Introduction

The Center for the Evolution of Democracy (CED), a non-profit, tax exempt, public benefit corporation was founded in 1994 to promote a deeper understanding of democracy as a decision-making process.

We base our work on the idea that "democracy," as it exists today, is only a partial implementation of an ancient idea that still has profound implications for the evolution of human life. If we are to fully realize the potential of each individual, of our various organizations, and of the human species, we will have to thoroughly explore new conceptualizations of democracy within the modern and post-modern context. The future is full of promise--but only if we can reform our democracies.

World System Trends

Unfortunately, we don't have much time in which to make the necessary changes. Global system experts, basing their findings on current trends, project that within fifty years--probably sooner--modern civilizations will begin to collapse under the combined weights of population growth, pollution, loss of natural resources, and diminishing food supplies. As we approach the limits of the Earthıs carrying capacity, other environmental or political catastrophes may occur even sooner.

How could we have come to such a situation? Human beings, are intelligent, problem-solving creatures. How is it, then, that we allow problems of our own making to diminish the quality of our lives and threaten the very existence of our species?

The answer, we believe, lies not in a defective "human nature" but rather in the social processes of our education and decision-making.

Special interests and self-serving groups have evolved into positions that allow them to control the flow of information and wealth. To serve their own values they can effectively distort any debate and exclude the majority of people from meaningful participation in important decisions. Any organization or society that does not elicit the full voluntary and participative intelligence of its individual members--as well as that of each group within the society--is not fully enjoying the adaptive power of the democratic process.

To achieve such participation, of course, we must have a deep and accurate understanding of human nature and of the nature of social decision-making. We will need a more profound appreciation and interest in the idea of democracy as a non-violent, problem-solving process, and we need an understanding of the place of democratic decision-making in the evolution of living systems.

Democratic Economics

Perhaps most importantly, we must develop democratic systems that are not exploited by the few at the expense of the rest of us. The extraordinary power of today's transnational corporations and of other groups of wealthy, special interests represents a failure in the process of democracy. It leads to a sense of futility and apathy or anger in those who are exploited or left out of the decision-making that effects their lives. The nonparticipation in democratic decision-making which results from these gross economic inequalities then deprives all of us of the benefits of a broad participation in human problem-solving--a degree of participation that is desperately needed if we are to avoid catastrophe in the 21st century.

We must have economic processes that offer incentives and opportunities to every individual and to every type of democratic organization--and that narrows the gap between rich and poor.

It makes sense, therefore, to structure the economy so as to reward individual initiative as well as cooperative and community-minded enterprise. To do this we must have an economy that balances the forces of individual, cooperative, and community ownership--within a free market that is firmly guided by democratically agreed upon values and goals.

Democratic Politics

Political process is the means by which power is allocated to control social decision-making and thereby the distribution of information, material wealth, and other values. The political problem, of course, is how best to accomplish this. The democratic solution to the political problem is to distribute power and information equally among all people by means of a decision-making process that incorporates everyone's views. The democratic dilemma is that no such system is perfectly consistent with its own values. The democratic miracle is that it can work anyway--not as a perfect system but as the best system under almost all conditions.

There are degrees and stages in the evolution of democracy, however, and generally speaking we are probably at an intermediate level in the development of democratic political systems.

The principle challenges that we face now are: the achievement of genuinely fair elections, putting an end to the elite political class and political careerism, completing a thorough lobby reform, stopping corruption in the political decision-making process, reforming the mass media and our educational systems to promote an unbiased flow of accurate information, providing equal opportunity for participation by minorities and both genders, and making appropriate extensions of the democratic process into all spheres of social life.

Democratic Cultures

Individual psychology, personal relationships, families, religions, business corporations, social clubs, political parties, literary and artistic meetings--all must in some sense be democratized if human beings are to fully reap the fruits of the democratic idea. The organization and health of each human system is at stake.

Not as individuals nor as groups nor as a species can we fully mature without confronting and then incorporating the variety of ideas, values, and behaviors that are associated with an authentic democracy.

The task of sorting out the relationships of democratic processes to the autonomous individual decision-maker, to the expert with valuable special knowledge, to the charismatic leader, to the parent-child relationship, to the health care worker and the patient--all require time and an open, experimental attitude.

The democratic process in each family, each corporation, or each system of any kind is an experiential model that influences all other social organizations.

The magic of democracy is such that it will sustain both science and religion--two very different thought patterns--while extracting the best that each has to offer to life and to the further evolution of life in the Universe.

What CED Can Do

We are a young and growing, nonprofit organization, dedicated to performing a particular public service, i.e., to promoting a deeper understanding of democracy and of its evolution toward more effective forms. We are devoted to continually acquiring new ideas and information about the democratic process and its value to each person and every group. We aim to make such information available to all who are interested. To that end we are presently developing expertise in the methods of applying democratic decision-making at every level of human organization from the individual to the global system.

As a young, democratic, multicultural and multiracial organization we regard it as a special duty to reach out to youth, to minorities, to women, to indigenous peoples, and to disadvantaged groups as well as to majority populations--to help us all realize the value and the power of initiating democratic organizations and communities.

If you wish to participate in this work, we will help you find the level and type of participation that works best for you.

Although it is still early in our own development, we expect in the near future to be able to make the following materials and services available:

• consulting services aimed at bringing democratic process into any level of your personal life--from relationship problems and family dynamics to the meaning and purpose in your life.
  

• consulting services designed to help you introduce more democracy into your worksite or your corporation--whether nonprofit or profit-making.
  

• consulting services for elected representatives and government employees or advisors to governments. We will have system experts that can enhance your efforts to improve or initiate the democratic process.
  

• relevant books, research articles, art, murals, posters, T-shirts, mugs, caps, and bumper stickers. Ready-made or you can design.

If you are a student or a teacher who wants to participate in the development of strategies for learning or teaching democratic decision-making and nonviolent problem-solving, write or give us a call.

If you and a few friends would like to open a branch office of The Center for the Evolution of Democracy, we can assist you.

If you would simply like to support CED and receive updates on our work, we offer several levels of informational mailings.

For More Information

If you would like more information on any of the subjects referred to in this brochure, you can write, fax, call, or e-mail:

The Ultimate Goal

Democracy itself is not the final end. Rather, democracy is a means to the end of enhancing human life. It is a method by which the human community can care for itself, its environment, and its future evolution. Democracy is a step toward the infinite, toward the greater realization of values and abilities within ourselves that human beings have often associated with God.

We could say that democracy is love writ large and continually expanding. But love by itself is not sufficient. It must be organized by means that are consistent with the nature of loving--with intelligence, compassion, fairness, freedom, purpose...and inclusiveness.

A poet once put it like this: