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 The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
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--George Washington, Farewell Address, September 26, 1796
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I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of this society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion.
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--Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Charles Jarvis, September 28, 1820
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There must be a positive passion for the public good… established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty: and this public passion must be superior to all private passions.
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--John Adams, letter to Mercy Warren, April 16, 1776
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I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men … where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.
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--Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789
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Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.
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--James Madison, Federalist No. 10, November 23, 1787
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If we move in mass, be it ever so circuitously, we shall attain our object; but if we break into squads, everyone pursuing the path he thinks most direct, we become an easy conquest to those who can now barely hold us in check.
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--Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Duane, 1811
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Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
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--James Madison, letter to W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822
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Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men.
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--John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776
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A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
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--James Madison, letter to W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822
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With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in.
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--Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865
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The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.
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--George Washington, Farewell Address, September 26, 1796
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Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.
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--John Adams, Dissertation on Canon and Feudal Law, 1765
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… the public good, the real welfare of the great body of the people, is the supreme object to be pursued; and…no form of government whatever has any other value than as it may be fitted for the attainment of this object.
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--James Madison, Federalist No. 45, January 26, 1788
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…that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
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--Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863
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In every political society, parties are unavoidable. A difference of interests, real or supposed, is the most natural and fruitful source of them. The great object should be to combat the evil.
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--James Madison, Parties, January 23, 1792
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Leadership
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Keith Allred, Founder and President
Keith taught and conducted research on leadership, particularly in the areas
of negotiation and conflict resolution, for seven years as a professor the Harvard
Kennedy School of Government where he was also a faculty member of the Program
on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Before joining the faculty at Harvard,
he was a professor in social and organizational psychology at Columbia
University. A fifth-generation Idahoan who grew up in Twin Falls, Keith
and his family returned to his home state in 2003 to pursue his applied interests
in consulting and mediation. He is the principal at Allred
Solutions. Keith also continues to teach leadership topics in executive
programs at Harvard and Oxford.
Keith has significant experience in applying his scholarly knowledge to real
world challenges. As a professional mediator, he has helped manage and resolve
many public sector disputes, including public lands, hydroelectric dam, tribal,
and land use disputes. His experience in these pitched conflicts in which special
interests often exert a disproportionate influence, motivated him to find an
effective way for common citizens to be heard. As a consultant and trainer he
has worked for Fortune 500 companies, federal and state agencies, and local
governments.
Keith earned a B.A. from Stanford in American History and a Ph.D. in organizational
behavior and social psychology from UCLA. He loves skiing, backpacking, fly-fishing,
and snow machining. Having grown-up working summers on the family cattle ranch,
Keith has competed successfully on cutting horses, going to the national championships
twice. He is married to Christine Edwards Allred. They are the proud parents
of Anna (4) and Dan (3) and Cate (not yet 1 year old).
Cameron Wheeler, Board Member, The Common Interest, Inc.
Cameron served in Idaho's House of Representatives, where he represented District
28. In 2000 and 2001 he chaired the House Resources and Conservation Committee
which oversees Idaho's natural resources, including water, fish and game, state
lands, surface and ground water quality, state parks and oversight of operations
at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.
He currently serves as the Chairman of the Idaho
Fish and Game Commission. In addition to to raising wheat and barley on
a 1,500-acre farm south of Ririe in eastern Idaho, he is a real estate broker
dealing in farms and ranches.
He and his wife Beverly are avid anglers, particularly enjoying fishing the
famed South Fork of the Snake River just a few miles from their farm.
Marguerite McLaughlin, Board Member, The Common Interest, Inc.
Marguerite McLaughlin has been a resident of Orofino, in north central Idaho,
for over fifty years. She has dedicated many of these years to public service.
Between 1979 and 2000, Marguerite served two terms in the Idaho House of Representatives
and nine terms in the Idaho Senate. She served for five years as a trustee of
the Joint School District of Orofino. Marguerite has also servided on the boards
of the Department
of Environmental Quality, the Clearwater Valley and St. Mary’s Hospital.
During her terms in the Idaho Legislature, Marguerite worked diligently not
only to promote the interests of her district, but also to serve the needs of
Idaho as a whole. Marguerite served as the Senate Minority Leader and spent
sixteen years as a critical member of the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee
to set budgets for state agencies. On behalf of all Idahoans, Marguerite worked
on issues as diverse as public education, children’s health programs,
care for the elderly and disabled, and economic development issues. She has
been praised throughout for “transcending partisan politics.”
Marguerite holds an honorary degree from Lewis Clark State College. She is
the secretary-treasurer for McLaughlin Logging and has been named Region 11
Business and Professional Women’s “Woman of Progress” and
Clearwater County’s “Woman of the Year.”
Marguerite and her husband Bruce McLaughlin have three children and eight grandchildren.
Marguerite is a member of St. Theresa of the Little Flower Parish in Orofino
and is a past president of St. Theresa’s Council of Catholic Women as
well as a past president of the Northcentral Deanery.
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