Four Responsibilities for Caring Citizens to Occupy Their Precincts
Building American character is a relational activity that focuses on building a strong sense of responsibility, both personal and social, that is empathic in nature: Caring citizens protect and empower each other. Caring Citizens Chapters are small communities of practice of persons of any political party membership, or no affiliation, who want to practice our four responsibilities of caring citizenship. Participants must acknowledge core values for public governance of empathy, responsibility – both personal and shared – and want to exercise strength to act on these values. It takes 15 partners to charter your first two Caring Citizens Chapters through the Empathy Surplus Project:
- Inwardly digest the political implications and usage of the latest brain research; and use our core freedom values in daily conversations about government and its moral mission to protect and empower us. (personal responsibility)
- Invest our time, talents, and treasures in our 1st Amendment freedom to gather weekly for conversations that matter and identify caring policy directions that expand our liberties. (personal and shared responsibility)
- Invite others to join our freedom partnership and lobby our fellow citizens, respective party representatives and public servants for our caring policy directions. (personal and shared responsibility)
- Implement our caring policy directions by consulting / supervising / replacing (1) all elected and appointed party representatives at the county and state levels, and (2) all elected public workers around our caring policy directions. (personal and social responsibility)
Chuck Watts, Co-Founder
Gary Evans, Co-Founder
This unchartered group has five caring citizen pilot partners, four associate partners, six explorers, and lots of photo petitioners. It meets Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. for a meal, and its 1st Amendment gather is from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. The venue currently alternates between somewhere in Clinton or Greene County. Contact one of the pilot partners for more information. It’s normal one hour agenda is (1) Discuss one chapter per week of Thinking
Anita Dobrzelecki, Pilot Caring Citizen Partner
Millie Mooney, Pilot Caring Citizen Partner
Points, and (2) Discuss next steps in identifying policy directions, inviting others to join us and implementing our moral world view.
Kathryn Palmer, Pilot Caring Citizen Partner
affiliate and join / create a chapter of caring citizens by investing $65 / year is a partner. Partners in the first ten “pilot” chapters chartered are pilot partners. It takes 15 partners to charter two chapters of 7 & 8.
- Alice Lundblad, Wilmington, explorer, afill@earthlink.net
- Anita Dobrzelecki, Bellbrook, caring citizen pilot partner, adobrzelecki1@woh.rr.com
- Bill Conner, Beavercreek, explorer, conner.bill@gmail.com
- Carl Woten, Wilmington, explorer
- Chuck Watts, Co-Founder, Wilmington, chuck.watts@empathysurplus.com
- Cynthia Cooke, Dayton, associate partner, cynthiacooke@sbcglobal.net
- Elaine Musick, Bellbrook, associate partner, emusick@woh.rr.com
- Eliud Owimo, Dayton, explorer, onyangousa@yahoo.com
- Frank Bynum, Dayton, explorer, itekramp@jaluo.com
- Gary Evans, New Vienna, co-founder, gary.evans@empathysurplus.com
- Jeff Murphy, Wilmington, explorer, jeff@jam-solutions.com
- Joe Dennis, Wilmington, explorer, joehdennis@gmail.com
- John Lundblad, Wilmington, explorer, jlundblad@earthlink.net
- John Paddock, Dayton, associate partner, johnpaddock@mac.com (John is the pastor of the church and allows the group to meet in the library on the second floor.)
- Judy Adams, Dayton, associate partner, radams851@woh.rr.com
- Kathryn Palmer, Wilmington, caring citizen pilot partner, kathryn@cinci.rr.com
- Linda Gallagher, Wilmington, explorer, ligallagher1@gmail.com
- Mark Dullea, Wilmington, associate partner, mdullea@yahoo.com. Mark is the owner of The General Denver and allows us to meet in the upper room.
- Marla & Dan Stewart, Wilmington, associate partner, bmore@cinci.rr.com
- Millie Mooney, Dayton, caring citizen pilot partner, mmooney003@woh.rr.com
- Molly Dullea, Wilmington, associate partner, mollydullea@gmail.com. Molly is the owner of The General Denver and allows us to meet in the upper room.
- Stan Musick, Bellbrook, associate partner, smusick@woh.rr.com
- Choose a facilitator and change facilitators each meeting.
- Start with icebreakers and introductions, where you’re from, and why you’re there.
- The facilitator starts the discussion of the preface/introduction or chapter by sharing ONE word or phrase that comes to mind when s/he thinks about the assigned reading. For example, “freedom,” or “Caring citizens are the solution.” Then s/he invites some to do the same. (It’s okay to pass.) That person does the same until everyone has had a chance to share and then invite someone to share.
- The facilitator then shares his/her feeling about the material. For example, anxious. Confused. Angry. Energized. Then s/he invites some to do the same. (It’s okay to pass.) That person does the same until everyone has had a chance to share and then invite someone to share.
- The facilitator then tells everyone what s/he thinks about the material. For example, perhaps it’s a critique, or it inspires someone to describe future action, or one has an idea about a policy direction the group ought to launch. THERE IS NO INTERRUPTION. This is not a discussion – - – yet. Then s/he invites some to do the same. (It’s okay to pass.) That person does the same until everyone has had a chance to share and then invite someone to share.
- After everyone has had a chance to share their (1) word or phrase, (2) feeling, and (3) their thoughts, the facilitator opens it up for discussion.
- Before adjourning the group picks a facilitator for the next meeting who will do the same process.
