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Video: Reviving democracy

Americans are frustrated and deeply concerned about the condition of our democracy. Our divisions are so deep and complete that we don’t see how they can be overcome; we are not sure how our democracy can survive.

A poll released in June by Yahoo News/YouGov finds that a majority of Americans–55% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans –believe it is “likely” that the United States will “cease to be a democracy in the future.” A survey conducted just last month by the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program found that half (50.1%) of all Americans agreed that “in the next few years, there will be civil war in the United States.”


So what do we do about this?

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The Evolving Social Contract: From Common Good to Contemporary Practice

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The Evolving Social Contract: From Common Good to Contemporary Practice

The concept of the common good in American society has undergone a remarkable transformation since the nation's founding. What began as a clear, if contested, vision of collective welfare has splintered into something far more complex and individualistic. This shift reflects changing times and a fundamental reimagining of what we owe each other as citizens and human beings.

The nation’s progenitors wrestled with this very question. They drew heavily from Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who saw the social contract as a sacred covenant between citizens and their government. But they also pulled from deeper wells—the Puritan concept of the covenant community, the classical Republican tradition of civic virtue, and the Christian ideal of serving one's neighbor. These threads wove into something uniquely American: a vision of the common good that balances individual liberty with collective responsibility.

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We’ve Collectively Created the Federal Education Collapse

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We’ve Collectively Created the Federal Education Collapse

“If we make money the object of man-training, we shall develop money-makers but not necessarily men.” - W.E.B. Du Bois

The current state of public education has many confused, anxious, and even fearful. Depending on the day, I feel any combination of the above, among other less-than-ideal adjectives. Simply, the future is uncertain. Schools are simultaneously cutting budgets and trying to remain relevant, all during an increasingly tense political climate.

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Recent Republican policies and proposals limiting legal immigration and legal immigrants' benefits and rights

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Recent Republican policies and proposals limiting legal immigration and legal immigrants' benefits and rights

In a recent post we quoted a journalist describing the Republican Party as anti-immigration. Many of our readers wrote back angrily to say that the Republican party is only opposed to immigrants who are present illegally.

But that's not true. And we're not shy of telling it like it is.

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The Importance of Respecting Court Orders
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The Importance of Respecting Court Orders

The most important question in American politics today is whether Donald Trump will respect court orders. Judges have repeatedly ruled against his administration.

But will he listen?

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