MSNBC
NBC News’ Steve Kornacki previews the gubernatorial races in Kentucky and Mississippi and a decision over abortion rights in Ohio and Virginia and breaks down how this year’s Election Day results could affect the 2024 election cycle.
This piece originally appeared on MSNBC.
People gather at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on September 8, 2025, in New York City.
After the smoke cleared from the September 11, 2001, attacks, New York City faced the immense task of rebuilding.
Why is this story relevant today?
The question New Yorkers faced after 9/11—who determines our collective future—remains central to the challenges confronting America today.
In the months following the attacks, after the debris was cleared and the initial shock subsided, New Yorkers faced a fundamental dilemma: What should be built at Ground Zero, and who should decide? Some advocated for rebuilding the Twin Towers, while others insisted the site remain a memorial. The conflict was intense, emotional, and appeared irreconcilable.
In response, “THE LOWER MAHATTEN DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION” undertook an unprecedented initiative. It convened 5,000 representative New Yorkers for the largest town hall in American history. Expectations were low, with many anticipating discord and disorder.
Instead, a genuine democratic process unfolded.
Despite profound disagreements, New Yorkers listened, deliberated, and ultimately reached consensus on a plan that commemorated the deceased, honored survivors, and reflected the community’s collective will.
This outcome hinged on a single catalytic event: a gathering that united individuals in an unexpected and transformative manner.
The result was both constructive and deeply meaningful. This experience offers a lesson for a nation grappling with division: meaningful democratic outcomes depend on robust democratic processes.
Carolyn Lukensmeyer played a central role in this process as the architect of Listening to the City, the 2002 public forum that empowered thousands of New Yorkers to influence the future of Ground Zero. The event led to significant changes: participant feedback shaped the final design to include both the Memorial and the Museum, guided the integration of green space, and ensured that victims’ families and the broader community were honored throughout the rebuilding process. This initiative not only transformed the physical site but also established a benchmark for public decision-making in cities nationwide. As a nationally recognized leader in democratic innovation and founder of AmericaSpeaks, Carolyn has advised cities, states, federal agencies, and international institutions on effective public engagement.
View the official trailer and consider the following:
What might be possible if towns, cities, and states across America adopted this approach to constructive dialogue in addressing their most challenging issues? For community leaders or individuals seeking to foster collaboration, the following steps are recommended: invite a small, diverse group of community members for an initial discussion; identify a pressing local issue; establish ground rules that promote respectful listening; and seek assistance from a trained facilitator or an organization experienced in open dialogue. The initial step is to gather and listen. Subsequently, partners can be enlisted, a neutral venue secured, and a broader range of participants invited. Even a straightforward, honest conversation can initiate meaningful progress.
On May 21 in Cape May, New Jersey, the Cape May Point Arts and Science Center will present “9/11: Reclaiming Ground Zero.” The event will include a full one-hour screening of the documentary, followed by a discussion with the filmmakers and leaders in democratic innovation, an audience Q&A session, and a closing reception.
If you are interested in organizing a similar event in your community, please contact Josh Sabey co-founder of Matters Media at js@mattersmedia.orgDavid Nevins is the publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
My housing has been conditional on circumstances beyond my control, and the time is up; the owner is selling.
Securing affordable housing is a stressor for much of the working class. According to recent data, nearly 50% of renters are cost-burdened, meaning they spend over 30% of their take-home income on housing costs. Rental prices in California are especially high, 35% higher than the national average. Renting is routinely insecure. The lords of land need to renovate, their kids need to move in. They need to sell.
For many of us, particularly in California, buying is not possible. In the Bay Area, one needs to make $400,000 per year to afford a typical home. Nationally, less than one percent of us make $500,000; in the Bay Area, 2 percent of us do. Thus, for most of us, the housing market is cost-prohibitive. Great credit doesn't translate to enough purchasing power. We need higher incomes, intergenerational wealth, or some other revenue stream.
We need multi-millionaires and billionaires, especially those in the top 1% or those with 8 million or more, to step in. We need housing benefactors.
As a sociologist, I know that stable housing is a key social determinant of health and also that who has a secure and affordable home is shaped by power and policy. Historically, many of us have endured the housing struggle. But it doesn't have to be this way. There could be an abundance of housing for all of us.
After all, we are a nation rich in millionaires (at least 23.8 million) and billionaires. Our economy is anchored to the ultrawealthy, and the gap between them and the rest of us is enormous and growing. And, the wealthy, and the wealth of the wealthy, are increasing. Perhaps the ultrarich could be convinced to support our collective wellbeing by taking action to alleviate the housing crisis?
To be sure, our economy does not value the religious, ethical, and moral notions of “caring.” It values bottom lines, competition, and survival of the “fittest.” We are a country that has lacked the political will to sustain affordable housing, that has allowed tax breaks for the wealthy, and that has allowed wealth to accumulate in disproportionate and unsustainable ways. There are those among us who believe that the housing crisis “is what it is.” We “have nots” should have chosen more lucrative career paths. However, this narrative justifies unhealthy behavior. Inequality is harmful to society across a range of measures. Stable housing plays a meaningful role, not only for individual wellbeing, but also for a sustainable society and world.
If you believe people deserve affordable housing and you have the financial resources to be this type of change agent, please understand that there are many ways to show up as a housing benefactor. There are many ways to do so. 1) Buy properties and rent them at a rate that is less than 30% of our monthly income. 2) Buy properties and sell them to us at a price that works within our budget. 3) Buy properties and agree to 100-year private mortgages. When the federal government floated the 50-year mortgage, it read as ludicrous. But it is better than no option. 4) Subsidize our housing. In this market, an extra thousand dollars a month, or $12,000 a year, can be the difference between an additional room. 4) Develop an app to connect caring multi-millionaires and billionaires to those who lack affordable and secure housing. 5) Create your own solution, perhaps a housing foundation that donates to areas where affordable housing is scarce?
If our government won’t do the work to create an economy where we can all thrive, it is to each other we must appeal. Financial elite, I implore you to make caring cool. Put secure and affordable housing within our reach. Can you act now? We need a place.
Megan Thiele Strong is a Sociology professor at San José State University, a Public Voices Fellow at The OpEd Project, and a member of the Scholars Strategy Network.
As America approaches its 250th anniversary, Civic Spirit’s Declaration Project invites communities nationwide to read the Declaration of Independence aloud and renew civic life through shared citizenship, reflection, and democratic engagement.
America’s 250th anniversary on July 4 offers more than a milestone. This moment offers us an extraordinary opportunity to revitalize civic life together.
For many Americans, civic life has thinned. We speak often about rights, less about responsibilities. Civic holidays have become days off rather than “days on." The language of our founding is frequently invoked, but less frequently read, studied, or discussed together.
George Washington understood this challenge from the start. Our first president described our form of government as “the great experiment," entrusted to the hands of its citizens, requiring participation, responsibility, and a shared commitment to self-government.
Two hundred fifty years later, that responsibility remains.
The Semiquincentennial offers a rare opportunity not just to look back, but also to act. If we want to renew the habits of citizenship that sustain our democracy, we need more than reflection. We need shared practices that bring people together around the ideas that define our democracy, thereby strengthening our civic bonds.
To elevate the moment just two months away, Civic Spirit is launching “The Declaration Project,” a simple, replicable civic practice for communities across the country. This July 3–4 weekend, we are inviting individuals, families, schools, and organizations to gather and read the Declaration of Independence aloud.
This idea was inspired by a simple but powerful practice of friends who gather each July 4 to read the Declaration together. With each reading, new questions emerge about the founders’ aspirations, grievances, and courage. What begins as a familiar text becomes an active conversation about equality, liberty, and the responsibilities of citizenship.
What happens around one table can reverberate from sea to shining sea. What happens in our houses of worship can inspire homes across the country.
Reading the Declaration aloud is not about nostalgia. It is about civic formation. To read it together is to wrestle with ideals, aspirations, and even conflicts, and to ask what those words require of us today.
At a time of political polarization and distance from one another in the public square, Americans need shared civic experiences that are neither partisan nor superficial. We need opportunities to listen, question, and engage across difference. We need to reawaken the habits that lead to civic bonds.
That is why this effort is intentionally simple. Schools can incorporate it into end-of-year programming. Houses of worship can adapt it as part of communal gatherings. Community organizations, summer camps, and families can make it an annual ritual on the day itself. The goal is not a one-time event, but a practice that can be repeated, deepened, and shared.
Civic renewal will not come from national leaders alone. On July 4, we all have a chance to choose to engage, reflect, and participate in the life of our democracy, grounded through our national sacred writ.
If we want the story of 1776 to shape the citizens of 2026, we need more than celebration and fireworks. The moment demands a practice that rekindles our national fire. This July 4, gather, read, and then enjoy some apple pie!
Rabbi Charles E. Savenor serves as the Executive Director of Civic Spirit, a nonpartisan organization that provides training and resources to faith based schools across the United States.
Dacha Burns and Reza Pahlavi at the Politico Security Summit
WASHINGTON — At a tenuous moment for the U.S.-Iran war, President Trump rejected Tehran’s terms for a truce proposal Monday. With negotiations stalled and concessions on a ceasefire deal dragging on, exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi emphasized that regime change still could happen.
“Of course, it (a regime change) is a possibility, but more than a possibility, it is a necessity,” Pahlavi said in a security panel hosted by Politico on Tuesday.
Pahlavi characterized Iran’s government as weakened, leaving room for a successful uprising against the theocratic regime, which has been in power since Pahlavi’s late father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
“And therefore, when we say that now that you have a wounded beast, this is not an opportunity that you should let go,” said Pahlavi, 65, who has lived with his family near Washington for most of his adult life.
U.S.-Israel attacks in February killed the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but since his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, stepped in as Iran's current leader, many experts cautioned that Iran’s political system remained entrenched and regime change seemed unlikely.
Gordon Gray, a former U.S. diplomat who teaches at George Washington University, said he did not think Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would allow an opposition to rise up.
“I don't think they're unable to unite if given the chance. The problem is that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps isn't going to give them the chance,” Gray said.
Pahlavi, who has lived in the United States since he was 19, echoed the views of several Iranian grassroots organizations. They support a regime change led by Iranians themselves through mass mobilization and the overthrow of the country’s theocratic government, paired with U.S. political support. But they oppose a U.S.-backed military operation.
Pahlavi wants to serve as the temporary leader while Iran establishes democracy.
“What I am offering as transitional leader is precisely a mechanism or process whereby it's for the people of Iran to decide what they want and who they want as their leaders,” said Pahlavi.
However, some Iranian-American organizations, such as the Organization of Iranian American Communities, do not want him as a transitional leader.
“It is not as simple as someone who has no legitimacy in the form of Pahlavi to be able to be installed into our power from outside,” Majid Sadeghpour, the political director of the Organization of Iranian American Communities, said. “That's impossible in reality, and the people of Iran will reject it anyway and will rise up against it,” the human rights activist added.
Pahlavi has aligned himself with U.S. conservatives. However, the Trump administration does not deem Pahlavi as well-positioned to lead.
The President said in March that Pahlavi could be a possible option, but not an optimal one.
“Some people like him; we haven't been thinking too much about that," Trump said in a press briefing during his meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “Somebody from within would be more appropriate.”
Sadeghpour said the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an exiled coalition of Iranian resistance groups from across the world, would be a better option. It was founded in 1981 and is now led by Maryam Rajavi, who proposed a 10-point plan for a future secular Iranian government, focused on democratic ideals and granting power to the people.
“The goal of the Iranian Resistance that we support is to overthrow the Iranian regime,” Sadeghpour said. “For that to occur, the Iranian people will have to overthrow this regime on their own, they will need U.S. and Western political support, they need us and they need Western political condemnation of Iranian regimes, killings and atrocities.”
Is a regime change attainable?
In recent months, some people thought that the time might have been right for such a change.
The U.S. imposed significant sanctions on Iran last year after Iran failed to renew a deal that limits their nuclear program. The value of Iran’s currency, the rial, fell sharply, sparking public outrage over rising inflation. In late December, people took to the streets and demonstrated against the government.
Iran is a diverse country of 92 million people and has over 20 ethnic groups.
“The Islamic Republic has spent decades ensuring that Iran’s citizens cannot unite against it… Any movement building has been defeated through the most brutal violence,” experts said in a report by the Human Rights Foundation.
During just two days of protesting in January, as many as 30,000 people may have been killed in the streets of Iran, Iranian health officials told Time Magazine.
Gray, who was the U.S. ambassador to Tunisia during the 2011 Arab Spring, said that the overthrow of the Tunisian government was possible then, because civil society successfully came together and overthrew a leader who “wasn't as repressive or as willing to use force against against his people, as as we see in Iran today.”
Gray said that the Iranian regime is brutally repressing anyone standing against it. The regime has engaged in widespread persecution of dissidents following the protests and the outbreak of the war. At least 22 political prisoners have been executed between March and April, according to the Center of Human Rights in Iran.
“I don't think there is a power vacuum. I think the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has a pretty strong hold on power. It may not be the only power center in Iran, but I would say they're the predominant,” said Gray.
Georgia Epiphaniou is the foreign affairs and national security reporter with the Medill News Service.
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