And?
The best policies and laws will be developed by Congress through what we call inventive negotiation. Inventive negotiation as a legislative process will involve Democrats, Republicans, and third party and independent representatives working together in creative ways. Indeed, the theme of my campaign is well represented in the Preface of a new book I co-wrote with Lynda Lawrence and William Hernández Requejo, Inventive Negotiation:
“AND?” When spoken with a rising tone, this simplest of sentences represents the essence of Inventive Negotiations in two fundamental ways. First, it recognizes that invention is a social activity involving you and me, and sometimes even Dick and Jane and Yoshi and Maria. Second, this simplest of questions asks “what’s next” after an agreement and beyond that old “getting to yes.” It also avoids the creativity killing “yeah, but . . .” It implies a long-term relationship among partners where synergy pertains. Our book is about a new way of thinking about human exchange and about how to conduct inventive negotiations in all aspects of your life—personal, commercial, political, and global.
So in the Issues sections of this website all proposals are headed by the optimistic, future-oriented “AND?” This philosophy sees our problems as opportunities, and the best solutions are evidence-based ones.