Five FAQs About “Taking Democracy for Granted”
My recent SNF Agora Institute report, “Taking Democracy for Granted: Philanthropy, Polarization, and the Need for Responsible Pluralism,” is prompting spirited exchanges. Multiple people have asked me some variant of the following five questions:
Isn’t the big problem here left-of-center philanthropists and the groups they support?
What if funders want to back power-building to end structural racism instead of bridge-building to support pluralism?
Are you saying advocates and activists have to engage with their ideological opponents?
What if the Cassandras are right and democracy is on the verge of dying?
If philanthropy is once again going to be key to defeating Donald Trump, doesn’t that end justify the means?
These are good questions! To broaden the conversation, I wanted to share the answers I have been giving.
A Framework for Democracy Philanthropy
I have been workshopping a framework to help potential philanthropic funders — both foundation and individual donors — explore and make sense of the democracy field. It is proving to be especially helpful for philanthropists who are in the process of deciding whether and how they might start making grants in the field, rife as it is with complexities and disruptions.
Online Community Organizing Is Not an Oxymoron
Deepti Doshi, Co-Director of New_ Public, is a great guide to help us to look for, understand, and spread the silver linings that accompany the accelerating migration of our civic life into online spaces.
A Big Question I Have Is…
To revitalize democracy in American, we need hopeful outlooks, playful creativity, and a place-based sense of agency.
Vanessa Williamson on Plan C: Building Blocks of Redemocratization
What if democracy in America falls prey to authoritarianism? Could we recover? If so, how would we go about it? Vanessa Williamson of the Brookings Institution has been thinking through this scenario and the fundamental building blocks of re-democratization.
Solving for Pattern in Democracy and Civic Life–In Kentucky and Elsewhere
Wendell Berry’s essay “Solving for Pattern” focuses on problems of modern agriculture. But his principles travel well into and illuminate other domains, not least democracy and civic life.
From Local Journalism to Civic Media: A Conversation with Darryl Holliday
Darryl Holliday is a journalist and social entrepreneur who has innovated in the realms of local journalism and civic media throughout his professional life. I recently caught up with Darryl to learn more about his work and the opportunities that he and his colleagues have been working to illuminate and realize.
Politics on the Road to Zion: A Conversation with the Co-Leaders of Mormon Women for Ethical Government
Most Americans presume that when you combine religion and politics, you end up corrupting one or the other, or both. Mormon Women for Ethical Government, a grassroots network with 7,000+ members across 49 states, thinks the opposite: faith can help redeem politics, and vice versa.
We Need a Bigger Boat to Revitalize U.S. Democracy—Here Are Three Ways We Can Start Building It
Democracy’s defenders have lost as much ground as we have gained in the Trump Era. We can’t whistle past this reality. We can’t assume that, if we just keep doing what we have been, only with more urgency and funding, we will succeed. It is time for a new theory of change. To paraphrase Chief Brody in Jaws after his first glimpse of the massive shark, we are going to need a bigger boat to revitalize U.S. democracy.
Bringing Peacebuilding Home: Five Early Signals from the Needham Resilience Network
A growing number of efforts to shore up U.S. democracy and mitigate political and identify-based violence are doing so under the rubric of peacebuilding. The Needham (MA) Resilience Network provides some initial insights on what it will take to implement this approach effectively in the U.S.
Citizens’ Assemblies: An Idea Whose Time Has Come (Again)
Citizens’ assemblies can help us resolve some big problems we have with representative democracy. They bring authentic and representative citizen perspectives to bear in policymaking and, at the same time, refine public opinion through informed deliberation and judgment. But for citizens’ assemblies to take root in the US, advocates, funders, and–not least–elected officials must see them as a complement rather than a replacement for representative democracy.
Democracy Maine-stream: A Conversation with Anna Kellar
To preserve and enhance democracy in America we need to revitalize the civic culture and community-level ties that support it. This work has to be done at the state and local levels. What does it look like? Who are the civil society groups and civic leaders that can help us tackle it? Anna Kellar is a uniquely positioned to illuminate these challenges. She leads Democracy Maine, an innovative collaboration that includes the League of Women Voters of Maine, Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, and Maine Students Vote.
Four Ways To Reframe Democracy in America
We need to pull the camera back and reframe democracy in America. We should do this not by glossing over sobering realities or including untested ideas, but rather by seeing age-old features of our democracy in a new light. This more holistic way of seeing democracy, in turn, illuminates ways to bring out its best features and counter the loneliness that is increasingly spreading within it.
Braver Angels’ Quest for Civic Renewal
Braver Angels has always faced stiff headwinds in its bid to depolarize a country increasingly at loggerheads with itself. Now it seeks to do something even harder: catalyze a movement for civic renewal.
Rules for Radicals Remixed: An Interview with Mike Gecan and Amy Totsch of the IAF
What is community organizing? What are the ways in which it can help strengthen democracy in America from the bottom up? I recently caught up with Mike Gecan and Amy Totsch of the Industrial Areas Foundation to talk through these questions.
After the Pandemic: Loneliness, Belonging, and Rebuilding Our Civic Infrastructure
An omniscient and malignant diamond cutter could not have come up with a more intricate method of dividing and isolating us than the pandemic. It pounded away at our social fractures like a pile driver. Two recent reports throw a spotlight on how far we have fallen—and how we could rebuild our associational lives.
“Down the Road is Coming Much Sooner Than You Think”—Stephanie Bell on the rise of AI and Civil Society’s Response
It is a challenge to make sense of what AI portends for our lives, our work, our communities, and society writ large. What role should civil society groups operating outside of the constraints facing the public and private sectors play in guiding AI’s path in constructive–or at least non-destructive–ways? Stephanie Bell, Senior Research Scientist at the Partnership on AI, is uniquely positioned to answer this question.
Philanthropic Pluralism and Its Enemies
A recent statement by the leaders of six ideologically diverse institutions outlining and defending philanthropic pluralism underscores the power of this idea. It has also drawn intense criticism from those opposed to pluralism on the left and right alike.
Philanthropy and the Testing of Democracy in America
Society accrues an opportunity cost when philanthropy focuses primarily on influencing politics and policy-making. It beggars investment in the ideas, leaders, organizations, and civic infrastructure that only pay off over the longer term, and that we need to sustain a pluralistic democracy over time.