Category Archives: Citizen Movement

Dr. King Dreamed That All Would Lead

Written by . Filed under Citizen Movement, Citizens, Civil Discourse, Civil Rights, I Have a Dream speech, Martin Luther King. Tagged . No comments.

By Andrea Morisette Grazzini Copyright, August 28, 2013 It wasn’t his charisma Dr. Martin Luther King Jr wanted us to remember. It wasn’t his courage. It wasn’t even his character. These were not the messages Dr. King wanted the Civil Rights movement to leave with our […]

Action, Not Talk, is Needed to End Gun Violence

Written by . Filed under Barack Obama, Citizen Movement, Civil Discourse, Democracy, Politics & Elections, Social Innovation, We The People. Tagged . 1 Comment.

After the unspeakable massacre of twenty children in Connecticut, some people seem to think that just speaking about it will solve the situation that led to such devastation. Barack Obama has called for a national conversation on guns. As has nearly every public leader and […]

“We’ve Got Each Others Back”

Written by . Filed under Barack Obama, Citizen Movement, Civil Discourse, Democracy, Politics & Elections, We The People. 3 Comments.

  Excerpted from President Barack Obama’s 2012 State of the Union Speech. (N)o matter what party they belong to, I bet most Americans are thinking the same thing right now:  Nothing will get done this year, or next year, or maybe even the year after that, because […]

Beating the drum for Emmanuel

Written by . Filed under Citizen Movement, Civil Rights, Martin Luther King, Populism. 1 Comment.

Related essay by Harry Boyte at DemocracyU. Andrea Morisette Grazzini One might well wonder if modern-day meanings of things writ wrong in public can ever be undone.  Particularly when Washington meaning-mongers from both sides seem as immovable as the great monuments lining its Mall. It […]

Peace Activists Find Bipartisan Support at Straw Poll

Written by . Filed under Citizen Movement, Civil Discourse, Economy & Business, Nonpartisan Productive Dialogue, Politics & Elections, Populism. 2 Comments.

  Excerpted from Coleen Rowley’s reflections about peace-leaders’ engagement at campaign events. Coleen Rowley, August 2011 Thousands of attendees at Iowa’s recent Republican straw poll responded positively to the “Come Home America” message a group of citizens and I brought there. The Des Moines news […]

What Is DynamicShift?

Written by . Filed under ABOUT DynamicShift, Andrea Morisette Grazzini, Citizen Movement, Civil Discourse, Nonpartisan Productive Dialogue, We The People. 17 Comments.

  DynamicShift was started Fall 2009 as Nonpartisan Productive Dialogue. The grassroots initiative employs positive public kindling and productive discourse to illuminate civility.  It encourages and mediates innovative dialogues that transcend ideologies, engage shared values and create mutually-productive change by highlighting interconnections among different community […]

Minnesota Citizens = Modern-day MLK Movement Leaders

Written by . Filed under Burnsville, Citizen Movement, Civil Rights, Human Rights, Nonpartisan Productive Dialogue. 3 Comments.

See how Harry Boyte and Heatherlyn connect 60’s Civil Right’s movement with 2011’s WeThePeople’s cross-partisan citizen movement http://vimeo.com/19585381

How to Prove Democracy Is Possible

Written by . Filed under Citizen Movement, Politics & Elections, Populism, Social Organizations. No comments.

  Reprinted from Imagine a New Kind of  Movement Toward to Truly Mature Democracy in MinnPost. The universal sense of cross-partisan anxiety lingering after the recent mid-term elections seems ironic.  Voting served as much a referendum on the increasingly evident dialectic between voter apathy and […]

Pundits calling for real people passions

Written by . Filed under Citizen Movement, Civil Discourse, Media & Culture, Politics & Elections, Populism. 1 Comment.

The bad news? Cultural caricatures have become so pervasive that not only politicians but real people have, of late, been living down to destructively low expectations. The good news? The persona of polarized rhetoric is getting an enforced ego-check. This thanks not to media manipulated […]