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Just the Facts: Canadian Tariffs - June Update

Just the Facts: Canadian Tariffs - June Update

Just the Facts: Standoff Between National Guard and L.A. Protesters

Just the Facts: Standoff Between National Guard and L.A. Protesters

Podcast: Vital Signs of Democracy

Podcast: Vital Signs of Democracy
Debilyn Molineaux
By Debilyn MolineauxFeb 09, 2023
Debilyn Molineaux

Debilyn Molineaux serves as the catalyst for the American Future project to help everyday Americans discover and believe in a future that will be "worth it" to work together for the sake of our nation.

Debilyn brings a passion to her work that is contagious to all around her. Hailing from a conservative, agricultural community, Debilyn started her career as a small business owner, working with community businesses to promote and grow their own operations through advertising and marketing. After engaging other women business leaders, Debilyn was inspired to become more active in the political process. Her own personal experiences -- as a small business owner, a local candidate for office, and an elected president of a national organization -- have given her enormous insight into the challenges facing citizens who want to get involved and organizations that want to scale their impact.

Debilyn is a serial entrepreneur, co-founding many organizations and transpartisan projects over her 20+ year career in establishing the democracy ecosystem. She has co-founded the Bridge Alliance, Living Room Conversations and the National Week of Conversation. She formerly was co-publisher of The Fulcrum and continues as advisor for Citizen Connect, Listen First Project, AllSides and other organizations, individuals within the democracy ecosystem.

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Every story we hear on the news, online or in a meme about government and our fellow citizens will become the future we create. That's what Vital Signs of Democracy is -- a quick score to let us assess how we in the USA are weakening or strengthening our collective story about our democratic republic. Are we telling stories that support autocracy? Or democracy? Our podcast is an overview of the latest competing narratives for the future of our nation. We will explore how the latest news impacts the score. We'll end each episode with stories we've found that tell a better story for us to consider.

In this extended, inaugural episode, we outline what Vital Signs of Democracy is, and examine how the news, in aggregate, tells us a story about the future of our democratic republic, or democracy for short. Included in this episode is an overview of the two primary "Make America Great" stories that are competing for our attention. One is the MAGA story or returning to a nostalgic past. The other story to make America great is to advance to a multicultural, pluralistic society. Each of these stories demonize the people who prefer the other story. We include commentary about corporate media, social media, the issues used to divide us to profit (for media) or to motivate voters issue by issues. Listen to this episode and find a new way to think about the news.

Listen here.

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