Episode 13: The People's Constitution by Bronwyn Kelly (Chapter 5 - Parts 4 & 5)

In Episode 13 Bronwyn Kelly reads Chapter 5 Parts 4 and 5 of her book, The People's Constitution: the path to empowerment of Australians in a 21st century democracy.In Part 4 Bronwyn begins with a suggestion that if a nation were to succeed in enshrining the values listed in Part 3 of this Chapter (see Episode 12), but also succeeded in creating a governance system conducive to living those values, then that country would be an amazing place to live. It would be a place full of positive hope for everyone. But she then suggests that it would be wise to check if this is the sort of national character – the societal value set – that will best serve our shared purpose of building the future we might really want for all Australians. To do that, Bronwyn undertakes an exercise of imagining this national character and value set in reverse. She sets out an image of what our future would look like if we don’t select the values listed in Part 3. This reverse imagining is always a useful exercise in helping people select preferred values because it so quickly reveals the direction in which nations will travel if they fail to commit to these values or adopt an opposite value set and character.Bronwyn and her editor, David Kelly, then read out two versions of the future that may arise, depending on whether Australians confirm the values they have supported in surveys or select values that are antithetical to their probable preferences. The two versions of our future are starkly contrasted. One is life-oriented. The other is not.In Part 5 of the chapter Bronwyn expands on how the comparison of opposites in Part 4 makes the decisions about a national value set much easier. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bronwynkelly.substack.com