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Power Knowledge

A collection of 47 issues

For When the News Could Crush Your Spirit

One snowy evening, I was cutting sweet potatoes and listening to a newsy podcast. The headlines were heavy with humanity at its worst. As the two hosts talked about a horrendous event, the first host said, I guess there was a guy who risked his life to tackle one of

Nearly Everything I Know About How to Improve Democracy

Let’s say I give you a toolbox with a hammer, wrench, screwdriver, and I tell you to build a house. That’d be awfully tricky to do. And that’s a bit like what we’re given when it comes to shaping our democracy: an incomplete toolbox. Vote, protest,

For When You Think Policy Change Can’t Happen

There were ashtrays in our desks! a woman once told me of her 1960s college days. The professors usually taught in a cloud of smoke. Totally inconceivable now, I shook my head. Well, the woman said, now - she gestured to the smoke-free office we were in, which was next

Strengthening Democracy Over Coffee: A Powerful Way to Build a Better Future

One cold autumn evening, I was in bed reading a book by Bishop Michael Curry when I came across a saying so useful, I got up in my PJs to jot it down in a journal. “What are you going to do with your dash?” the old saying goes. The

Useful Things to Know About Our Politicians

When Lyndon Johnson first became a Senator, he spent hours sitting in the Senate chamber watching the floor action. The Texan – who would go on to become one of history’s most powerful Senate Majority Leaders, who would muscle through the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, the creation

The Secret Sauce to Changing Policy

While Michigan Congressman John Dingell might not be a big name in most households, his work touched nearly every person in this country. The Dearborn-area legislator got some of the most high impact legislation of the late 20th and early 21st century across the finish line, including Medicare, the Clean

How to Shape a Politician's Thinking

It is true that things are pretty grim out there. It's also true that one guaranteed way to make them worse is if we all walk off the field. So should this note find you hiding way down under the covers, I get it; we're allowed

One of the Most Overlooked Powers Our Politicians Have

When it comes to policy and politics, there's another 'p' word that shapes nearly everything: power. And there's one vital measure of power that easily gets overlooked, but has outsized influence: the power to get stuff done. Specifically, the power to take a flimsy

A Powerful Approach to News Consumption

Every day, millions upon billions upon maybe trillions of words are published (and herein are 600 more - just doing my part). If each word were a water droplet, we're getting Niagara Falls rained on us all the time. And mighty though we are, we aren't

For When We Don't Know What to Pay Attention To

When the mail comes, it's easily clear what's junk and what's to be read. The window washing flyers and hearing aid discounts (a mailing list I somehow got added to when I turned 21) go into recycling. The handwritten notes, the health insurance notifications