Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Civic engagement should not be performed 'All By Myself'

Eric Carmen at the piano

The late Eric Carmen's hit "All By Myself" can inspire us to engage in deeper forms of activism.

Tom Hill/WireImage/Getty Images

Daley-Harris is the author of “ Reclaiming Our Democracy: Every Citizen’s  Guide to Transformational Advocacy ” and the founder of RESULTS and Civic Courage. This is part of a series focused on better understanding transformational advocacy: citizens awakening to their power.

With the death of singer-songwriter Eric Carmen last month and Earth Day coming up, I got to thinking about Carmen’s song “ All By Myself ” and how deeper forms of activism are both essential to making change and a powerful antidote to our growing epidemic of loneliness.



In a New York Times essay last year, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said that loneliness not only leads to poorer health but is also “associated with reduced productivity in the workplace, worse performance in school, and diminished civic engagement.”

Diminished civic engagement was the focus of a 2022 National Public Radio interview with “Bowling Alone” author Robert Putnam titled, “ Politics and America’s Loneliness Epidemic.” Putnam discussed “bonding social capital” which links you to people who are like you and “bridging social capital” which links you to people unlike you. Putnam warned: “Bridging social capital ... is way down. And that is encouraging polarization.”

That’s where people like Bill Barron come in. Barron – lives in Utah and organizes climate talks in places like Wyoming, an oil and gas state – seeks out conversations with people who are not like him.

Barron had never been engaged in politics, but an invitation from Citizens’ Climate Lobby to meet with his members of Congress in Washington, D.C, flipped a switch. “I was shaking like a leaf,” Barron said after his first-ever meeting in Sen. Orin Hatch’s office (R). “But walking out of that meeting I realized that this is exactly what we need to be doing, letting our leaders know what we want them to do.”

After starting several chapters in Utah, he was asked to manage a group of states where there wasn’t much climate activism yet, so he spent some of his time organizing in Wyoming.

“Gillette, Wyoming, is big coal country,” Barron told me, “and our local organizer was active in Democratic politics. I stressed that we needed to invite everyone, and she told me that the last time they had an event and invited Republicans they had to call the police, and I thought ‘Oh, my God.’ We had about 25 people, including people who totally disagreed and spoke up during the presentation, but I said, ‘Can we agree that there is change happening, but we may disagree on how it’s happening?’

“One woman, who had a 39-year career as a coal miner, commented, ‘We know we need to do something about climate, and putting a price on pollution makes sense.’ Another person, a climate denier, came to several of my gatherings. Seemingly surprised by the polite, nonpartisan discussions, he listened rather than being confrontational, although he still offered the ‘denial’ brochures he’d brought with him.”

Barron was acting on several key aspects of transformational advocacy. One is practicing partnership, not partisanship. Another is bringing new people in and forming them into chapters, or as Eric Carmen would say, “Don’t wanna be all by myself anymore.” Signing online petitions won’t cure our epidemic of loneliness, but the people who said yes to Barron’s invitations are demonstrating an important step: citizens awakening to their power.

If not now, when?

Read More

Carolyn Lukensmeyer Turns 80: A Life of Commitment to “Of, By, and for the People”

Carolyn Lukensmeyer.

The National Institute for Civil Discourse and New Voice Strategies

Carolyn Lukensmeyer Turns 80: A Life of Commitment to “Of, By, and for the People”

I’ve known Dr. Carolyn Lukensmeyer for over a decade, first meeting her about a decade ago. Dr. Lukensmeyer is a nationally renowned expert in deliberative democracy, a former executive director emerita of the National Institute for Civil Discourse, and a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship.

On the weekend of her 80th birthday, former colleagues, clients, and friends offered a look at Dr. Lukensmeyer’s extraordinary commitment to “of, by, and for the peoples,” from her earlier days in Iowa and Ohio to the present day.

Keep ReadingShow less
Bridgebuilding Effectiveness

Hands together in unison.

Getty Images, VioletaStoimenova

Bridgebuilding Effectiveness

In a time of deep polarization and democratic fragility, bridgebuilding has become a go-to approach for fostering civic cohesion in the U.S. Yet questions persist: Does it work? And how do we know?

With declining trust, rising partisanship, and even political violence, many are asking what the role of dialogue might be in meeting democracy’s demands. The urgency is real—and so is the need for more strategic, evidence-based approaches.

Keep ReadingShow less
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
a red hat that reads make america great again

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

Recently, while listening to a podcast, I came across the term “reprise” in the context of music and theater. A reprise is a repeated element in a performance—a song or scene returning to reinforce themes or emotions introduced earlier. In a play or film, a familiar melody might reappear, reminding the audience of a previous moment and deepening its significance.

That idea got me thinking about how reprise might apply to the events shaping our lives today. It’s easy to believe that the times we are living through are entirely unprecedented—that the chaos and uncertainty we experience are unlike anything before. Yet, reflecting on the nature of a reprise, I began to reconsider. Perhaps history does not simply move forward in a straight line; rather, it cycles back, echoing familiar themes in new forms.

Keep ReadingShow less
Following Jefferson: Promoting Intergenerational Understanding Through Constitution-Making

An illustration depicting the U.S. Constitution and Government.

Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

Following Jefferson: Promoting Intergenerational Understanding Through Constitution-Making

Towards the end of his life, Thomas Jefferson became fatalistic. The prince and poet of the American Revolution brooded—about the future of the country he birthed, to be sure; but also about his health, his finances, his farm, his family, and, perhaps most poignantly, his legacy. “[W]hen all our faculties have left…” he wrote to John Adams in 1822, “[when] every avenue of pleasing sensation is closed, and athumy, debility, and malaise [is] left in their places, when the friends of our youth are all gone, and a generation is risen around us whom we know not, is death an evil?”

The question was rhetorical, of course. But it revealed something about his character. Jefferson was aware that Adams and he—the “North and South poles of the Revolution”—were practically the only survivors of the Revolutionary era, and that a new generation was now in charge of America’s destiny.

Keep ReadingShow less