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the kind of deliberative practice used to
guide the discussions. The model here
is a Deliberative Poll®. Developed by
Jim Fishkin, a Deliberative Poll® uses
the science of random sampling to recruit a representative sample of the entire population and in such a way that
the citizens can be placed in an intensive, 2-3 day deliberative setting. By
using random sampling (from say, each
of the provinces) along with both preand post surveys, the Deliberative Poll®
adds more statistical force to the outcome of the deliberations. In technical
terms, the results of this kind of poll
have both internal validity (following
the protocols involved in achieving a
well structured and informed conversation) and external validity (because the
participants statistically represent the
county as a whole). There is precedent
for this. Fishkin’s Center for Deliberative Democracy has supported numerous national Deliberative Polling® initiatives including “Tomorrow’s Europe,” an event that involved sampling
across the European Union and a 3-day
deliberation process at the EU headquarters in Belgium.

While I am only speculating on such a
possibility, Cuesta Morúa himself proposes "the need for a new constitutional
assembly to ratify the constitutional
framework that will run the country."
The results of any Deliberative Poll®
on the Cuban Constitution would have
“consulting power” especially if a super-majority achieved an overlapping
consensus on a proposed Cuban Constitution. Such results could be used to
inform a national referendum. And we
might see what George Washington saw
in 1788, but this time with the inclusion
of women and afro-descendants.

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