On Tuesday, after watching the new President’s inauguration speech, I felt such common ground with him and his image of our potential, especially in talking about the values that we hold in common. When we founded the Archimedes Movement in January 2006 it was with the belief that there is much more that we have in common than the amount of things we disagree on. We wanted to create a space where everyone could join in the conversation and feel that their voice would be heard. That is harder than it sounds.

One of our objectives was to be transparent, which means that not only do you let people see your typos, comment on syntax and your use of language, but you also give a voice to people you – or I – might disagree with. While the staff get excited that someone wants to write and post on our blog, you – the reader – might sometimes wish that the disagreements were in private and not public. Whether supporters are talking about politics or the meaning and merits of “single payer” health care, we remain committed to fostering a space where people have their say. Of course, we’re hoping that others will join in and share their views, and perhaps start another conversation if you are interested in something else. Our hope is that you won’t feel limited to only being an observer to the debate, or that you are somehow being held captive and forced to listen. You might find something else on our site that you would like to comment on, or you can start a new conversation in your chapter or group.

If you don’t think other people are curious about what’s being discussed in our blog let me tell you two short stories. Story number one: We sent out a reminder about a health reform conference held recently in Portland. We saw it as an opportunity for some Archimedes Movement supporters to hear Governor Kitzhaber and other national and local leaders speak in person. The Archimedes Movement was an in-kind sponsor of the event, but not its host or organizer. It’s easy to see now that readers assumed it this was our event, instead of the Oregon Health Forum’s. Readers that clicked on the links might have figured out that it wasn’t an Archimedes event, but then they might have been confused as to why we were sending them to someone else’s web site. In hindsight, we should have made it clear in our email who was organizing the conference.

Our decision led to confusion on other fronts. A few readers thought, mostly because of the cost of the conference, that we had intentionally created an event only for powerful stakeholders. In response someone wrote a blog post accusing us of creating a forum that was ‘elitist.’  The substance of that blog post was shared with the staff at the Oregon Health Forum. The next morning I got a call asking about it and what we could do to keep “it” from escalating. My response: the Archimedes Movement website is place where folks can post their reactions and opinions. (We have the ability to moderate a post, but we have only felt the need to do so once or twice in our three years.) The message to you: other organizations are paying attention to (and sharing) what gets posted on our website.

That same week I got a call about Dr. Paul Hochfeld’s video “Health, Money and Fear.”  Someone had seen it, and reported to AARP that there were comments in the video about AARP being “evil.” They wanted to know if that was the official Archimedes Movement position. I again found myself talking about the power of an individual’s voice and that: 1) we don’t assume that everyone connected to the Archimedes Movement uses the same words when they speak about health reform – and it’s okay for us to disagree because we agree on the underlying values we want to see in a new health system; and 2) we continue to look for opportunities for AARP to work jointly on a project with us. The AARP policy staff person here in Oregon sits on the Oregon Health Reform Collaborative with me, and while we may not always agree on strategies, we agree that the current system needs fundamental reform and agree on many of the key principles that should drive that reform.

Members and supporters who want to watch what is being talked about may not always enjoy our blog, but those who want to help shape the conversation have an opportunity to lead. All you need to do is log-in and post something to your chapter page. We read those and we’ll occasionally make something accessible for public viewing (meaning that others who aren’t logged-in and a chapter subscriber can view it).

Every day there is another person who has that “Ah-hah!” moment about the Archimedes Movement. At the same time there are others who want to paint us with their own colors and brushes. They will try to frame our Movement as ‘for’ something or ‘against’ another thing, trying to distract us from the key issues at hand. There may come a time when the Archimedes Movement, through our Community Leadership Council is asked to take a position on a bill or an issue. There will be a lot of pressure on us to do that, but we are not there yet. Until then, our goal is to reframe this debate so that it expands beyond the question of how we should pay for insurance coverage, focuses on the elements of the Triple Aim and works within the Framework that thousands of people took part in crafting. We are not looking for issues or legislation to oppose. We are bringing forth ideas and concepts to propose. Sometimes that will be profound, sometimes it will be messy. We’re ready for both.