Session Seven: Rebuilding Democracy

                                                Under construction 

Session Seven: Rebuilding Democracy

Welcome and Introductions

Essential Questions:

• What should democracy in the US look like in the future?

• To what extent does the US political system ensure that all citizens have an equal voice and access to power?

• How secure are voting rights for all eligible Americans?

• What reforms could strengthen democratic representation and accountability in the US?

• How might changing technologies- AI, social media, surveillance reshape democracy?

• What lessons from US History can guide the defense and renewal of democracy today?

• What are some groups working today to protect and renew democracy in the US?

                                                                                                                (From CHATGPT)

Music: Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen, "This land was made for you and me", Woody Guthrie Link to Site

Gathering: "A question that I have for the speaker is..." (chat room)

Speaker: John Bonifaz, President, Free Speech for People

Readings: 

• executive summary, "The Authoritarian Playbook for 2025," United to Protect Democracy, 2024 Link to Site

• Tom Hanks, "The enduring message of the American revolution," Atlantic Forum,  youtube,Link to Site

• "Heather Cox Richardson on Why Shes' Still Hopeful under Maga and Donald Trump," interview with Dan Pfieffer, Pod Save America, 9/7/25 Link to Site

• Heather Cox Richardson, Politics Chats,  9/2/25 Lik to Site

 "How You Can Protect Democarcy:28 Concrete Actions you can take right now," Protect Democracy Link to Site

• "The Democracy Amendments,"  Free Speech for People, Link to Site

• Nicole Bibbins Sedeca, "What is Democracy, and why dos defending it matter?" Freedom House, 8/12/24 Link to Site

• Daniel Zildatt interview, "How Democracies Die: US could Lose democracy unless it reforms constitution, institutions, KPBS Public Media, 10/1/24 Link to Site

• "How Democracies Defend Themselves Against Authoritarianism, " Center for American Progress, 4/9/25 ,Link to Site

Resources:

• Free Speech for People, Link to Site

• Horizon Project, Link to Site/

Quote:

    Democracy is not a spectator sport. It requires your participation. It requires your activism. It requires your voice.

                                    Barack Obama

"Hard times are coming, when we’ll be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine real grounds for hope. We’ll need writers who can remember freedom—poets, visionaries—realists of a larger reality."

—Ursula K Le Guin, Speech in Acceptance of the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters