Struggling to Make Ends Meet
In America: What can we do?
Susan Jakes
(919) 515-9161
susan_jakes@ncsu.edu
Robin Roper
(919) 515-9138
robin_roper@ncsu.edu
Elements of Deliberation
• Deliberation is dialogue for weighing costs,
benefits, and consequences.
• Deliberation is not a debate to be won.
• Deliberation changes relationships, which
makes more action possible.
• Through deliberation, a shared sense of purpose
and direction may be created. This shared
sense of purpose and direction is a public voice
and is essential for public complementary action.
Debate
Dialogue
Deliberation
•Contest
•Compete
•Argue
•Promote opinion
•Persuade
•Seek majority
•Dig-in
•Tightly structured
•Express
•Choose solution
•Usually fast
•Clarifies
•Majoritarian
•Partisan victory
•Explore
•Exchange
•Understand
•Build relationships
•Understand
•Seek understanding
•Reach across
•Loosely structured
•Listen
•Dev. understanding
•Usually slow
•Clarifies
•Non-decisive
•Private understanding
•Choose
•Weigh
•Decide
•Make decisions
•Understand
•Seek integrative decision
•Find common ground
•Framed to make choices
•Listen
•Decide common path
•Usually slow
•Clarifies
•Complementary
•Public knowledge
Groundrules
• Everyone should participate. Please share your thoughts on
the issue.
• Focus on what others are saying about the approach. Think
about what their perspectives are on each approach. Listen
to them.
• Share your ideas and thoughts.
• Don't hesitate to share stories that help present our ideas.
Stories help explain the personal value behind the idea.
Deliberation allows a time and space to share our life
experience stories.
• The facilitator will stay neutral but will encourage us to
express the values behind our ideas on each approach.
• We will deliberate all three approaches. You are encouraged
to think about the advantages and tradeoffs of each approach
• Remember, it is difficult work to deliberate, let's begin!
Introducing the Issue
A big piece of the American dream is that if you
work hard and play fair, you will prosper. In our
Constitution we declare our commitment to
“justice, domestic tranquility, and general
welfare.”
What has happened to the long held American
ideal of “general welfare”, generally understood
to include equal opportunity and a minimally
decent life for all citizens?
Focus of the Discussion
• 35 million families have incomes below the
poverty line
• Over 55 million families are in the working
poor and middle class that are struggling
to make ends meet
• The large number of middle class families
facing financial insecurity is a fairly recent
phenomenon.
Comparing Approaches
• 1. Stress Personal Responsibility
• 2. Increase / Protect jobs with Benefits
• 3. Rethink the Safety Net
Stress Personal Responsibility
• Beliefs:
– People make bad personal decisions that get
them into financial trouble
– Individuals can and must make the effort to
improve their lot
– Parents have an obligation to provide their
children with a stable family life
– Young people need to stay in school and get
an education to become responsible tax
paying citizens
Concerns with this approach
• Too simplistic
• Minimum wage jobs do not provide an
adequate income to support families
• There is an inequality in the public school
system that disadvantages some children
• Societal forces encourage Americans to
spend beyond their means
Increase / Protect jobs with
Benefits
• Beliefs:
– Hard work no longer leads to financial security
– Multinational corporations continue to
downsize, outsource, and consolidate in the
hopes of improving their bottom line
– We need more jobs with higher wages and
good benefits
–?
Concerns with this approach
• This approach will undermine the freemarket economy
• Employers are already overburdened with
government interference
• Increased costs will lead to increased
prices for goods and services
Rethink the Safety Net
• Beliefs:
– The historic safety net for people in need of
assistance was provided by family, churches
and charitable groups
– The Great Depression resulted in many new
government programs
– These are now outdated
Concerns with this approach
• We can’t afford to increase spending on
welfare right now (homeland security is
more important)
• Government programs are unresponsive
and inefficient
• Faith community is better than the
government at helping people
• Band-aid approach, would increase
dependency
Reflections on Our Forum
• How has your thinking about the issue
changed?
• How has your thinking about other
people’s views on the issue changed?
Reflections on Our Forum
• Can we, based on our deliberation, detect any
shared sense of direction or any common
ground for action?
• What did you hear the group saying, during our
deliberation, about tensions between the
approaches as we discussed the issue?
• What were the trade-offs we were willing to
make as we deliberated?
• What were the trade-offs we were NOT willing to
make as we deliberated?
Next Steps
• What do we still need to talk about related
to this issue?
• How can we use what we now know?