Democracy Café

How is our longtime Socrates Cafe endeavor a vital way to advance our democracy within our military? Captain Alex Carlier of the U.S. Army can tell you firsthand. He was inspired by my works and deeds to hold Socrates Cafes on a regular basis not only at his current base in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, but where he was stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. As you'll hear, there is considerable background noise as he and I talk, because Captain Carlier is actually at a cafe (how apropos is that :) -- but his eloquent message comes through loud and clear. Here's the message he sent to me nine months ago: Dr. Phillips, Thank you for your work towards improving democracy and healthy dialogue throughout the world. I am a company commander in the U.S. Army, and I started hosting Socrates Café dialogues with my junior leaders weekly while we were deployed to Iraq. One intriguing discussion took place when a platoon leader posed the question, “Are we storm troopers?” These have been important dialogues mainly focused