There’s no denying it, Glenn Beck has stirred up our politics and public life. I think that’s a good thing. Many people may want to condemn him. I want to meet him. I want to ask him some basic questions and use this moment to engage more Americans in a conversation about the kind of country they want. Here’s why.

One of the central challenges people are wrestling with today is: “Who can they trust?” Look at current headlines and news reports, listen to your own conversations, and it is clear there’s a problem. So, today, tell me which leaders you trust. When you do, I’ll send both you and the leader you told us about a free copy of Make Hope Real. Let’s generate a robust list together to demonstrate that good leaders still do exist.

Our political landscape nowadays is like a landfill, filled with lots of junk. This is most apparent on the heightened debate over the building of a mosque near Ground Zero and the posturing around the upcoming mid-term elections. Republicans are fast chasing after President Obama, and Democrats are fast running away from him. But what does that mean about where we stand, especially on the mosque?

These days, people in communities often lack confidence in the ability of various groups, organizations and leaders to do what’s right and create positive change. And yet “confidence” sits at the core of our ability to bring people together to work across boundaries, put aside turf battles, and find better ways to move ahead. Last week at the Public Innovators Summit we asked the participants two questions: What will it take to engender people’s confidence in our ability to do things together? What does this mean for the work you do? How would you answer these questions?

In spending much of last week in New Mexico, I heard a great deal about Arizona’s immigration debate. Each day a new story appeared in the newspaper. Each night the television news would run another piece. When I finally got home late last night, I hopped in a cab, pining for my family. But no sooner did the cab pull away from the curb, than the conversation with my Pakistani cab driver began. His voice is nowhere to be heard in the raucous immigration debate. It should be.

Maybe you can feel the earth trembling as the stampede of “pink elephants” comes thundering toward Washington, DC, their arrival slated for election-day November 2, 2010. This is Sarah Palin’s vision out in her new (beautifully-produced) 2-minute video found on SarahPAC. Palin seeks to rev up women to vote for conservative candidates this fall. She tells us there is a “mom awakening” happening across America, so watch out! But I want to know, toward what end?

Last week I was in Las Vegas where I discovered a community once on top of the world fighting to come back in the wake of the Great Recession. What people in Las Vegas are doing offers a vision of what it will take for communities across the country to rebound from this tough economic and social time. It’s not a mere roll of the dice that’s bringing Vegas back, but intentional actions to create real change and community.

Last night while driving home I heard a live broadcast of a gubernatorial candidates’ debate in Tennessee. One question was about whether the candidates would allow a mosque to be built in a neighborhood. As I listened to their responses, my stomach began to turn, and then I considered my own question: Is this the country we want?

Last week I told you that I had “banned” the phrase “civic engagement” from the Institute’s work and I got quite a reaction – some in support, others not. My point was simply that engagement needs to be more about people and impact, and less about endless discussions over inputs and process. For people in the country want to re-engage and get to work; at issue is our response.

Sometime ago I found myself standing in front of a thousand people giving a speech and saying that I had banned the phrase ‘civic engagement’ from The Harwood Institute’s work. The phrase has become a catch-all, a kind of Good Housekeeping seal that we’re doing honorable work in the name of community and the common good. But what I find is that the phrase gets in the way of our very goals.