Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Liberal and conservative outlook

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Nov 5, 2008, at 7:50 PM, Hans Tilstra wrote:

> Thinking about conservative and liberal vantage points - TED has a  
> rather thought-provoking contribution by Jonathan Haidt called "the  
> real difference between liberals and conservatives".
> http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html

This is a very revealing and explanatory 18 minutes on the 5  
foundations of the moral mind and cross cultural study of how they  
reveal conservative and liberal views, and how they help us understand  
and appreciate each other. Even though the majority, if not all  
cohousers are liberal to libertarian, there is also a range of  
conservativeness within that essential liberalness.

I am coming up against this in my community. I consider the Reserve  
Fund as the money we put aside to spend. Others consider it money we  
put aside to save. Spending it is just not supposed to be done.

The building, in my view, would have to be falling apart before they  
would be willing to spend anything to fix it. They value the money in  
the bank more than they value having the CH painted. I point to the  
walls that look like a student lounge, and they point to the money in  
the bank. Now they are pointing to the financial crisis.

Understanding how these points of view might affect those two  
positions, might help us reach an agreement on when we spend money.

Johnathan Heidt speaks very fast, but if you roll over the bottom of  
the video screen,  you there is another menu that allows you to repeat  
a specific segment.

I'm also looking at this in terms of how it explains the balance in  
sociocratic organization. The hierarchical structure balances  
consensus decision-making so a large group can move forward  
efficiently and still consider equally the concerns of each of its  
members.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Sociocracy, a Deeper Democracy
http://www.sociocracy.info