Op-Ed by Barnett Pearce for the San Jose Mercury News    

(125-word limit)

Two Presidential candidates differ from the rest. Obama and Edwards say that there are really two political systems — one for insiders who can buy unlimited access to our leaders, and another for the rest of us. As part of his “One Democracy Initiative” announced on Saturday, 11/13, Edwards promised to create a biannual Citizen Congress, bringing well-tested social technologies (google National Coalition for Dialogueand Deliberation) to the federal government for the first time in the United States. What a good idea! This proposal deserves the support ofevery American. Other candidates should join Edwards in his commitment to reducing the gaps between officials and the public. If they do not, why should we support them?

W. Barnett Pearce
214 Yarborough Lane
Redwood City, CA 94061
650-306-9074

W. Barnett Pearce, Ph. D.
Doctoral Program, School of Human and Organization Development Fielding
Graduate University http://www.fielding.edu

Public Dialogue Consortium
http://www.publicdialogue.org

Pearce Associates
http://www.pearceassociates.com
San Jose Mercury News