Community building is about consensus building and consensus is in generally short supply in the current environment at nearly every level of government. On Sunday THE STATE newspaper of Columbia had two articles that I noticed discussing the need for coming together. The first was an editorial by Cindy Ross Scoppe about the candidacy of Vincent Sheheen for governor of South Carolina. The other article was by David Gergen,called HOW MUCH GOVERNMENT. The article was a back-page column in PARADE magazine. He discussed the metaphorical daggers that everyone seems to be bringing to political and problem-solving discussions. He made a good point about not being able to solve problems when facing daggers. While I am on the other side when it comes to government, Gergen had important things to say about the discussion process. Just thought it would be good to note some of this very important food for thought.

http://www.thestate.com/2010/05/09/1277538/scoppe-tackling-big-issues-seeking.html#RSS=Cindi%20Scoppe