Growing Old (Dis)gracefully: Young women have been pressured through marketing since the mid-twentieth century to live up to an ideal standard of beauty that is unattainable for all but a precious few. This insidious affliction has destroyed the self-esteem of generations of young girls in our culture and now its effects are spreading to our boys and young men as well. The mindset of physical inadequacy and the anxiety that can cause life-threatening conditions can stay with women – and now also an increasing number of men– well into middle-age. It has gotten to the point where aging adults – who don't have Hollywood careers – are willing to shoot paralyzing toxins under their skin and risk maiming themselves in surgical procedures in an attempt to erase the effects of time.
4. It has been said that some Americans cling to religion and guns to allay their fears. In other contexts, environmentalists are generically called "tree huggers." Do we all cling to something as a matter of identity? Must we, by nature? [Scot missed the discussion, but offered this post from the archives of his blog on the subject by way of commentary in abstentia]
5. What would the founding fathers say?
6. Is the electoral college still relevant?
7. School vouchers and their role in education
Topics discussed on 3/16/09:
1. Global warming...will cooler heads prevail??
2. "One Nation Under God"/"There are no atheists in a foxhole"/Karen Armstrong's Charter for Compassion (see this week's Bill Moyers' Journal for more background)
3. What's wrong with how networks report on businesses and financial matters? How do we hold the news outlets responsible for shoddy reporting? Background: John Stewart's interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer (http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=220533) as well as the 3/4, 3/9, 3/10 and 3/11 shows that led up to it.
Topics from the 3/9/09 Salon:
1. What kind of healthcare reform should we have?
2. "The Peace Alliance"
3. What do we make of experiences we, or others, have that challenge or defy our scientific or "objective" view of the world?
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