Dan Combs, former head of e-Gov for Iowa and a long-standing member of our community who has most recently been working on identity and security issues. Dan took the contest within a few hours of the late-night posting. Enjoy the Kelman book, Dan!

The 'Come let us reason together' phrase comes from the bible's Isaiah 1.18 or, as in Marty Wagner's response:

"Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord
though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow;
though they are red like crimson they shall be as wool
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land
but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
Isaiah 1:18-20

My context, however, was the frequent use of the phrase throughout his career by LBJ. For an interesting interview by Walter Cronkite with then candidate for Vice President LBJ, see: http://www.jfklink.com/speeches/joint/joint260960_johnsonprofile.html
The quote comes about half-way down…

While my demographic hypothesis about the winner proved about right, my reasoning chain was faulty. I thought that those remembering LBJ would remember this quote at least vaguely, and thus it would be my generation - more or less - with the edge.

The truth of the matter, however, is that Google (apologies to other search engines) has changed all this. The world for this kind of competition is much flatter than it used to be. Instead of trying to remember where he heard it, Dan simply put the words into Google and - voila - there is was.

So, we can find things like this MUCH faster than before. Now maybe you should send me some more examples of how to use that capacity to make smarter decisions.

Onward.