Civil Discourse Issues Group

A dialogue in which all participants have a right to speak and to be heard. Such dialogue is characterized by:

• Respectful participation
  

• Sharing the time equitably
  

• Attentive listening
  

• Balanced discussion
  

• To study the current climate of civility(and incivility) and the League's historic role as one of the most trusted organizations in America.
  

• To check our own practices.
  

• To promote civility in an increasingly partisan world.

The four Units of the North County San Diego League of Women voters developed responses about civil discourse at brainstorming sessions in September 2011. The chart below shows the results.

BOOKS

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Robert D. Putnam, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2000

Reclaiming Civility in the Public Square * 10 Rules That Work, Cassandra Dahnke and Tomas Spath with Donna Bowling, WingSpan Press, Livermore, CA, 2007

Rude Democracy: Civility and Incivility in American Politics, Susan Herbst, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2010

Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion, Jay Heinrichs, Three Rivers Press, New York, 2007

The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart, Bill Bishop, Mariner Books, New York, 2008

True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society, Farhad Manjoo, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ, 2008

un*Spun: finding facts in a world of [disinformation], Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson (founders of FactCheck.org), Random House, New York, 2007

ARTICLES

How to Turn Republicans and Democrats Into Americans: An Insider's Six-Step Plan to Fix Congress, Mickey Edwards, The Atlantic, July/August 2011.

The Ways of Silencing, Jason Stanley. The New York Times Opinionator, June 25, 2011.

The Daily Me, Nicholas D. Kristof. New York Times, March 18, 2009.

LINKS

Arizona Humanities Council -- LWV is part of an alliance of community groups on "Project Civil Discourse" http://www.projectcivildiscourse.org/

factcheck.org: A non-partisan, nonprofit website that describes itself as a 'consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. http://factcheck.org

Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy, Kansas State University. http://icdd.k-state.edu/who-we-are

Institute for Civility in Government. http://instituteforcivility.org/

National Conflict Resolution Center-San Diego http://www.ncrconline.com/

National Institute for Civil Discourse, University of Arizona will offer venue for vigorous and respectful debate. http://nicd.arizona.edu/

Peace First - AmeriCorps program promoting conflict resolution and civic engagement in grade & middle schools. http://www.peacefirst.org/site/?page_id=32

Sacramento Region Community Foundation, Community Conversations, Guidelines for Civil Discourse http://www.sacregcf.org/doc.aspx?148

Southern Poverty Law Center - Teaching Tolerance curriculum. http://www.tolerance.org/discourse