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Latest — Jun 12, 2026

Three Things We Can Do for Democracy Beyond Voting

This democracy of ours has some pretty special features, chief among them that we get a say in how we’re governed. It’s baked into the very word democracy itself: demos means common people and kratos means power. But nobody really teaches us how we can utilize our democracy

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A Bit of Sweetness to End Your Week

On a delayed flight into D.C., the flight attendant got on the loud speaker as we began our descent. “Raise your hand if you’re headed on to Raleigh? Miami? Houston?” Hands went up around the cabin. We passed the U.S. Capitol building, its female Statue of Freedom

A Common Policy Deceit - and What We Can Do About It

“I’ve got a bill to do just that!” the politician says from behind the podium. The crowd goes wild! Signs wave, fists pump, the politician basks in the adoration like a cat in the sun. There is a problem and our hero has penned a bill to solve it!

What Can Change a Politician's Mind

“I had a constituent tell me this incredible story,” a fellow Congressional staffer told me over coffee. “She had been stuck in...” The actual story is less important. What’s important is that this story stuck with the staffer, to the point where they shared it with another staffer. That’

How to Resist One of the Moment’s Greatest Temptation

Hello Wonderful Reader! I’m on a bit of travel this week, so I rummaged through the archives and pulled out this favorite. Wishing you all good things, Caitie Trappist monk Thomas Merton wraps up his book The Seven Storey Mountain with a useful phrase: “Here ends the book, but

10ish Minutes for a Healthier Democracy

It’s springtime, when a young person’s fancy turns to thoughts of love and some of America’s fancy turns to thoughts of primaries. Some is the hardest working word in that sentence. Nearly 80% of folks who are eligible to vote in primaries don’t. Which gives the

The Key Thing Most People Get Wrong About Politicians

While it is true that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, a politician by any other name than their own would likely ignore you. And by name, what I’m really talking about is title. The overwhelming majority of folks get politicians’ titles wonderfully and sometimes

The First Question to Ask When Making Good Change

You can learn a lot about humanity when you answer the phones in Congress. You learn how frustrated people are. How angry and lonely they are. How powerless they feel. But there’s one particular thing that’s stayed with me from being a junior staffer in Congress taking hours

Clues to Understanding Politicians

I’ve been doing a bit of dog training. And what I’ve come to realize is it’s really human training. After my shaggy mutt and I do a session together, we both need a snack and a nap. If I had to boil dog training down to three

A Secret Strategy for Making Good Change

When I worked in Congress, the meeting requests that came into our office were nearly always for time with the Congressman. The buck stops with the politician, so of course that’s who you should meet with, right? But here’s a fun little secret nobody tells you: meeting with