"Selected" CC-MOOS Posts

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!

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.

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.

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).

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

Catching up on reading from the last two weeks.