Renewing the Collective Heart of Democracy
We the People
We the People is a visual essay about the loss of democracy in the United States. The story unfolds through the eyes of rural people who have faced decades of toxic dumps, drilling and mines in their communities. We learn with them that in spite of all their efforts, they are, by law, truly powerless in the face of an oligarchy who disregard the rights of the people. Nonprofit attorney, Thomas Linzey, shows how we the people can turn this around and lay claim to our democracy. This movement is building not only in the U.S. but around the world.
“The cure for despair is not hope. It’s discovering what we want to do about something we care about.” ~ Margaret Wheatley
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
Voter suppression, gerrymandering, voter purge lists. The voting system has been rigged.
In his Rolling Stone investigation, Greg Palast revealed that a program to prevent alleged voter fraud, “Interstate Crosscheck,” has wrongly tagged voters, listing them as registering in two states or voting in two states, a felony crime. The suspect list of potential criminals contains an astonishing SEVEN MILLION NAMES—naming ONE IN SEVEN voters of color in the Crosscheck states.
Palast takes a deep dive into the dark operation, Crosscheck, the secret purge list that helped steal the 2016 Election. This real life detective story is told in a film noir style with animation, secret documents, hidden cameras, and a little help from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit detectives, Ice-T and Richard Belzer, Shailene Woodley, Rosario Dawson, Willie Nelson and Ed Asner. Palast and his associates expose the darkest plans of the uber-rich to steal America’s democracy.
Sign the Petition: Release names of voters on the “Interstate Crosscheck” Purge List
Articles:
How to Start A Revolution
Watch this inspirational story of the power of people to change their world with the BAFTA award-winning documentary following the work of three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Gene Sharp. As waves of revolutionary spirit sweep the world, one man’s ideas continue to inspire, mobilize and unite protestors, giving them the tools to topple authoritarian regimes. So what are his ideas, how have they spread from his tiny Boston office, and how are they actually used on the ground?
“The fall of one regime does not bring in a utopia. Rather, it opens the way for hard work and long efforts to build more just social, economic, and political relationships and the eradication of other forms of injustices and oppression.” Gene Sharp
Bonus: Outfoxed • Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism
More than ever our First Amendment rights are under attack with “fake news” being one of many recent and alarming assaults. Outfoxed exposes the underpinnings of Fox News and Murdoch’s media empire. Conservative media produces repetitive “framing” and distortion of facts generated by billionaire-funded think tanks and language experts to manufacture consensus. They promote ideologies that appear to make sense, but which are essentially distracting smoke screens. Alternate facts turn into alternate reality bubbles where prejudices supersede facts in a hyper-reactionary emotion and negative information system.
“We do violence in politics when we demonize the opposition or ignore urgent human needs in favor of politically expedient decisions.” – Parker Palmer
Articles:
- This Is How Fox News Brainwashes Its Viewers: Our In-Depth Investigation of the Propaganda Cycle
- The Age of Murdock
Here are a few exceptional bipartisan organizations that encourage discourse by building relationships across political, cultural, racial and religious divides.
- Bridge Alliance
- One America
- American Promise
- The Village Square
- Represent Us
- Independent Voter Project
- Bring it to the Table
- American Public Square
- Ask Big Questions
- Jefferson Center
- Everyday Democracy
- Move to Amend
- Next Century Foundation
Book Bonus:
You’re More Powerful Than You Think: A Citizen’s Guide To Making Change Happen by Eric Liu, was inspired by his viral TED talk on citizen power. The book is based on a simple idea-if you don’t use your power, someone else will-in your name and often against your interests. He draws on examples from the right and left, past and present, offering a new way to think about citizen power laying out 9 hands-on strategies for exercising it. We hope you will read it and more importantly use it!