Future Hindsight

Philip K. Howard is the founder and chair of Common Good, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocates for simplifying government, and has advised both parties on needed reforms. His latest book is Everyday Freedom: Designing the Framework for a Flourishing Society.

Every community depends on democracy to deliver, whether that’s government services, schools, hospitals, or housing. Howard argues that a democracy depends on...

Danielle Allen is the author of Justice by Means of Democracy. She is also the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. We discuss power sharing liberalism as a new paradigm in the practice of democracy.

Whether it’s through ballot measures to introduce ranked choice voting ...

Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and the author of The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America. We discuss how the Constitution is a framework for a productive conversation for people with fundamentally different points of view.

For the Founders, personal self government was a pre-requisite for political self government....

Braxton Brewington is the Press Secretary of the Debt Collective. We discuss the origins of the Debt Collective in the Rolling Jubilee and its history in canceling student debt. Their example is a powerful model for canceling student debt, which continues to be important for all Americans in this election cycle and beyond.

Education is a public good, yet the cost of college over the past couple of decades has risen eight times fa...

Rachel Bitecofer is a political scientist and election forecaster turned political strategist. Her most recent book is Hit ’Em Where it Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game. We discuss why it's time for Democratic Party candidates to embrace negative partisanship in their campaigns.

Half of America’s electorate doesn't vote – even in the most consequential elections – because they aren't intereste...

Richard L. Hasen is Professor of Law and Political Science at UCLA and director of UCLA Law’s Safeguarding Democracy Project. We discuss his most recent book, A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy.

A country that believes that its people are equal should ensure equal voting rights. However, the US Constitution does not currently protect the right to vote. All adult non-felon citizen...

Phillip Atiba Solomon is the chair and Carl I. Hovland Professor of African American Studies, Professor of Psychology at Yale University, and co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity. We discuss policing equity, investing in communities, and taking police out of the mental health crisis business.

Policing equity is multi-faceted and requires collaboration with communities. Proven solutions to reduce violence include anti-pove...

Sam Wang is the Director of the Electoral Innovation Lab and a professor of neuroscience at Princeton University. We discuss how we can better understand the current state of district maps across the US, and how they can be made more fair and representative of their constituents.

Gerrymandering is not only unfair but also anti-democratic. It favors one party over another, effectively shutting out the possibility of accurate repre...

Jess Piper is the Executive Director of Blue Missouri and the host of the Dirt Road Democrats podcast. We discuss the reality of living in rural Missouri, the state of education, and the dearth of Democratic candidates across the state.

Rural candidates have little to no support from the state party, but Republicans enjoy the support of local churches. One-third of Missouri is rural, but there is not a single elected Democrat rep...

Ken Harbaugh is the host of the Burn the Boats podcast, a former United States Navy pilot, and executive producer of Against All Enemies, a documentary film that explores the critical role of military veterans in domestic violent extremist groups.

We discuss why veterans are equally sought out to work in Fortune 500 companies and to be in leadership positions of extremist groups. Most veterans make a successful transition to civi...

Cynthia Richie Terrell is the founder and executive director of RepresentWomen. We discuss institutional reforms that can reduce the barriers for women to run, win, and govern.

There are approximately 520,000 elected office holders in the U.S., but incumbency is the biggest barrier to electing more women. Term limits make more seats open to competition. In addition, ranked choice voting eliminates vote splitting if there is more ...

Anat Shenker-Osorio is the host of the Words to Win By podcast and the Principal of ASO Communications. We discuss the winning messages for 2024 and the importance for pro-democracy voters to turn out on Election Day.

2024 is yet another do-or-die election for American democracy, and thus the first and most important message to Americans is to vote. We need to marshal a sense of defiance to participate because if we don’t decide ...

Marietje Schaake is International Policy Director at Stanford University Cyber Policy Center, International Policy Fellow at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, and also serves on the UN’s A.I. Advisory Body. We take a deep dive into how the digital revolution can still fulfill its promise of a democratic revolution. In other words: make A.I. work for democracy.

Over the past 20 years, power became mo...

Ryan Busse is a Democratic candidate for governor of Montana and the author of Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry That Radicalized America. We discuss how Montana is a bulwark against anti-democratic forces and how Ryan cuts through the politi-speak on the campaign trail. 

It's important for Democrats to identify with the basic democratic freedom values of the vast majority of people, whether that’s fair taxes on homeowners...

Deb Otis is the Director of Research & Policy at FairVote, a nonpartisan organization that researches and advances voting reforms that make democracy more functional and representative for every American. We discuss the benefits of ranked choice voting and the likelihood that it will become more popular after the 2024 presidential election.

Ranked choice voting addresses a variety of problems in “vote one” elections, such as vote...

Lala Wu is the co-founder and executive director of Sister District, an organization that works to build enduring progressive power in state legislatures. We discuss how state races will continue to be important during the presidential election cycle and why the battle for redistricting will be center stage.

State legislatures are where a lot of impactful policy is made, such as abortion laws. They’re also critical because in mos...

Over the last several years our politics has been pushed from a place of collaboration to bold faced loyalty tests. In his latest book: Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America, our guest, author and NPR Morning Edition co-host, Steve Inskeep, discusses with Waj and Danielle why dissent necessary and is as American as apple pie! 

Listen to Democracy-ish: 

https://www.dcpofficial.com/democracy-ish 

Rich Harwood is the president and founder of The Harwood Institute, who just launched a campaign to reclaim the public square from the most divisive voices and build it into a place that can make hope real for all.

The public square is a noisy and messy place where society disagrees, argues, and also finds solutions. It’s through working out expectations, engaging in the work to be on the right path forward, and holding ourselves...

Juliet Hooker is the author of Black Grief/White Grievance: The Politics of Loss and the Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence in Political Science at Brown University. We talk about how racism has narrowed the political imagination of both black and white citizens.

In American politics and democracy, neither side is supposed to win all the time. Losing is a fundamental part of democracy, and does not make the losers vict...