Comments from April StepTwo/Seattle Salon at St. Clouds

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 by Karl Bischoff | No comments

St. Clouds Restaurant in Madrona area of Seattle hosted another Step Two event. The subject this month was: What should be the United States' role in our global society? Here are some comments from the event:

Thanks so much for the salon invitation to think globally and eat locally!  It is a great concept and I hope you decide to continue them.  Perhaps this will spread to other restaurants and venues and we will start getting the masses to reengage in meaningful conversation.

Our table mostly agreed that it is no longer United States’ role to police the world, but we do have a responsibility as one of the world leaders to encourage dialogue and diplomacy (such as Obama is doing with Iran, just like he said he’d do in his campaign!).  We agreed that war should never be the first resort (as done by Bush’s preemptive strikes in Iraq), but the absolute last resort.  My personal opinion is that war should NEVER be an option – war is an artifact of our human lizard brains and religious intolerance and we need to evolve away from war if we are to survive as a species.

Our table mostly agreed that the United States should not try to impose our values and culture on other countries.  Promoting diversity and accepting/enjoying differences makes the world more interesting.  We starting talking about how to draw the line in basic human rights possibly with a World Bill of Rights – a clear minimum standard without preaching individual values or morals.  Enforcement could be through economic sanctions, although there was not agreement at our table that sanctions work – this could be an interesting follow-up topic for a future salon.

Our table agreed that the food was tasty, the drink merry, the conversation rich, and we look forward to future salons!