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in different ways. If the routine business of politics is done in ways that are open to citizens, the

routines can become democratic practices.

These practices are reflected in the ordinary questions people ask one another when

something threatens collective well-being when conversations revolve around such questions as:

What’s bothering you? How does this problem affect you and your family? What should we do?

What would be the consequences? If there are negative consequences to what you propose, do you

think we should still do it? What is the right thing to do? Who else do we need to solve the problem?

What resources do we need? What do we have that we can use? -- What are we learning?

Kettering has selected a set of terms that it uses to describe what is going on politically

when people ask these everyday questions. Each term identifies one of the democratic practices

just mentioned. When people talk about what bothers them, Kettering would say that they are

naming problems. Naming is a political practice because the name that is given to a problem affects

what is done to solve it. When people talk about what can be done, they often propose options,

and when all the options are put on the table, they create a framework for tackling a problem. The

framing structures everything that happens thereafter. Framing issues with only one or two options

sets in motion a political debate that is very different from what happens if there are multiple

options on the table. (Saunders, 1999, p. 259).

When people move on to assess the possible consequences that might result from one

course of action or another, Kettering would say they are making decisions deliberatively. They

are weighing possible consequences against what is deeply important to them. They are mulling

over or sorting out what they hear, perhaps changing their minds as they learn about someone

else’s experience. Eventually, they may settle on some work that they need to do with other

citizens, something they want a government to do, or both.

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