A Time for Choices: Deep Dialogues for Deep Democracy

by Michael Toms

Events of the last 12 months have led to a crisis in American values. With the passage of the so-called Patriot Act, the War Powers Act, and the presidential edict establishing military tribunals, with Congress and the major mass media championing the government party line, civil liberties and the founding democratic principles of the United States of America are in grave jeopardy. Dissent and disagreement have become "unpatriotic" and "un-American." A Time for Choices addresses these contemporary challenges to democracy through dialogues that expand the field of possibilities with the views of leading thinkers, educators, political analysts, activists, social innovators, clergy, journalists, philosophers, and spiritual teachers. These are the voices of the fourth branch of government, the bedrock of American democracy-the people-speaking out and questioning policy. The dialogues are grouped in nine sections and Reflections on 9-11: Terry Tempest Williams and Robert Fuller What is Kevin Danaher and Lynne Twist The Media is the Paul Hawken, Anita Roddick, and Norman Solomon Giving Peace a Howard Zinn and Susan Griffin The Search for William McDonough and John Mohawk The People - The 4th Branch of Noam Chomsky and Amy Goodman The Spiritual Joanna Macy and Thomas Moore Other As'ad Abukhalil and Tahmeena Farval Visions of the Vicki Robin and Jean Houston The book will appeal to all seeking to understand the deeper roots of the crises facing the United States. Michael Toms is the co-founder and principal host of New Dimensions Radio-heard on more than 350 stations in the U.S. He has spent 30 years covering social change and global transformation issues. The Board Chairman Emeritus of the California Institute of Integral Studies, Toms is the author of many books on business, work, Buddhism, and social issues.

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002