Escape the Binary: How Local Citizen Councils—and Sez Us—Can Help Us Talk Like Humans Again

Only you can build it

We’re living in a time of constant digital noise—and constant division. Everything is framed in extremes: like or dislike, Red or Blue, follow or block. Political discussion has collapsed into performance. Civics has become combat. Social media promises connection but delivers polarization. The result? A democracy where fewer and fewer people trust each other, the system, or even the possibility of honest disagreement.

But what if the solution isn’t more national shouting—but more local listening?

We need to reclaim what democracy actually is: not just voting, but participating. Not just broadcasting opinions, but deliberating. Not just reacting to each other—but learning from each other.

One powerful way to do that is by reviving the ancient, and deeply democratic, idea of citizen councils—small, diverse groups of everyday people who come together in their communities to talk, reflect, and problem-solve. In ancient Athens, these councils—made up of regular citizens selected by lottery—were at the heart of public decision-making. In the Dean campaign we used digital technology to empower people to connect online and hold Meet Ups where they lived, in their neighborhoods and communities. Strangers listening and solving problems together.

I remember then Governor Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii sending me an email that said “Do you know what you have done? People who were strangers are learning to have faith in each other again”.

That model could be just what our divided society needs.

Imagine this: A public library or city hall hosts a group of your neighbors—a bus driver, a retiree, a teacher, a recent college grad—gathered to talk through local issues like school funding, housing, or safety. No cameras. No social media pile-ons. Just real people, face to face, practicing the lost art of listening.

But we also live in a digital world—and to truly scale trust and civic renewal, we need a digital space built for humanity, not hostility.

That’s where Sez Us comes in.

Sez Us is a platform with a radical premise: millions of people coming together online—not to argue or perform—but to engage with civility. No bots. No manipulative algorithms. Just people, showing up with curiosity, decency, and respect—even (especially) when they disagree. It’s a place to listen, learn, and share across lines that usually divide us. A platform where disagreement doesn’t mean dehumanization, and where civil discourse is the default, not the exception.

Even better, Sez Us acts as a bridge—connecting people online with opportunities to form groups or their own channels, to meet locally, in person, create citizen councils and other neighborhood-based gatherings. It’s both a digital town square and a launchpad for real-world democratic renewal.

This is how we break out of the binary. This is how we escape the “like/unlike,” “us vs. them” trap that’s paralyzing our politics and poisoning our culture. Not with one big national fix—but with millions of small conversations. With spaces—online and offline—where people aren’t reduced to avatars, and politics isn’t reduced to rage.

Democracy isn’t dying because people disagree. It’s dying because we’ve forgotten how to disagree. But we can learn again. We can talk again. We can build again.

Let it start with a simple idea: sit down, talk it out—on Sez Us, in your neighborhood, face to face. No hashtags. No hot takes. Just humans, trying to live together.

That’s how we heal. That’s how we govern. That’s how we move forward—together.

That’s how we stand up America.