Political Thinking for Everyday Citizens
Reading List: What the Warmth of Other Suns Tells Us about the American Dream
Reading List: What the Warmth of Other Suns Tells Us about the American DreamThe Warmth of Other Suns is the story of the American Dream turned backwards or inside out. It's a story that's absolutely necessary to understand before we use that idea of the United States...
Questions of Civic Proportions: Can we avoid the dead end of despair?
I want to share a call to arms: "Less despair. More repair." So says Austin Kleon, a local artist and writer here in Austin, Texas. His most recent book Keep Going wants readers to persist in their creative pursuits. I'm borrowing this call for resolve in the...
John Lewis: Grit in Service to Civic Life
John Lewis: Grit in Service to Public Life How Civic Grit Builds Community and Fights FailureGrit is a funny word. When someone says it, there’s almost always a guttural growl or a sneer added. When we say grit, we feel it. A small group of early-stage entrepreneurs...
Questions of Civic Proportions: What’s the danger in being dangerously uninformed?
By now, you've heard discussion of the latest book about the Trump presidency. You've undoubtedly heard one of its key phrases, "dangerously uninformed." But is any of this news? We have long documented just how comfortably uninformed the American public is. Last...
What should we expect the work of “impartial justice” to look like?
What should we expect the work of “impartial justice” to look like? To begin the impeachment trial, the oath to the U.S. Constitution isn't enough.The U.S. Senate has now become something different. They have received the articles of impeachment and taken a...
Questions of Civic Proportions for January 12, 2020
It's that time of year again. It might be unique to election years. Let's all join hands or shake our fists or whatever it is you do when we join together to call for better civics. Our country is falling apart, y'all. If only there were an army of civic educators who...
Surviving Election 2020: How will you resist the “prophets of doom?”
Surviving Election 2020: How will you resist the "prophets of doom?"Frederick Douglass's vision for the United States in 1869 can help.Like everyone else, I’m trying to distract myself from the headlines. I have always been serious about following the news as a...
The Unanswered Questions of the American Presidency and the Constitution
We will take a close look at Article II, of course, but that has never been enough to settle a debate. The U.S. Appeals Court fielded several claims about the office of the presidency, its powers and the individual officeholder’s rights. They cited the First Amendment as the guide to their decision
We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.
—Carl Sagan