When Dr. Ronan Murphy got a call from out of the blue, he thought it was a telemarketer. Sally Stomberg was also skeptical when the phone rang at her Stanwood home.
The woman on the line assured her it wasn’t a sales call.
"Because she identified herself as being from U.C. Berkeley and not trying to sell anything, I said sure," said Stomberg, 44.
"I’m glad I didn’t tell them no," said Murphy, 34, an Everett Clinic neurologist. "I felt quite honored to be chosen."
Murphy and Stomberg are two of 100 people from Snohomish, King, Pierce and Kitsap counties who’ll participate in a foreign policy discussion Saturday at the University of Washington in Seattle.
The event, called a "By the People Citizen Deliberation," will be one of 10 nationwide that day sponsored by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions’ By the People initiative. A national PBS special intended to fuel discussion about world affairs will air at 10 p.m. Thursday on KCTS-Channel 9.
Those chosen to attend were called at random and polled by the Berkeley Survey Research Center and the Public Research Institute. The UW event, which isn’t open to the public, is organized by the Seattle-based World Affairs Council, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.
"That’s one of the great things America allows that people in other parts of the world are not able to do — express their opinions democratically," said Murphy, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He came to the United States in 1995 and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.
"I consider myself an American with Irish heritage, like so many Americans. The very idea of free speech, the freedom to voice opinion, is a jewel in this country’s Constitution," he said.
"How many people get the chance to participate?" Stomberg said.
People at the forum will take on topics from free trade to nation building in Iraq.
For Stomberg and Murphy, it’s a chance to air strong views about the Iraq war.
The Stanwood woman has a stepson, 18-year-old Ryan Stomberg, who plans to enlist in the Marines. Another stepson, Josh Stomberg, 19, is in the military but was injured in boot camp and awaits a medical discharge. "I like not having to face him going to Iraq," she said.
"I’m glad Saddam is gone," Sally Stomberg said. "But the reason we were given for going into Iraq, the weapons of mass destruction, I’m not convinced that was the real reason."
Murphy separates his opinion on the war from feelings about U.S. troops in Iraq.
"In terms of supporting the military, these people are willing to give their lives for their country. That’s an incredibly honorable profession. They need our support now more than ever," said Murphy, who lives in Mukilteo.
"I do not necessarily feel war is the best way of achieving peace in the Middle East and protecting America’s interests," he said. "The government that starts and wages war has to be sure the benefits to the country and the people are worth the potential cost in human lives."
Murphy and Stomberg will listen Saturday to experts, among them U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash.; Rick Bender, president of the Washington State Labor Council; Dr. Amal Winter, just back from a pre-election assessment mission in Iraq; and Joel Migdal, a professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.
Another round of deliberations is planned for October. Issues raised may find their way into questions asked in presidential debates. In 2000, Jim Lehrer of PBS was the moderator for all three presidential debates.
"I’m an everyday American," said Stomberg, who works for a boat builder.
"It’s actually kind of scary speaking your opinion. We’ll be heard by a lot of people, maybe a lot of people who disagree," she said. "We have the opportunity to vote, and that is a privilege. If you don’t vote, don’t whine about elected officials.
"And this is a privilege. It’s a good way to be heard, to get to those people, to be really, really heard."
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or
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