Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: RE- the politics of co-h

[Stephen Lewin-Berlin (berlin]

I think that -consensus- is one of those words that has been misused and
abused to the point that it is difficult to know if people are speaking of
the same thing.  On the issue at hand - coming to consensus on the name of a
group - I certainly believe that it can be done.  My definition of consensus
does not require that everybody agrees that the decision made is their
*favorite* choice - merely that nobody is prepared to *block* the choice. 

So, a possible process might be:

Gather a list of possibilities
If anybody *really doesn't like* a choice, strike it from the list

All the choices remaining (if any) pass the "consensus test" - nobody
will block them.  Now, any process that selects among them is ok, e.g.:

Give everybody (1? 3? 11?) votes, and let them cast votes for
their favorite(s). The choice which gets the most votes wins, unless somebody
blocks a final query.  Voila, consensus.

-- Steve
   Rose Tree Cohousing