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Text File | 1993-03-10 | 8KB | 134 lines

---------------------------Inaugural Edition---------------------------
This is the first edition of the Federal Information News Syndicate, a
biweekly news column focused on the emerging philosophy of the Information
Age.  The column is issued on a subscription basis, for republication in
all electronic and print formats.  It is priced at $30.00 per year, for 24
issues a year.  More information on where you can obtain a subscription is
included at the end of the first column, which is provided comp.
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FINS: Communicating the Emerging Philosophy of the Information Age FEDERAL
INFORMATION NEWS SYNDICATE VOL I, ISSUE 1 EMBARGOED UNTIL JANUARY 11, 1993


     Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a
thinking reed.  The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him.  A
vapour, a drop of water suffices to kill him.  But if the universe were to
crush him, man would still be more nob le than that which killed him,
because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has
over him; the universe knows nothing of this.  All our dignity consists,
then, in thought.  By it we must elevate ourselves, and not by space and
time wh ich we cannot fill. Let us endeavor, then, it to think well; this
is the principal of morality.
                                               B. Pascal, Pensees


CLOSING THE "VALUES-GAP": Participatory Democracy in the Information Age
By Vigdor Schreibman


     Those with the power to choose bought the "riverboat gamble" proposed
by Ronald Reagan: reduce taxes, limit business regulation by "supply side"
public policy, and maximize defense against a phoney Soviet threat.  Then
they jumped for the "kinder and
 gentler" America that George Bush offered as a corollary to his infamous
Willie Horton TV hit-man series, exploiting racial fear.  We now have the
results of those Republican Administrations, which were sustained by a
Democratic Congress and a Liberal Pr ess.

     Those political machinations that supported a war of rich man versus
poor, and a debt crisis that is its continuing legacy, mark the high-water
point of the excesses of narrow Republicanism.  Ironically, the "Forgotten
Majority" [Phillips, 1993], who
lost Reagan's reckless gamble must now pay the oceanic material costs incurred
 in red ink, and bear the other painful human impacts caused by those
 incongruent purposes, values and strategies. Deep anger and disappointment over
 these matters has been exp
ressed by the overwhelming majority of voters, in polls taken across the country
 before and after the recent Presidential election.  It would be a singular
 error, with the installation of the new President, to ignore the reality that
 the major political l
eadership groups of the United States, have let us down. This leadership
 breakdown is a signal that the existing situation and its psychocultural and
 political foundations require serious reconsideration.

     Even now, however, the corporate insiders, special interest lobbyists
and other power brokers can be seen around town staking out the plum jobs
in Government and taking control over the new policy making apparatus, as
the "slow dance" of politics (to
 borrow a phrase used by Independent Ross Perot), returns to business as
usual in the Federal Capital. A stunning example of this conduct is the
promise to voters--desperate for political reform--that the Clinton/Gore
team would restrain insider lobbyists .  But once elected, they tagged the
chief lobbyist of the Information Industry Association as chairman of the
transition group in charge of the Federal Communications Commission.  The
FCC is slated by the IIA to take sweeping control over a proposed Nati
onal Information Infrastucture!  Color the new Administration red, white,
or blue, describe it as Conservative, Liberal, Republican, Independent or
Democratic (even a different kind of Democrat!) and what invariably
remains at its inner core organized und er the ideology of narrow
Republicanism, is the same asymmetrical structure of power.

     This ideology offers variations on the same outcome each time around;
namely: a future dictated by politicians empowered to unilaterally choose
the purposes and strategies of the Nation. These leaders are far too often
paralyzed by the awesome charac ter of their responsibilities.  Unable or
unwilling to defend a synthesis of valued ideas of the whole people, they
protect the narrow interests of a favored minority of "artificial
aristocrats," defined by power alone, as Jefferson described. Each genera
tion of political leadership gets worse as the instruments of social
manipulation used by all factions progressively improve.  Society
manifestly cannot be shaped in desireable ways merely by fragmented
citizens placing blind hope in the wisdom or benevol ence of narrow
Republicanism.

     To create the shared future that we all desire, unilateral choice by
public officials should be superceded by encouragement and facilitation of
meaningful participation by the people in the decisionmaking process of
all institutions (public and priva te), which directly affect their lives.
This is no utopian idea.  As proven by real-world experience in a variety
of fields, when it is competently managed, such a strategy can be the most
efficient and effective way under which to organize the human reso urces
of any community. It fosters the creative efforts, loyalty, and commitment
of all the stakeholders in any civic or business enterprise while the
present scheme brings about ever widening cycles of anger, distrust and
alienation providing a foundatio n for social decadence, which is all
around us.

     Participatory democracy is not a new idea. Jefferson fervently wished
for a form of Republicanism in which "popular control [was] pushed to the
maximum of its practicable exercise." Indeed, participatory governance is
now recognized as a vital elemen t of genuine progress, both with regard
to material prosperity and human well being. Management scientists
understand that the human values and distribution of power that control
such matters, are central to the betterment of relationships between
governm ent/management/professional, and people who are governed, managed,
or represented. See e.g., Flexner, 1989]; [Lodge, 1984]; [Argyris, 1982];
[Ackoff, 1981]. The need for wise interpersonal action in an age of
increasing complexity and uncertainty, is most
 compelling.  Moreover, to meet the challenges of global competition such
strategies are becoming a national imperative.

     Systematic management of the interpersonal action of stakeholders in
public programs can foster high quality dialogue of the most intelligent
kind.  [Warfield, et al., NSF 1987].  Indeed, in a world where growth is
limited by finite resources meaning ful citizen participation in
governance might be the key for humanity to the meta-ideal of "unlimited
development" and "unlimited progress toward . . . omnicompetence}."
[Ackoff, 1981].

    We can live the dream of creation spawned by the unique opportunities
of our times.  This generation of Americans, just as the citizens of other
Nations, are increasingly informed by the "information revolution." Living
the dream of its awe-inspiring promise for all humanity, should be our one
great ambition.  To sustain that aspiration for the benefit of the whole
people, they must by a meaningful part of the process!

_________
Federal Information News Syndicate, Vigdor Schreibman, Editor & Publisher,
18 - 9th Street NE #206, Washington, DC 20002-6042. Copyright 1993 FINS.
E-mail [e-mail]; Fax/Voice [phone].  Subscription rate:
United States and International media, networking, broadcasting, or print
reproduction rights in primary markets, $24.00 a year for 24 issues.