Dialogue

Over the last week or so I've had a good discussion with a reader named Poi - who disagrees with my comments on the Campus Commitment. In the end, I think we finally disagree about whether the document is a good approach for campuses. I think the commitment is at least partially a statement of political correctness - Poi believes that it is a creative way to encourage campuses to take small steps forward in wise energy use. But it is always valuable to be able to look at the world from a number of perspectives.

The best public policies are made from the direct interaction of people who disagree, respectfully. The best results are not, as is said often in the legislative process, to be a result that "no one likes so it must be good" but from conscientious discussion where the end goal is to figure out where an appropriate result should come. It is too bad that the public policy process spends too much time on the stylized debates that one colleague in the legislative process called "legislative kabuki" and too little on trying to find solutions which meet the needs of the interests involved.