Recent BI and Substack Posts

Anne Leslie reflects on our tendency to describe everything in binary, either-or terms, which almost always leads us astray.

David Eisner suggests we navigate his faultlines by making two mind shifts: receiving those who oppose our approach as "the loyal opposition," and saving our fire for the fight that warrants it. And we know how to do this.

Part Two of David' Eisners essay on Citizenship Under Friendly Fire, this time looking at who gets included, who gets kept out; whose knowledge counts, whose doesn’t and how these decisions can undermine the work we all are trying to do.

Many different types of people and organizations are working on civic renewal and democratic renewal. They all share the same goals, but very different notions of how to get there. And those differences cause collisions, hard feelings, and impeded progress.

Projects pulling us together, others tearing us apart. This week's news and colleague stories include both.

Despite all its flaws and failings, democracy still offers better life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness than any other governance system. We explain why we think that--and why it matters.

Thoughts on history, the United States' 250th 4th of July, and democracy ("the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried"). Rather than killing it off, we should try to rejuvenate it.

Interesting and important readings for the week.

Guy Burgess tells a personal story about a multi-year process to use democracy to save access to open space in Boulder, Colorado. This is one example of how courageous citizenship works.

Debilyn Molineaux talks about how bridging is insufficient to counter authoritariansim. We need to develop a positive vision of where we, personally, want to be in 2, 5, 10, or 20 years, and then figure out what kind of a community we need around us to make that happen.

Important, if sometimes depressing, reading this week. But there are some good news stories here!

Liberal democracies need engaged, courageous citizens to function properly. Teaching children how to do that is an important job for parents, as schools and institutions are no longer teaching such attitudes and skills.

Daniel Yudkin, Founding Director of the Beacon Project explains its origins in More in Common's Hidden Tribes report, explaining how the notion of potentialism might just be the "secret sauce" that gives people a sense of civic agency and hope, instead of the now so prevalent feelings of hopelessness and loneliness.

Another set of readings suggested by Guy, Heidi, and our readers.

Many avenues are available for citizens who want to influence or change government. And AI may bring us even more if it is used wisely.

Citizen efforts to work around dysfunctional government can work in some contexts, but ultimately one usually needs to get the government involved in some way. So figuring out how to work with and improve government is also key to making democracy work for its citizens (using the term "citizen" to mean all people who live there).

Catching up on reading from the last two weeks.

Many of us treat Memorial Day like a big party to mark the beginning of summer. It is (and should be) much more than that.

Surprising, important, and some hopeful readings for this week.

The second of two newsletters on Braver Angels' concept of "courageous citizenship," talking about the courage it takes, and how it was done before in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

The first of two articles explaining what the Braver Angels' term "courageous citizenship" means to Guy and Heidi Burgess, and why we think the concept is so important to civic health and democracy.

Colleague, news, and opinion items of interest for this week.

Guy and Heidi Burgess interview journalist Gideon Lichfield about journalism, democracy, AI, and how all of those (and more) are intertwined.

A reader shared his query to Claude (and its response) about the future of AI--what are the commonalities, the differences, and how to address those differences between its strong supporters and its strong critics. It is interesting reading.

This week's readings: sobering (as always) with a dash of hope.