Quotes About Consensus

There are five tell-tale signs of a social scare: (1) concern, (2) hostility, (3) consensus, (4) disproportion, and (5) volatility. First, there must be sufficient concern that the perceived threat poses a serious risk to traditional values and must be measurable. Statistics and opinion polls are often used to sound the alarm, but they are not always accurate.

But perhaps the greatest threat is that we lack the mechanism of consensus, a way of making up our collective minds.

In contrast to positional bargaining, the principled negotiation method of focusing on basic interests, mutually satisfying options, and fair standards typically results in a wise agreement. The method permits you to reach a gradual consensus on a joint decision efficiently.

I say it was immediately apparent, but it was not apparent to the intellectual class, which has remained largely wedded to the post-war consensus to this day. The

This falling-out was to be more than personal, for the rift between Hamilton and Madison precipitated the start of the two-party system in America. The funding debate shattered the short-lived political consensus that had ushered in the new government. For the next five years, the political spectrum in America was defined by whether people endorsed or opposed Alexander Hamilton's programs.

Some states, such as Massachusetts and South Carolina, struggled with heavy debts and were glad to be relieved by the central government. Others, such as Virginia and North Carolina, had settled most of their debts and saw no reason to help. Such differences threatened to explode the brittle consensus that had been so arduous to reach at the Constitutional Convention.

For a time, they were held back by Benjamin Brewster, and Rockefeller, unwilling to move without a consensus, yielded against his better judgment.

When polled in Harper's presence, not a single trustee endorsed his position—a humiliating blow.

Too many cooks spoil the broth, many hands make light work, great minds think alike, fools never differ.

Right there. Stan Reacher, nem con. Which was short for the Latin nemine contradicente, which meant no one spoke against, which meant no one else wanted the job.

I do accept at least half of what society in general holds to be right.

Public opinion is the worst of all opinions.

No member of a society has a right to teach any doctrine contrary to what the society holds to be true.

Ours is a post-Christian world in which Christianity, not only in the number of Christians but in cultural emphasis and cultural result, is no longer the consensus or ethos of our society.

It is at the heart of our human enterprise, that is to say, at the heart of society, to allow consensus a power it ought not to have.

Everything popular is wrong.

On a number of issues, a bipartisan majority of the [economics] profession would unite on the opposite side from a bipartisan majority of Congress. —Arthur Okun (1970)

What this brings out is that modern politics cannot be a matter of genuine moral consensus. And it is not. Modern politics is civil war carried on by other means

From discord, find Harmony.

It's easy to be friends with when shares the same opinions.

When historian of science Naomi Oreskes surveyed all peer-reviewed papers on climate change published between 1993 and 2003 in the world's leading scientific journal, Science, she found that there were 980 supporting the idea of human-induced global warming and none opposing it.

Ultimately, a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus. I would rather be a man of conviction than a man of conformity.

Scientists worldwide agree that the reduction needed to stabilize the climate is actually more like 80 percent.

Truth is not determined by majority vote.