Reflections on the Gold Lake Trans-Partisanship Retreat

December 5^th, 2005

Dan Wheeler, Boulder CO

The City Club of Boulder recently had the great fortune of hearing reflections from conveners of the second conference on “Democracy in America, A Trans-Partisan Leadership Retreat”.  This retreat -- funded by the Fetzer Institute and organized by, Joseph McCormick and Pat Spino, Co-founders of the Democracy in America Project -- brought together leaders from national membership groups throughout the political spectrum with the intent of “building bridges of trust, respect and communication”[1].  These dialogues voicing views of leaders and citizens occurred within a unique gathering of diverse organizations including; Americans for Tax Reform, Christian Coalition, MoveOn.org, Liberty Coalition, Muslim Public Affairs Council, Sierra Club and others[2] (for participant list see note 2).  Of particular concern to the organizers was the creation of a container where “left and right could meet in a place of trust”[3].

     In speaking to the essence of the retreat, Joseph McCormick, states in describing the event, “I use the words political reconciliation, political re-union, political healing, ultimately to me it’s a healing energy…it’s about the reintegration of all parts…the vision is to recreate, at least in microcosm (to start), health, wholeness and integrity within our political spectrum.”  From my experience as an audience member, when Joseph described the intent of the retreat as exampled in his words above, there was a palpable energy in the room.  I experienced this as a collective sigh and deep acknowledgment that this is the type of profound work so urgently needed for health to emerge for all Americans within our political spectrum.  With the acknowledgment of the intent of the retreat as well as the background stories of Joseph, Pat and Michael as grounding, themes began to emerge for me in capturing a feel of the atmosphere at Gold Lake—of the significance of this meeting in charting a renewed, reinvigorated passion for Democracy in the United States.  One of the visions of this retreat is to connect “networks of networks” of organizations that support the similar intent of empowerment of the people—despite differences—and bring about a “Chautauqua type movement/a We the People movement” that creates opportunities for people to dialogue about topics that matter most in their lives. Another retreat vision is to bring collaborative decision-making processes regarding public policy issues to all levels of our political spectrum.

In looking beyond the divisive tendencies of a partisanship mentality, a transpartisanship approach “recognizes the existence and validity of many viewpoints, and advocates a constructive discourse aimed at arriving at collaborative synthesis solutions.”[4] In honoring the diversity of viewpoints within the retreat, the organizers sought to create the foundation for true dialogue where personal and organizational agendas were set aside in the effort toward wholeness.  In one example of this intent Joseph describes the qualities of Yin and Yang, the balancing of the masculine and feminine which he and Democracy in America Co-founder Pat Spino bring to the conversation of wholeness within the political spectrum.  Joseph notes that the awareness of how these qualities manifest in the political atmosphere is very important in honoring the contribution the left and the right brings to the table and how important this awareness is in moving beyond a sense of separation in order for reconciliation and healing to occur. 

Michael Ostrolenk, founder of the Liberty Coalition (www.libertycoalition.net), brought to the presentation his view on bringing together the left and right in order to work on policy issues.  He does this through developing personal relationships across all party lines.  Despite this being such a common sense approach, the retreat at Gold Lake seemed to epitomize the importance of face to face relationship building.  Other factors which significantly contributed to the container that was created were the space itself in nature—the Gold Lake retreat center in winter and also the facilitation by Mark Gerzon and Bill Ury.  As Michael Ostrolenk reflects, the team created an “atmosphere where people could open their hearts up and talk to one another…and play together.”

In responding to an audience question about creating language that goes beyond partisan lines, Mark Gerzon reflects on the ideas of partisanship and the divine and highlighted the presence of the sacred in the room during the retreat.  He says in analogy to the saying “where shame is, God is not, where God is, shame is not”, relating this to partisanship he posits, “Where partisanship is, God is not, where God is, partisanship is not”.  This analogy speaks to the opportunity for wholeness, where the sacred is about creation, about the whole, where concepts of separation and partisanship are placed as assumptions to be pondered.

The emerging field of transpartisanship in the political spectrum holds a place of intent bringing greater unification to all Americans despite our unique differences.  These are the differences that make a democracy healthy.  In closing the City Club presentation, Mark Gerzon described the closing of the Gold Lake meeting saying the retreat ended with three prayers from three participants; one in English, another in English and Hebrew and yet another in Arabic and English, showing how bringing the sacred into community space and transpartisan politics, brings about greater possibilities for the whole.  And finally there was a closing reflection from Michael Ostrolenk—“And then we all danced together!”  For further information and developments, stay tuned to the Democracy in America Project website at: http://www.democracycampaign.org/ and http://www.transpartisan.net.