FAQs

How will Let Us Rise create a shared vision from all these different visions?
A diverse group of people will review the visions and look for areas of common ground and passion, as well as for creative ideas and the wisdom in dissenting voices. The shared vision will reflect these areas. The process of reviewing and synthesizing the visions needs to honor what you create, so we are waiting to create the process until we see how many visions you give voice to, and the kind of ideas you share. The process will be transparent, honor the wisdom of every voice, and be in integrity with our Guiding Aspirations. Every participant will have an opportunity to help create the vision, review it, modify it and adopt it.

How will you deal with conflicting visions?
We live in a political and cultural system that is combative and competitive, where the minority voice loses and is then disregarded. This has not led to a healthy society. We believe that there is wisdom in every voice. So when we receive visions that appear to conflict, instead of playing up those differences (as our media and political system does), we will look for the wisdom in both visions and find the areas of common ground.

Where's the "action"?

There are already a lot of people and organizations engaged in taking action, and they're doing a great job at it. What we need is a proactive, unifying vision for change that is backed up by a constituency large enough to make it a reality. We need people to "own" this vision, to have helped to create it, so that when the time is right, we'll all act together. Therefore, the first action step of Let Us Rise is to partner with people and organizations to generate that collective, overarching, unifying vision. When we unite around this shared vision, then we can take the next step: unified action to implement that vision.

It would be out of integrity with our values for our Leadership Circle to decide on how we're going to implement the shared vision once we have it. We seek to create the kind of society we wish to see in every step of this process. That society values community and relationships, honors every voice, and involves people in determining their own future. Therefore, together we will create a democratic process that invites every Visioning Circle participant to be involved in developing the implementation plan for our shared vision for change. The implementation plan could take any number of forms. It could identify specific issues to work on; it could seek to get politicians from all parties to endorse and implement the People's Platform; it may involve ideas we can't even conceive of right now.

Direct political involvement is only one way to create change. Another is building infrastructure and constiuencies. And another is helping to bring forgotten values to the forefront and putting people in touch with a new worldview. All are equally important, but the latter has been sorely neglected in recent years. For a helpful presentation of these "3 Faces of Power," click here.

What happens after the shared vision is created?
Together we will implement it. Every Visioning Circle participant will be invited to get involved in developing the implementation plan. The implementation plan could take any number of forms. It could identify specific issues to work on; it could seek to get politicians to endorse the whole vision; it could involve a thousand community projects; it could involve ideas we can't even conceive of right now.

What is your ultimate goal? What is the endgame here?
The ultimate goal of Let Us Rise is to create a society that is in integrity with our Mission and Guiding Aspirations, a society rooted in love, compassion, truthfulness, personal responsibility and democratic participation. One or two people alone cannot create that kind of society. Nor can we create that society without a vision of what it would look like. This is why we are coordinating the Visioning Campaign. The goal of the Visioning Campaign is to work with people and organizations to generate a positive, proactive vision of the society we want to create, and then to work together to create it. More about what we will accomplish.

What is your relationship to political parties and the political process?
Let Us Rise is an independent, grassroots movement that will generate a collective vision for change. Once the People's Platform has been created, participants may decide to use it any number of ways. They may decide to ask politicians to endorse and implement the Platform; they may use it to hold politicians accountable; to generate new ballot measures, but we will always remain independent from political parties.

No really, what about Republicans, Democrats, the Left, the Right? Where is Let Us Rise?
We believe these labels are not helpful, and that they dehumanize all of us. When we use these labels, we become rigid, we get stuck in fixed positions and self-righteousness. We become unable to connect with our love for other human beings. Deep down in our hearts, we know this doesn't feel right. We know this isn't who we are meant to be.

We live in a polarizing system. Think about how politics work. What stories the media lead with. How we are taught to think and communicate in school. It's time to liberate ourselves from this mess. What connects us? What goes deeper than this us/them story? Where is our common humanity? This is what we are trying to uncover and bring to the surface with the People's Campaign.

Do you really want to include everyone in the Visioning Circles?
Yes. We want to give all of us an opportunity to rise into our best selves, into the kind of people we want to be. Our Guiding Aspirations serve as our guide. For example, if some person or organization submits a vision that clearly comes from a place of hatred, then that vision will not be included in the People's Platform. But we will still hold ourselves accountable to these Aspirations and look for the wisdom behind the hate.

How do I get involved?
There are a lot of ways to get involved. First and foremost, we want you to share your voice, to envision the kind of world you want to live in. Participate in a Visioning Circle.
We also need your financial support, as we are a grassroots movement funded by people like you. Click here.
For an overview of how you can get involved click here.