Future Hindsight

Thursday, July 14th, 2022 Matthew E. Kahn is Provost Professor at the University of Southern California and the author of six previous books about environmental and urban economics issues. His latest book is Going Remote: How the Flexible Work Economy Can Improve Our Lives and Our Cities. We discuss the future of our cities and the future of work--whether that's remote or in person. The pandemic revealed a new geography of economic opportunity. Some jobs that were only in person before are now possible remotely, which could be good for working mothers or for those who might want ready access to the outdoors. Cities could transform into places that are more attractive because of the lifestyle as opposed to the job opportunities. Matt also wonders if working from home will lead to more life satisfaction, less divisive politics, and more civic engagement. Follow Matt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattkahn1966 Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Sponsors Thanks to the Jordan Harbinger for supporting Future Hindsight! Subscribe to The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen or at jordanharbinger.com/subscribe Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: Matthew E. Kahn Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, July 7th, 2022 Rachel Vindman is the host of the Suburban Women Problem podcast and wife of retired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. We discuss the disenchantment of suburban women with our politics–who historically vote in very high numbers, our personal responsibility to use our voices for change, and the war in Ukraine. One of the fastest ways to mitigate domestic issues like inflation and high gas prices is to help Ukraine defeat Russia. This would ease pressure on the world wide economy. Policy makers can and should listen to the priorities of their constituents and legislate accordingly. Being a resource to your network of family and friends to demystify things that they've seen in the news is an effective form of activism. Follow Rachel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/natsechobbyist Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Sponsors Thanks to Avast for supporting Future Hindsight! Go to Avast.com to learn more about Avast One. Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: Rachel Vindman Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, June 30th, 2022 This week, Future Hindsight is sharing an episode of The Financial Confessions – a podcast by The Financial Diet. The Financial Diet is the largest personal finance platform for women on the internet. Money impacts everything we do, and talking about it can be scary. In each episode, host Chelsea Fagan sits down with a subject matter expert for an in-depth chat about their particular field of work with a financial-first lens. In this episode, she speaks with writer and disability advocate Imani Barbarin about navigating our broken healthcare system, how being disabled affects one's finances, and what everyone should know about living with a disability in America. Listen to Financial Confessions Now: https://thefinancialdiet.podbean.com/ Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com

Thursday, June 23rd, 2022 Katie Fahey is the Executive Director of The People, an organization working to find common ground and take action to create a more responsive government of, by, and for the people. In 2016, Katie founded Voters Not Politicians, an organization that successfully organized and passed a ballot initiative to end gerrymandering in Michigan in 2018. We discuss the appetite for non-partisan civic engagement and more accountability from elected representatives. Voters Not Politicians swelled to 14,000 non-partisan volunteers that gathered 425,000 signatures in support of an independent redistricting commission for Michigan. Most Americans agree that politics should be fair and that our democracy should be strong. Ending gerrymandering is an effort that unites Democrats, Republicans, and Independents towards those goals. Follow Katie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kteafahey Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Sponsors Thanks to Shopify for supporting Future Hindsight! Go to shopify.com/hopeful for a FREE fourteen-day trial and get full access to Shopify's entire suite of features. Start selling on Shopify today Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: Katie Fahey Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, June 16th, 2022 Sung Yeon Choimorrow is the executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, whose mission is to elevate AAPI women and girls to impact policy and drive systemic change in the United States. We discuss age-old and hardened stereotypes, changing the narrative about who Asian-Americans are, and activating Asian communities to take civic action. The term model minority was coined by a white sociologist to pit Japanese Americans against Black Americans. Many Asian-Americans have used the model minority myth to protect them, though in the end it does not insulate them from discrimination and racism. In fact, the objectification of Asian women for entertainment persists, and Asian-Americans are perpetually seen as foreign. Follow Sung Yeon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/schoimorrow Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Sponsors Thanks to Avast for supporting Future Hindsight! Go to avast.com to learn more about Avast One! Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: Sung Yeon Choimorrow Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, June 9th, 2022 Jeff Clements serves as President of American Promise, an organization that is focused on repairing the constitutional foundation to renew freedom for all Americans, to support effective and honest government and an equal shot at the American dream. He is the author of Corporations Are Not People: Reclaiming Democracy from Big Money and Global Corporations. We discuss ratifying a constitutional amendment that would rid American politics of dark money. Once the Supreme Court decided that corporations have free speech rights to spend unlimited money in elections, our politics were effectively captured by the donor class. Wealthy people and corporations deploy their power by, for example, funding toxic, divisive ads that are so hateful that many Americans don't want to vote. This is one strategy to win elections, but even the candidates are losing control. We need to pass laws to limit the powers of money and lift up the power of the human voice for a functioning democratic system. Follow Jeff on Twitter: https://twitter.com/clementsjeff Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Sponsors Thanks to the Jordan Harbinger for supporting Future Hindsight! Subscribe to The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen or at jordanharbinger.com/subscribe Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: Jeff Clements Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, June 2nd, 2022 Amy Westervelt is a climate journalist and the founder and executive producer of the Critical Frequency Podcast Network. She hosts the Drilled and Hot Take podcasts. We discuss the long tentacles of the fossil fuel industry, the key takeaways from this year's IPCC report, and how a small group of people have locked us into climate crisis. We have the tools and technology to mitigate the climate crisis now and the reasons that we're not taking dramatic action come down to political will. We could reduce emissions by about 40% by taking advantage of all the things that already exist, like public transit. We need to stop subsidizing the fossil fuel industry, incentivize a shift towards renewables, and push for systemic change that gives more options to everybody. There is also a huge potential to decarbonize via the food system. Community action is key to democracy and to solving climate. Follow Amy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/amywestervelt Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Sponsors Thanks to Shopify for supporting Future Hindsight! Go to shopify.com/hopeful for a FREE fourteen-day trial and get full access to Shopify's entire suite of features. Start selling on Shopify today. And shout out to the Qube App! If you're looking for an app with curated music & podcasts by BIPOC & QTPOC creatives, head over to the Qube App now. Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: Amy Westervelt Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, May 26th, 2022 Andrea Miller is the President of the National Institute for Reproductive Health. As we await the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, which will likely overturn Roe v. Wade and the right to abortion, we discuss how we got here and how we can prepare for the unwelcome reality of a post-Roe America. Abortion access is essential to equality, bodily integrity, community safety, and the economic future of all Americans. Everyone knows and loves someone who's had an abortion. Banning it will radically change the ability of people in half the states to make decisions about their reproductive lives. In our federalist system, work at the state and local level is more important than ever before. Follow the National Institute for Reproductive Health on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NIRHealth&nbsp Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Sponsors Thanks to Avast for supporting Future Hindsight! Head to Avast.com to learn more about Avast One! Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: Andrea Miller Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, May 19th, 2022 John Opdycke is the President of Open Primaries, an organization building a coalition of diverse Americans to enact open primaries in all 50 states. We discuss why it is time to shake up the closed-party primary system. In an open primary, all voters get to vote on the same ballot and all candidates get to run on the same ballot. The number one growing demographic among voters is independents, and yet, they're often shut out. Primaries are publicly funded, so every voter no matter their political party affiliation or even without party affiliation–in line with the fundamental core of democracy–should have their vote included. Moreover, in an open system, room is created for new, emerging coalitions and conversations to take place. Follow John on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jbopdycke Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Sponsors Go to Novo.co/HOPEFUL and get your FREE business checking account now! Go to shopify.com/hopeful for a FREE fourteen-day trial and get full access to Shopify's entire suite of features. Start selling on Shopify today. Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: John Opdycke Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, May 12th, 2022 Marie Yovanovitch is the former Ambassador to Ukraine and best-selling author of her memoir, Lessons from the Edge. In a live event for Big Tent USA, we discuss the powers of diplomacy, the corrosive effects of corruption, and the war in Ukraine. Her memoir details her illustrious career, her courage and integrity, and her patriotic dedication and service to the United States. She exemplifies how career diplomats – public servants – serve their country, Republican or Democratic administrations alike. US democracy is closely tied to its diplomacy. When the country is strong, our democracy is strong. Find Lessons from the Edge: A Memoir: https://bookshop.org/books/lessons-from-the-edge-a-memoir/9780358457541?aid=11259&listref=books-we-re-reading-in-2022-e85c5f86-2225-484e-a539-fc4836a82e53 Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Sponsors Subscribe to The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen or at jordanharbinger.com/subscribe Go to Shopify.com/hopeful for a FREE fourteen-day trial and get full access to Shopify's entire suite of features. Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, May 5th, 2022 Nisha Anand is an Indian-American activist, leader for racial justice, and the CEO of DreamCorps. Her expansive organizing experience solidified her belief in the power of working with unlikely partners to find real solutions. Nisha leads a diverse group of people who are learning, like her, the value of unconventional relationships. We discuss Dream Corps' work in criminal justice reform, building a green economy, and creating equity in tech. We all have our humanity in common, which forms a strong and consistent philosophical foundation for building allyship across differences. When we have that human connection, we can do heroic things. We can heal divides. Follow Nisha Anand on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nishamanand Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Sponsors Subscribe to The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen or at jordanharbinger.com/subscribe Go to Shopify.com/hopeful for a FREE fourteen-day trial and get full access to Shopify's entire suite of features. Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: Nisha Anand Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, April 28th, 2022 Ian Haney López is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He specializes in race and racism. His focus for the last decade has been on the use of racism in electoral politics, and how to respond. We discuss strategic racism and its antidote: race-class fusion politics. Strategic racism is a divide and conquer scam by elites that pushes us to hate each other while they rig the system for themselves. Race-class fusion politics is the antidote because it rejects the con and builds power with others across differences. Perhaps the real radicalism of race-class fusion politics today is the core radicalism of American democracy – a way of pushing power downward and outward to citizens. Follow Ian Haney López on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ianhaneylopez Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Want to be on Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOWRKPFgSkQGKyn4w2b8l9oMndRU9BlboRjqV3SEt7jSfVFQ/viewform Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Sponsors Go to Avast.com to learn more about Avast One! Go to Bambee.com/hopeful to schedule your FREE HR audit. Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: Ian Haney López Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, April 21st, 2022 Richard Hasen is a nationally recognized expert in election law and campaign finance regulation, and his new book is Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics and How to Cure It. We discuss the long-term dangers of cheap speech and ways to improve our information sphere in keeping with the First Amendment. Cheap speech is lower-value speech that finds a way to rise to the top of social media, news outlets, and everyday conversation. This overabundance of misinformation and disinformation is easy and inexpensive to produce. While the problem of cheap speech is worldwide and ubiquitous, we discuss a uniquely American approach to solving it through the prism of the First Amendment. Potential solutions include disclosure laws about tweaking algorithms, privacy protections to prevent micro-targeting, antitrust regulations, and public pressure to demand high standards from media platforms. Follow Rick Hasen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rickhasen Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Want to be on Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOWRKPFgSkQGKyn4w2b8l9oMndRU9BlboRjqV3SEt7jSfVFQ/viewform Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Sponsors Go to Shopify.com/hopeful for a FREE fourteen-day trial and get full access to Shopify's entire suite of features. Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: Rick Hasen Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, April 14th, 2022 David J. Toscano served 14 years (2006-20) in the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 57th District. He's the author of Fighting Political Gridlock: How States Shape Our Nation And Our Lives. We discuss strengthening our democracy at the State level through legislation, meaningful cooperation, and civic engagement in State politics. States are laboratories for democracy. State Houses make a big difference in people's lives, from education, criminal justice, even to climate change and energy issues. The US Constitution doesn't explicitly guarantee the right to vote, so we are in the fight of our lives to protect democracy. Follow David Toscano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/deltoscano Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Want to be on Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOWRKPFgSkQGKyn4w2b8l9oMndRU9BlboRjqV3SEt7jSfVFQ/viewform Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Sponsors Go to Novo.co/HOPEFUL and get your FREE business checking account. Credits: Host: Mila Atmos Guest: David Toscano Executive Producer: Mila Atmos Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, April 7th, 2022 Emily Cherniack is the founder of New Politics. She believes that politics has the power to change systems. Her organization works with military veterans and alumni of civilian service programs like Americorps with a goal of encouraging more people with civil and military service experience to run for office, all the way from school boards to Congress. We discuss how servant leadership is about doing something greater than yourself because it rests on the backbone of serving the community first. A service background helps leaders find the courage to tell the truth and do what's right, even if it's not popular. Follow Emily Cherniack on Twitter: https://twitter.com/echerniack Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Want to be on Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOWRKPFgSkQGKyn4w2b8l9oMndRU9BlboRjqV3SEt7jSfVFQ/viewform Want to support the show and get it early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Sponsors Thanks, Avast.com! Subscribe to The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen or at jordanharbinger.com/subscribe

We are running a short, four-minute survey during the month of April, and it's all about you. We want to learn more about what you think of Future Hindsight, and if there is anything we can do to make it better. Your participation can help us find more people to join our community of change-makers and give even more people the tools they need to be an engaged citizen, especially during this midterm election year. TAKE THE SURVEY HERE! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOWRKPFgSkQGKyn4w2b8l9oMndRU9BlboRjqV3SEt7jSfVFQ/viewform FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! @futur_hindsight

Thursday, March 31st, 2022 Carol Jenkins is the President and CEO of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women's Equality, sister organizations dedicated to the adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment. We discuss the current state of the ERA and why this constitutional amendment will address the problems of equality, misogyny, and discrimination. The Equal Rights Amendment guarantees equality of rights under the law, regardless of sex. The source of sexism, however, derives directly from the Constitution, which created a gold standard of living that really only applied to white men. That playbook is faulty, and the ERA provides a way to fix it. Despite already gaining the ratification of 38 states, the ERA has not yet been formally published as the 28th amendment. The battle over ratification has lasted for nearly a century. Follow Carol Jenkins on Twitter: https://twitter.com/caroljenkins Follow Mila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/milaatmos Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/ Listener Survey: http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard Want to support the show and get episodes early? https://patreon.com/futurehindsight Check out the Future Hindsight website! www.futurehindsight.com Promo Codes Thanks to Novo for supporting Future Hindsight! Go to Novo.co/HOPEFUL and get your FREE business banking account.

Jocelyn Benson is the Secretary of State of Michigan and the author of State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process. We discuss what's at stake this year, why it's vital to pay attention to this November's elections and the primaries this spring, and the role everyday people can play in protecting democracy. Go to Novo.co/HOPEFUL and get your FREE business banking account Referees of Democracy Secretaries of State are the referees of democracy. They serve as the chief election officers of their state, ensuring that elections are run smoothly with transparency, integrity, and security. They also make sure that every citizen has an equal opportunity to vote and have their voice heard. The Role of Citizens The vast majority of the American electorate is squarely on the side of democracy. Citizens play an important role in defending democracy by participating in elections: voting in people with integrity, and rejecting those who would seek to manipulate election results; volunteering to be poll workers; and to be fully and well informed. Election Results Are Trustworthy Multiple election audits across the United States proved that our elections are secure and trustworthy. Michigan has undergone over 250 audits that have all confirmed the accuracy and integrity of election results. The information about these audits and election-related lawsuits is available on the Secretary of State's website. FIND OUT MORE: Jocelyn Benson is Michigan's 43rd Secretary of State. In this role she is focused on ensuring elections are secure and accessible, and dramatically improving customer experiences for all who interact with her offices. Benson is the author of State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process, the first major book on the role of the secretary of state in enforcing election and campaign finance laws. She is also the Chair of Michigan's Task Force on Women in Sports to advance opportunities for women in Michigan as athletes and sports leaders. A graduate of Harvard Law School and expert on civil rights law, education law and election law, Benson served as dean of Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. When she was appointed dean at age 36, she became the youngest woman in U.S. history to lead a top-100, accredited law school. She continues to serve as vice chair of the advisory board for the Levin Center at Wayne Law, which she founded with former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin. Previously, Benson was an associate professor and associate director of Wayne Law's Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights. Prior to her election, she served as CEO of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE), a national nonprofit organization using the unifying power of sports to improve race relations. Benson is co-founder and former president of Military Spouses of Michigan, a network dedicated to providing support and services to military spouses and their children. In 2015, she became one of the youngest women in history to be inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. You can follow Secretary Benson on Twitter at @JocelynBenson

Nathan Lockwood is the Executive Director of Rank the Vote, an organization with a vision that the national adoption of ranked choice voting (RCV) could create a political and social culture with elections based on a competition of the best ideas. We discuss how RCV works, the spoiler problem, and the benefits for our democracy. Go to Shopify.com/hopeful for a FREE fourteen-day trial and get full access to Shopify's entire suite of features. Thank you, Native. Get 20% off your first purchase by going to nativedeo.com/HOPEFUL or using promo code HOPEFUL at checkout. The Spoiler Problem Ranked choice voting eliminates the potential for election spoilers when there are more than two candidates. In the 2000 presidential election, Ralph Nader won 100,000 votes. Had he not run, Al Gore would have likely won by 15,000-20,000 votes instead of losing the state of Florida by 500 votes. The spoiler problem affects both parties, such as when Ross Perot ran as a third candidate and took some conservative votes from George H.W. Bush. How It Works Instead of choosing just one candidate, ranked choice voting allows voters to rank their candidates in order of preference from 1st to 2nd, 3rd, etc. This means that voters now have back up choices in case their first choice candidate does not win the race. Their vote would automatically count towards the second choice. With ranked choice voting, voters can always vote for the candidate they truly love without fear of throwing their vote away. Benefits In addition to being able to vote for a first choice candidate without throwing away a vote, RCV is a more friendly system for women and minorities. Because people rank their choices, candidates aren't forced to compete against each other with negative campaigning and the results are a more reflective representation of voters. Lastly, ranked choice voting eliminates the need for runoffs, which saves money for everyone involved. FIND OUT MORE: Nathan Lockwood is Executive Director of Rank the Vote. He played a leading role in founding and growing Voter Choice Massachusetts both as the regional lead for Central Massachusetts and through various statewide roles. He also served on the board of directors of the Voter Choice Education Fund. Nathan was elected to the Town of Lunenburg, Massachusetts Planning Board and served from 2009 through 2015. His career in the software industry spanned 25 years and included engineering, design, and management roles. He holds a BA in Philosophy from Yale University. You can follow Nathan on Twitter at @njlockwood.

Art Chang was a mayoral candidate in New York City in 2021. We discuss his campaign and the big issues facing the City of New York. He shed light on the eviction crisis, the hurdles to adopting technology in government, and the power of joining and belonging. Technology Is Culture Change Adopting technology solutions equates to culture change, which goes well beyond updating ways of working. Tech startups build things with users as their starting point and then work backward from that. Government would have to also think of the outcome for the citizens first in order to successfully use technology. It would force leaders to be engaged and figure out what citizens need instead of thinking about what the government needs. Joining and Belonging To make a difference, make a decision to join and belong. Joining together on common ground is the most effective way to make change. Being a part of a team with a shared goal will help foster a sense of belonging. Finding a common purpose is essential if we are to make an active effort to fix any problem that faces us, from increasing voter turnout to saving the planet. The Eviction Crisis In the wake of the pandemic, many people across America are facing the threat of eviction. Homelessness comes with a stark burden on our society. For example, if a student is homeless for one year, it cuts their chances of graduating in half. Government has the power to anticipate and mitigate the eviction crisis because it has access to information such as income tax returns, and could use technology to get ahead of the issue. FIND OUT MORE: Art believes the key to solving our most important problems is visionary leadership. He has worked to advance democracy through NYC Votes, to improve child welfare with Casebook, to bring universal broadband and climate resiliency to the waterfront with Queens West, and to build an onramp to the tech sector for CUNY students with CUNY TAP. Art most recently ran for Mayor of NYC in the 2021 Democratic primary based on his belief that New York City can work for everyone. Before that, his work involved creating a successful ground-up legal knowledge management program at JPMorgan Chase as a Managing Director. Prior to that, he founded and led Tipping Point Partners, a tech startup incubator that created products/companies that revolutionize work for frontline workers and the people they serve, including voter engagement, campaign finance, social services, television, publishing, fashion, e-commerce. They co-created NYC Votes, Casebook, and the CUNY Technology Apprenticeship Program. At Tipping Point, Art built a decade-long partnership with Pivotal Software, and eventually joined Pivotal to help the world's leading financial services companies with digital transformation. His 40 year work experience spans New York City's key industries and government. You can follow Art on Twitter at@achangnyc

Danielle Allen is a MacArthur Fellow and the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. She's published broadly in democratic theory, political sociology, and the history of political thought, and is widely known for her work on justice and citizenship. Her most recent book is Democracy in the Time of Coronavirus. We discuss the promise of good governance, common purpose, and our moral compass in action. Democracy Works Good governance bolsters democracy by delivering for people in real ways that improve quality of life. For instance, it lowers the costs of living, makes quality healthcare accessible, and addresses the climate crisis, racial injustice, and more. Effective government connects hope with getting things done. Common Purpose Finding a common purpose is what fosters action. If individuals and communities can unite over a common purpose, they will have a target to work towards. Shared goals make it possible for teams to work cohesively and effectively. If we know where we are going collectively, then we can apply this to any issue that plagues our democracy, from inequality to climate. Moral Compassion in Action Our moral compass is already in action across the nation. For example, working together for fairness is much more common than one might think. Ballot propositions often achieve super majority votes. In Massachusetts, more than 70% of voters in 2020 voted for a proposition that gave small auto dealers access to data in cars, so they could stay in the business of making repairs. It's just one instance of solidarity in action. FIND OUT MORE: Danielle Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and is currently on leave as the Director of Harvard's Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics. She is a political theorist who has published broadly in democratic theory, political sociology, and the history of political thought. Her most recent book is Democracy in the Time of Coronavirus. Danielle has worked tirelessly through her writing, policy work, and political advocacy to advance the causes of freedom and equality, and to lay economic and health foundations on which all can flourish. She is especially proud of her civic education initiative which is supporting teaching and learning in fourteen Massachusetts school districts. When the COVID crisis hit, Danielle quickly assembled a Rapid Response Network of forty researchers and eight institutions to lay out a policy roadmap, The Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience, and led the development of influential data metrics and tools. Many of the proposals in that Roadmap and in the related work developed have been incorporated in the Biden-Harris Administration Coronavirus Response Plan, and Danielle and her team have offered technical assistance to local leaders at city and county levels throughout the country. She is a former Chair of the Mellon Foundation Board, past Chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. You can follow Danielle Allen on Twitter at @dsallentess

Understanding Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter stands as a movement to demand and secure Black humanity. Being a leader-full movement makes it less susceptible to disruption and has de-centered Black patriarchy. Its broad and deep inclusivity has also widened our consciousness beyond historical notions of Blackness. However, the lack of a clear leader also poses challenges in national messaging about the movement. Love, Equality, and Fairness Looking back at the history of Black thought in America, we see the shortcomings in our understanding of racism. Simply knowing that racism is wrong is not enough to break away from the everyday segregation our society faces. This moral immaturity continues to exist today, especially in the form of performative activism and fickle support of social movements. Combatting this kind of immaturity requires building a stronger sense of filial love across different communities. Moral and Affective Ideas Ideas can be powerful, but it's the affective nature of an idea that determines its power. It's clear that racial inequality results in an uneven distribution of wealth. Some would say that it is unfair. However, describing this reality as unfair removes the emotional punch that racial inequality actually results in the devastation of families, leading to anguish and despair. These two ideas are not interchangeable. FIND OUT MORE: Chris Lebron is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. He specializes in political philosophy, social theory, the philosophy of race, and democratic ethics. His first book, The Color of Our Shame: Race and Justice In Our Time (OUP 2013) won the American Political Science Association Foundations of Political Theory First Book Prize. His second book The Making of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of An Idea (OUP 2017) offers a brief intellectual history of the black lives matter social movement. Lebron is the winner of the 2018 Hiett Prize In The Humanities, which recognizes a "career devoted to the humanities and whose work shows extraordinary promise to have a significant impact on contemporary culture." In addition to his scholarly publications, he has been an active public intellectual, writing numerous times for The New York Times's philosophy column, The Stone, Boston Review, The Nation, The Atlantic, and Billboard Magazine. You can follow Chris on Twitter @lebron_chris

Neil Roberts is Professor of Africana Studies and Faculty Affiliate in Political Science and Religion at Williams College. He's working on a new book titled How To Live Free in an Age of Pessimism. We discuss the legacy of Charles Mills' scholarship on the racial contract, freedom, and transforming society from the bottom up. Thanks to Native for supporting Future Hindsight! Get 20% off your first purchase by visiting nativedeo.com/hopeful or using promo code HOPEFUL at checkout. Racial Contract White supremacy has shaped modern society in ways that may not be immediately obvious. Charles Mills proposes in the Racial Contract that we've operated under the assumption that rights belong to whites and are theirs to give away. By changing our conceptions about the racial contract and, in turn, racism, we can work towards constructing a new approach towards living free in our democracy. Living Free Living free isn't simply the lack of enslavement. In our world, social and political orders are constantly changing, creating new dynamics of subjugation. If we choose to think of freedom outside of the context of enslavement, then living free requires the individual to grow a sense of awareness of their surroundings and the political system they exist in. For example, suffrage is a hallmark of a democratic and free society. Positive and Negative Freedoms Positive notions of freedom are about the visions of freedom that are desired in a body politic, such as autonomy or plurality. They also include public policy, legislation, and constitutions. Negative notions of freedom are about non-interference and non-domination. One example is mask mandates, which is considered by some to be an interference of freedom. FIND OUT MORE: Neil Roberts is Professor of Africana Studies and Faculty Affiliate in Political Science and Religion at Williams College. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago with a specialization in political theory. Roberts is the recipient of fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Social Science Research Council, and Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation as well as a member of the Caribbean Philosophical Association Board of Directors. His present writings deal with the intersections of Caribbean, Continental, and North American political theory with respect to theorizing the concept of freedom. His most recent book is A Political Companion to Frederick Douglass (The University Press of Kentucky, 2018). Roberts was President of the Caribbean Philosophical Association from 2016-19 and, since July 2018, he has served as the W. Ford Schumann Faculty Fellow in Democratic Studies. His next book is How to Live Free in an Age of Pessimism. You can follow Neil on Twitter @neildsroberts.

Anat Shenker-Osorio is a renowned communications researcher and campaign advisor, the host of Words to Win By, and the Principal of ASO Communications. We discuss how to empower voters, the impact of repetition, and the importance of being clear on what you stand for. Social Proof Is Real The most telling sign that a message is reaching the masses effectively is if the public acts on it. For example, the last national election cycles in 2018 and 2020 saw a large increase in voter turnout. It is not productive to narrate the problems with voter turnout. Instead, we should encourage non-voters to grasp the potential their vote holds. The proof of that effective messaging is in the social movements that follow. Vote Is a Verb Voting behavior is one of the most studied aspects of political communications. Because of this, we know that voting behavior is best understood as a matter of habituation. Seeing voting as an action that we need to take rather than a belief that we need to hold will create a more effective approach to spurring voter turnout. In order to make voting a habit for more people, we have to talk about it consistently. Say what you're for: the Question of Negative Messaging All candidates should repeatedly state what they stand for because repetition is an essential ingredient in making sure a message is heard. Negative messaging can often be counterproductive because when you're negating the other side, you are actually reinforcing their argument. What's more, by focusing on the opposition and not clearly stating your own position, you risk leaving your message unheard. It's impossible to have a message resonate if no one hears it. FIND OUT MORE: Anat Shenker-Osorio is the host of the Words to Win By podcast and Principal of ASO Communications. Anat examines why certain messages falter where others deliver. She has led research for new messaging on issues ranging from freedom to join together in union to clean energy and from immigrant rights to reforming criminal justice. Anat's original approach through priming experiments, task-based testing, and online dial surveys has led to progressive electoral and policy victories across the globe. Anat delivers her findings at venues such as the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Centre for Australian Progress, Irish Migrant Centre, Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation, and LUSH International. Her writing and research is profiled in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Boston Globe, Salon, The Guardian, and Grist among others. She is the author of Don't Buy It: The Trouble with Talking Nonsense About the Economy. You can follow Anat on Twitter @anatosaurus

We're revisiting our conversation with Mark Rank, a poverty expert, professor, and author of Poorly Understood: What America Gets Wrong About Poverty. We discuss the true causes and systemic nature of poverty, and poverty reduction as being both moral and smart public policy. Musical Chairs American poverty is a bit like a game of musical chairs. The US only has good opportunities for 8 out of 10 Americans, meaning 2 people always lose. Instead of adding new opportunities or chairs, we shuffle the opportunities around, but 2 of every 10 people still end up without the opportunities. This shows that poverty is a result of the systems we have in place, not personal shortcomings, and if we continue shuffling the opportunities, we will continue having a poverty problem. Poverty Myths Being poor in the US is subject to several damaging myths that make it harder to reduce poverty rates country-wide. We think of a poverty rate between 10-15% of the US population, but shockingly 60-75% of Americans will spend at least one year of their lives in poverty. Another myth blames poor Americans for their own poverty, not the systems that maintain poverty in America. We also assume the costs of poverty are borne by the poor, but US taxpayers pay more than $1 trillion per year due to the externalities of poverty. Social Safety Nets The US has a much weaker social safety net than other developed countries. We view poverty as a personal shortcoming that is not to be rewarded with welfare programs or healthcare. Since we think the poor are undeserving of help, we do not invest in social safety nets, creating high rates of poverty. Social safety nets reduce poverty by 75-80% in other countries, whereas the US safety net only reduces it by 25-30%. The most successful anti-poverty program in the US is Social Security. FIND OUT MORE: Mark R. Rank is recognized as a foremost expert on issues of poverty, inequality, and social justice. His research on the life course risk of poverty has demonstrated for the first time that most Americans will experience poverty at some point during their lives. To date, he has written 10 books on a range of subjects, including an exploration of the American Dream, a new understanding of poverty and inequality, and the role of luck and chance in shaping the course of our lives. In addition, he has published articles in numerous academic journals across a wide variety of fields. He has provided research expertise to members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as well as many national organizations involved in issues of economic and social justice. His work has been cited by then-President Barack Obama, as well as Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. You can check out his book Poorly Understood here.

We're revisiting our conversation with Colin Jerolmack, an environmental sociologist and author of Up to Heaven and Down to Hell: Fracking, Freedom, and Community in an American Town. We discuss the public-private paradox and the tragedy of the commons, as well as the undemocratic aspects of American property rights. Public-Private Paradox America has clearly delineated public and private domains: the public domain is regulated, and the private domain is not. A public-private paradox occurs when a decision made in the private domain creates issues in the public domain. In the case of fracking, choosing to allow drilling in your land is a private decision. That decision creates many externalities such as overuse of roads, unwanted sights and sounds, contaminated well water for neighborhood, which harms the public good. Tragedy of the Commons The Tragedy of the Commons explains how individual decisions pertaining to common resources can lead to degradation of that resource, hurting everyone. It's in everyone's own best interest to use as much of a common resource as possible, because if they don't, someone else will. Unfortunately, when everyone does this the shared resource is often quickly degraded. In the case of fracking, many landowners decided to lease land because their neighbors were doing it, and choosing not to lease would mean absorbing the externalities of fracking without any compensation. American Property Rights American landowners own their land "up to heaven, and down to hell," meaning they own both the air and subsurface rights along with their land. This is quite different from almost all other countries, where subsurface mineral rights are owned, regulated, and sold by government bodies. Landowners in the US make entirely private decisions to allow oil and gas drilling on their property without the consent of their neighbors, and in some cases without any regulation from local, state, or federal governments. FIND OUT MORE: Colin Jerolmack is a professor of sociology and environmental studies at NYU, where he also teaches courses on human-animal relations and chairs the Environmental Studies Department. His first book, The Global Pigeon explores how human-animal relations shape our experience of urban life. His second book, Up To Heaven and Down to Hell: Fracking, Freedom, and Community in an American Town follows residents of a rural Pennsylvania community who leased their land for gas drilling in order to understand how the exercise of property rights can undermine the commonwealth. He also co-edited the volume Approaches to Ethnography: Modes of Representation and Analysis in Participant Observation with Shamus Khan. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons. You can follow Colin on Twitter @jerolmack.

We're sharing a curated list of podcast recommendations on abortion rights that we put together for our friends at EarBuds Podcast Collective in September 2021. Reproductive rights will be in the news a lot this year because of the Mississippi case before SCOTUS and because of the midterm elections. The 5 episodes we recommend are: Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick – "Abortion, Surveillance, and Vigilantism: An American Story" Fresh Air with Terry Gross – "SCOTUS & The Future of Roe v. Wade" Access: A Podcast About Abortion with Garnet Henderson – "2021 is a Record-Breaking Year for State Attacks on Abortion. How Are Advocates Fighting Back?" The Takeaway with Melissa Harris-Perry – "Corporations Stay Silent on Abortion" Future Hindsight with Mila Atmos - "The Human Rights of Women" FIND OUT MORE: Follow the podcasts on Twitter! EarBuds Podcast Collective: @EarBudsPodCol Fresh Air: @nprfreshair The Takeaway: @TheTakeaway Access: A Podcast about Abortion: @ACCESSpod Future Hindsight: @Futur_Hindsight

Retaking The Commons In order to repair our current social contract, we must first repair our relationship to the Commons. Our economy currently prioritizes property protection, wealth protection, and disproportionate power, while often disregarding the realities of human life. Social movements can create a sense of mutuality, of what we hold in common, and amass power to retake the Commons. Turning to each other has never been more effective. The Solidarity Economy Solidarity economics is a system that focuses on mutuality in the form of co-ops, community land trusts, and other social movements. The key is to create experiences that widen the circle of belonging and everyone is valuable. For example, solidarity economics aims to increase workers' power in order to get better deals from their employers. It also creates alternative economic enterprises, government regulation to prevent abuses, and rewards high road businesses. The Benefit of Mutualism Operating in mutuality is the opposite of operating in self-interest. In many ways, our society has been built to reward those who are powered by self-interest, but the benefit of mutuality extends far beyond personal gain. Creating solidarity means building commonality between all types of communities. Social movements are at the heart of mutuality, since they foster a responsibility to one another. The more we practice mutuality, the more normal it becomes, and the greater the rewards that are delivered. FIND OUT MORE: Dr. Manuel Pastor is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He currently directs the Equity Research Institute at USC. Pastor holds an economics Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is the inaugural holder of the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change at USC. His latest books are South Central Dreams: Finding Home and Building Community in South L.A. (co-authored with Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo) and Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter (co-authored with Chris Benner). His previous works include State of Resistance: What California's Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Means for America's Future and Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation Can Learn from America's Metro Areas (co-authored with Chris Benner [UC Press 2015]). You can follow Manuel on Twitter @Prof_MPastor

Faith in the Social Contract As members of a society, we must have an understanding of "we" for the social contract to function. When citizens are put in a position of protecting the state or the economy instead of protecting its people, we all lose out. Faith can help us find a sense of togetherness. If we know who we're fighting for, the sacrifice makes that much more sense. The pandemic has been a great example of both the wins and losses of living for the greater good. Beloved Community A beloved community is one that prioritizes having enough as opposed to having abundance. If everyone has enough to get by, then no one is left out. In this way, members of the community can shed the stress of the next meal or a roof over their heads, and instead are able to put resources and engagement into one another. A beloved community builds from the heart of our social contract through a faith in neighborliness and diplomacy. Mutual Aid The pillars of mutual aid are recognizing that there are no unworthy people and that everyone in the community is valued. In turn, people can get the help they need and ask for. For instance, in the vulnerability many experienced during the pandemic, mutual aid groups made it so if you needed food, you could rely on someone to help you with that need. Mutual aid does not depend on filling out applications to prove that you have a need, but instead a sense of trust in your community that asking for help will guarantee that help. FIND OUT MORE: The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson is the president of Auburn Seminary, a leadership development and research institute that equips bold and resilient leaders of faith and moral courage to build communities, bridge divides, pursue justice, and heal the world. Founded more than 200 years ago by Presbyterians in upstate New York, Auburn is committed to right relationship with a truly multifaith, multiracial movement for justice. Rev. Jordan-Simpson preached her first sermon at the age of 17 at House of Prayer Episcopal Church in Newark, NJ, and was ordained by The Concord Baptist Church of Christ, a historic freedom faith congregation in Brooklyn, NY. Her ministry has been grounded in the call to community. She is a graduate of Fisk University (BA); Union Theological Seminary (M. Div), and Drew Theological Seminary (D. Min). She is the President of the Board of American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York and serves on the Board of Directors of FPWA. You can follow Dr. Jordan-Simpson on Twitter at @RevEmmaJ

Technology in the Social Contract Increasingly, the design of new technology determines the way our society functions and the way we live. Simple design flaws like the lack of a mute button on Sony Camcorders ended up changing our laws on surveillance. We don't elect the people that build our global technology landscape. In addition, once the technology is successful in the marketplace, its design is replicated without question. More Equitable Algorithms Algorithms have the power to harm us beyond individual privacy issues, in ways we don't always see, such as their ability to discriminate based on race and even violate the integrity of an election. However, we're not powerless in shaping how that landscape affects us. It's important to prioritize our interests as citizens as opposed to the business interests of an online platform. Section 230 Section 230 is an old law that allows online platforms immunity from the impact of third-party content, meaning sites like Facebook are not liable for the posts created by anyone that uses it. It's a blanket protection that recognizes the platforms as neutral. However, these online platforms are not neutral because they make decisions regarding what ads are shown or which posts are promoted. Essentially, Section 230 creates protections for online services that do, in fact, influence the public. FIND OUT MORE: Latanya Sweeney is the Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of Government and Technology at the Harvard Kennedy School. She has 3 patents, more than 100 academic publications, pioneered the field known as data privacy, launched the emerging area known as algorithmic fairness, and her work is explicitly cited in two U.S. regulations, including the U.S. federal medical privacy regulation (known as HIPAA). Dr. Sweeney is a recipient of the prestigious Louis D. Brandeis Privacy Award, the American Psychiatric Association's Privacy Advocacy Award, an elected fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics, and has testified before government bodies worldwide. She earned her PhD in computer science from MIT in 2001, being the first black woman to do so, and her undergraduate degree in computer science from Harvard University. Dr. Sweeney creates and uses technology to assess and solve societal, political and governance problems, and teaches others how to do the same. You can follow Dr Sweeney on Twitter at @LatanyaSweeney

Tax Policy is Where It Starts What do our tax dollars really go towards? The truth is, so much of it is invisible. Tax dollars go towards helping homeowners through mortgage deductions or keeping prices low on your water bill. The money we spend on taxes has the power to shape our social contract, but it's not always spent correctly. By focusing on tax policy first, we can control which programs and policies are funded and which are not. In this way, taxes are at the root of social change. Tax Fairness The topic of tax fairness is shrouded in the myth that America's tax system is progressive. We tend to only talk about federal income taxes, which do in fact increase as you make more income. But we fail to recognize the unfairness of other taxes, like property and sales tax. For example, middle class families pay the same sales tax as the ultra-wealthy, and even renters end up paying property taxes at a rate equivalent to billionaires. When you look at the full scope of the tax burden, it really falls most heavily on middle- and lower-income families. Taxing Billionaires Billionaires don't have to pay taxes on their capital investments. They pay taxes when they sell their assets. However, billionaires are rarely in a position where they need to sell, thanks to loopholes in the system. For example, Jeff Bezos, who owns billions in Amazon stock, can take out huge loans at low interest rates, using his stock as collateral, avoiding any taxable event like selling stock. To effectively tax the ultra-wealthy, these loopholes can be closed by taxing annual gains of public stock whether they've been sold or not, much like a property tax assessment. FIND OUT MORE: Sarah Christopherson is the Legislative and Policy Director of Americans for Tax Fairness. She leads ATF's advocacy efforts with Congress and coordinates the coalition's policy work. Prior to joining ATF, she served as the Policy Advocacy Director for the National Women's Health Network for five years, responsible for directing their advocacy efforts on federal health reform, among other issues. Christopherson also worked for Congress from 2005 to 2015, including serving as the Washington Director/Legislative Director to Congresswoman Niki Tsongas (D-MA). There she directed the Member's legislative agenda and led her tax, financial services, consumer protection, and federal budget portfolio. Christopherson has bachelor's degrees in political science and history from Arizona State University and a master's degree in foreign policy from George Washington University. You can follow Sarah on Twitter at @sarahcgchris.

Racism Bites Everybody Creating racist policies and ideologies is short-sighted. In the long run, these practices affect everyone, including white people. In 1978, older white voters in California decided they didn't want their tax dollars going towards the funding of education for children who were increasingly non-white. To reflect this, Prop 13 capped property taxes and essentially led to a defunding of public education in the state, which families of every race and ethnicity rely on. Intersectionality History has shown that when the American social safety net becomes beneficial for people of color, support for the policies and programs diminish. For example, criminal justice started to be used more and more as a tool for social management after poverty programs in the 1960s allowed Black Americans to access it. Today these relationships between race and a social safety affect our entire society, across the landscape of labor, education outcomes, and incarceration. Abstract Fears Abstract fears are based on something people believe to be true, even though it is not part of their lived experience. For example, if someone believes that immigrants abuse Medicaid, they will fight against Medicaid as a whole, even if the program would be beneficial for them. Abstract fears and prejudices that are not rooted in reason erode the social contract because they block citizens from making decisions that benefit both their own lives and society at large. FIND OUT MORE: Eduardo Porter is an economics reporter for The New York Times, where he was a member of the editorial board from 2007 to 2012 and the Economic Scene columnist from 2012 to 2018. He began his career in journalism as a financial reporter for Notimex, a Mexican news agency, in Mexico City. He was a correspondent in Tokyo and London, and in 1996 moved to São Paulo, Brazil, as editor of América Economía, a business magazine. In 2000, he went to work at The Wall Street Journal in Los Angeles to cover the growing Hispanic population. Porter is the author of The Price of Everything (2011), an exploration of the cost-benefit analyses that underpin human behaviors and institutions. His latest book is American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise (2020). You can follow Eduardo Porter on Twitter at @PorterEduardo

The Legacy of the Subminimum Wage The devaluation of Black lives and women's work is at the heart of the subminimum wage. Until the 1850s, restaurant workers were white men who were unionized and were tipped on top of a living wage. But business owners started hiring women and black people for free, making them rely on tips to make their living. This means that the customer—instead of the employer—is responsible for paying the worker. A century and a half later, the subminimum wage has increased to only $2.13. Tipped Work in the Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic exposed how precarious tipped work is. Full time tipped workers, such as in bars or restaurants, often did not qualify for unemployment benefits because their tips were never reported, and it made them look ineligible for not having worked enough hours or earned enough pay. We have an opportunity to get rid of the subminimum wage by advocating for the Raise the Wage Act, supporting restaurants that pay their workers a livable wage, and demanding the same from businesses that don't. Who Gets Paid Subminimum Wages? The restaurant industry makes up a big piece of the work force, but it's not alone. Nail salon workers, car wash workers, parking attendants, sky caps at airports all work for tips. Subminimum wage laws also take advantage of a subset of people who are deemed ineligible for a proper minimum wage. Incarcerated workers are often paid even below the subminimum wage per hour; teenage workers produce the same work as adults but get paid less; and people with disabilities also perform the same as other workers but do not get paid the same amount. FIND OUT MORE: Saru Jayaraman is the President of One Fair Wage and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley. Saru has spent the last 20 years organizing and advocating for raising wages and working conditions for restaurant and other service workers. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She was listed in CNN's "Top 10 Visionary Women" and recognized as a Champion of Change by the White House in 2014, a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2015, and the San Francisco Chronicle 'Visionary of the Year' in 2019. Saru has written several books, including Behind the Kitchen Door (Cornell University Press, 2013), a national bestseller, Bite Back: People Taking on Corporate Food and Winning (UC Press, 2020), and most recently One Fair Wage: Ending Sub Minimum Pay in America (The New Press, 2021). You can learn more at onefairwage.com. You can follow Saru on Twitter at @SaruJayaraman

Our Responsibility to Defend the Truth Science denialism has existed as long as science has existed. As a part of our social contract, we're responsible for challenging the spread of misinformation and understanding, especially when it comes to science. If we open ourselves up to these difficult conversations, we can offer up a path into more logical reasoning and avoid a culture where science and truth are rejected. Science Denialism is Dangerous All science denialism relies on a flawed blueprint of cherry-picking evidence, trusting conspiracy theories, trusting fake experts, and relying on illogical reasoning. The internet has given denialism a chance to be amplified, which is especially dangerous because it confuses people and muddies the line between fact and falsehood. Science denialism hurts us in so many ways, from killing our planet by ignoring climate change to taking lives because people don't trust vaccines and masks. Technique Rebuttal Content rebuttal is using facts to combat false claims. Technique rebuttal is challenging the logic of the argument. It may seem logical to defend the truth with the facts, but you can make more progress by talking about the core of people's beliefs. If someone has already made the choice to deny the facts, presenting them with even more facts will not be effective. Instead, build trust by making them feel heard, then point out inconsistencies in their reasoning and use facts judiciously. FIND OUT MORE: Lee McIntyre is a philosopher of science and the author of the 2018 book Post Truth. His new book How to Talk to a Science Denier, tries to figure out how we can have constructive dialogue with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason. Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and an Instructor in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. Formerly Executive Director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University, he has also served as a policy advisor to the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard and as Associate Editor in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. McIntyre is the author of several books, including Post-Truth, Respecting Truth: Willful Ignorance in the Internet Age, and How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason. Other work has appeared in such popular venues as the The New York Times, Newsweek, The Chronicle of Higher Education, the New Statesman, the Times Higher Education Supplement, and The Humanist. You can follow Lee on Twitter at @LeeCMcIntyre

The Social Contract and Our Bodies The pandemic has given us a glimpse into the ways our health is woven into the social contract. The high number of deaths from COVID are the result of the government's failure to collaborate with international organizations and with our own state lawmakers. We leaned on essential care workers, many of whom are people of color. And yet, they often lacked PPE, challenging what it really means to be "essential." The Inequality of Health Racism is a preexisting health condition in the United States. COVID unveiled the institutional and infrastructural inequalities that have existed in our healthcare system for decades, which we see with the alarming rates of death among Black and Latino children. These inequalities and social stereotypes affect every corner of healthcare. For example, Black adults are 2 to 6 times more likely to suffer an amputation than a white adult, especially for common conditions like diabetes. Women's Health Increasingly, aspects of women's health, such as reproduction, pregnancy, abortion, birth, and motherhood have been criminalized in the United States. Criminalization especially affects Black and brown women so that medical care has become a weapon to turn health issues like a stillbirth into a criminal offense. However, in creating these sorts of precedents, all women—regardless of race—are then subject to suffering under this weaponization of healthcare, which we see happening across the country right now. FIND OUT MORE: Michele Goodwin is a Chancellor's Professor at the University of California Irvine and founding director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy. She is the recipient of the 2020-21 Distinguished Senior Faculty Award for Research, the highest honor bestowed by the University of California. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, as well as an elected Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Hastings Center (the organization central to the founding of bioethics). She is an American Law Institute Adviser for the Restatement Third of Torts: Remedies. Goodwin has won national awards for excellence in scholarship, outstanding teaching, and committed community service. Gov. Paul Patton of Kentucky commissioned her a Colonel, the state's highest title of honor for her outstanding contributions to K-12 education. She's the recipient of the Be The Change Award, the Sandra Day O'Connor Legacy Award by the Women's Journey Foundation, and was named Teacher of the Year by the Thurgood Marshall Bar Association in 2018. Goodwin received a commendation from the United States House of Representatives for Outstanding Teaching. You can follow Michele Goodwin on Twitter at @michelebgoodwin

Racial Injustice in the Climate Crisis Economic and racial injustices are at the center of the climate crisis. White communities have largely avoided things like polluting power plants and detrimental pipelines in their neighborhoods. Instead, communities of color have faced that burden. The willingness to sacrifice communities of color has made it easier for governments to tolerate climate chaos. Aiding Youth Activism Successful social movements often start with activism by young people, and in fact cannot be successful without them. However, it's up to the adults in our democracy to make sure their voices are heard since they are the ones who can vote and have the financial resources. It's been proven that just 3.5% of a population can topple a dictatorship. What can it do for climate justice? Disruptive Humanitarianism Disruptive humanitarianism challenges the status quo and forces the system to change immediately for the better. It counters the idea that it's everyone for themselves. It can be as simple as planting a garden where a pipeline is being placed. Taking action together in a democracy is imperative because it's hard to create change as an individual. FIND OUT MORE: Keya Chatterjee is Executive Director of US Climate Action Network and author of The Zero Footprint Baby: How to Save the Planet While Raising a Healthy Baby. Her work focuses on building an inclusive movement in support of climate action. Prior to joining USCAN, Keya served as Senior Director for Renewable Energy and Footprint Outreach at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), where she worked for eight years. Before that, she was a Climate Change Specialist at USAID. Keya also worked at NASA headquarters for four years, communicating research results on climate change. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco from 1998 to 2000. She served on the board of the Washington Area Bicycling Association from 2013 to 2021. Keya received her Master's degree in Environmental Science, and her Bachelor's in Environmental Science and Spanish from the University of Virginia. You can follow Keya on Twitter @keya_chatterjee.

Architecture of Opportunity We lose talent in our society when we overlook those from poor backgrounds or minority families. For example, Lost Einsteins are children who harness above-average skills, but don't have a chance to invent and create later in their lives because they lack access to opportunity. John Rawls' Veil of Ignorance provides the template for a just society where the luck of your birth need not be a factor in your life's outcomes. The Importance of Childcare Our social contract has widely depended on women to provide free labor to care for children and the household. Because of the imbalance in structures like maternity leave, the gender pay gap can largely be attributed to children. By investing in affordable and accessible quality childcare, our society will benefit from the productivity and talents of all the women who are now subject to this child penalty. The New Social Contract with Business Global corporate taxes have been lowering for decades as countries fight to attract major corporations. Using taxes to invest in our society is part of the social contract, and a minimum global corporate tax will ensure that large companies can no longer shirk this responsibility. In addition, the current economic model lacks any measurement of how we degrade our environment. If these costs were measured, a carbon tax can be designed to reflect them and incentivize sound choices about our environment. FIND OUT MORE: Baroness Minouche Shafik is the Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is a leading economist whose career has straddled public policy and academia. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, she received her MSc at the London School of Economics and her DPhil at the University of Oxford. By the age of 36, she had become the youngest ever Vice President of the World Bank. She's taught at Georgetown University and the Wharton Business School. She later served as the Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development from 2008 to 2011, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from 2011-2014, and as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England from 2014-2017. Baroness Shafik has served on and chaired numerous boards and currently serves as a Trustee of the British Museum, the Supervisory Board of Siemens, the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and the Economy Honours Committee. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 2015. In July 2020, she was made a crossbench peer in the House of Lords. Her new book is What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract.

The Social Contract The state of nature is a human condition that exists in any space that lacks a civil authority. With the social contract, we're prepared to make a deal with each other in order to live together as best we can and exit the state of nature. Philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau expressed versions of the social contract that influence governments around the world today. Co-Creating Reality We are all co-creators of our community politics and social outcomes. The ancient Greeks embraced civic thought as a pervasive and abiding concern for the matters belonging to the community in common. Classical ideas can provide a lens for choosing to embrace or to abandon the obligation to sustain and participate in a mutually beneficial reality. Mutual Aid Where is the social contract working today? In response to the pandemic, mutual aid sprung up to meet people's needs in many communities. Members participate as much as they're able to and ask for what they need. In doing so, the group can work together to sustain and provide for its members. FIND OUT MORE: Melissa Lane is the Class of 1943 Professor of Politics and the Director of the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. Her research and teaching are focused in the area of the history of political thought, with a special expertise in ancient Greek thought, and in normative political philosophy, including especially environmental ethics and politics. She is an associated faculty member in the Princeton Department of Classics and Department of Philosophy. Her books include The Birth of Politics: Eight Greek and Roman Political Ideas and Why They Matter (PUP, 2015); Plato's Progeny (Duckworth, 2001); and Method and Politics in Plato's Statesman (CUP, 1998). At Princeton, she was the first director of the Program in Values and Public Life, and is co-chair of the Steering Committee for Service and Civic Engagement and of the Climate Futures Initiative. She received a Phi Beta Kappa teaching prize in 2015. Before joining the Princeton faculty in 2009, she taught in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge and was a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. She is a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Royal Historical Society, and the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce (RSA).

Our all-new season is all about something that we most often hear about in terms of its brokenness: the social contract. We will be asking big questions about how we live together, what we owe each other, what we can ask of governments, and how we can repair what's broken, renegotiate what never worked, or what's not working anymore.

Subscribe to Some of My Best Friends Are at http://podcasts.pushkin.fm/futurehindsight This week, we're sharing an episode of Some of My Best Friends Are... The show is hosted by Khalil Muhammad and Ben Austen, two best friends who grew up together on the South Side of Chicago in the '80s. Khalil is Black; Ben is white. They invite listeners into their conversations about the absurdities and intricacies of race in America. Mixing anecdotes, entertaining storytelling, and thoughtful debate, Some of My Best Friends Are... helps listeners make sense of our deeply divided country. In this episode, Khalil and Ben tell each other for the first time about trips they each took to prisons abroad. Ben traveled to Finland and Norway. Khalil traveled to Germany. They ask: How did the Nazi occupation influence Germany's modern day prison industrial complex? How is the prison guard and inmate dynamic in Norwegian facilities different from America? They dish on what made these trips so monumental and talk about whether America could ever replicate the models they observed.

Intersectionality As an Assemblymember, González-Rojas works to address a variety of intersectional issues facing her community, ranging from housing to healthcare. Her prior experience as a reproductive justice advocate has trained her well for intersectional lawmaking, which is often siloed by the political process. This approach serves the people most marginalized and helps create dynamic bills that tackle multiple areas of injustice to help constituents. Excluded Workers' Rights Excluded workers are not protected by many of the labor laws that govern most sectors, which include undocumented, part-time, and contract workers. They perform critical duties in our economy and have little recourse against various forms of exploitation and discrimination. During the COVID pandemic, excluded workers were labeled 'essential', and should be protected because they protect us and our economic system. Reimagining Public Financing New York City has publicly subsidized elections, but New York State and most of the rest of the country do not. An easy way to help democracy is to pass sweeping campaign finance reform to level the playing field and remove wealth from the equation. This allows a new crop of diverse voices and perspectives to succeed in elections, creating stronger, broader, legislation to help all Americans, not just rich ones. FIND OUT MORE: Jessica González-Rojas serves in the New York State Assembly representing the 34th Assembly District, which includes the diverse Queens communities of Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, Woodside and Corona. She is an unapologetic social justice leader fighting for the values of dignity, justice, and equity. Jessica has dedicated her life – on both the local and national level – to fight for immigrant rights, racial justice, and gender equity. For 13 years, Jessica served in leadership at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, the only national reproductive justice organization that is dedicated to building Latina power to advance health, dignity, and justice for 29 million Latinas, their families, and communities in the United States. She has been a leader in progressive movements for over two decades. Jessica successfully forges connections between reproductive health, gender, immigration, LGBTQ liberation, labor and Latinx civil rights, breaking down barriers between movements and building a strong Latina grassroots presence. Jessica is a long-time leader in community and electoral politics. Prior to running for State Assembly in 2020, she was elected to the New York State Committee from 2002-2006. She has received proclamations from the New York State Senate, New York State Assembly, New York City Comptroller and New York City Council for her local and national advocacy. You can follow her on Twitter @votejgr.

Youth Vote Power Young people wield a lot of power when they vote. A whopping 73% of youth who were registered to vote by NextGen turned out to vote. This type of turnout can change the outcome of an election. Because voting is a habit, investing in youth leads to long-lasting change in the electorate. Letting young people know the power they have can make a tremendous difference. Voting Rights and Immigrants The current battle over immigrants is not just about immigration. It is also about race, power, and voting. Purging naturalized citizens, preventing DACA recipients from becoming citizens, and undercounting in the US census are all efforts to enact racist policies and to suppress votes. Keep the Door Open When Cristina first organized undocumented workers in Texas, she was met with hostility from pro-labor unions. Over time, they realized the work she was doing benefited everyone, and are now her allies. Leaving the door open for others to change their mind and work with you is a valuable tool that can yield positive results. FIND OUT MORE: Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez is a civil rights leader and former 2020 U.S. Senate candidate. She has spent the last twenty years taking on some of the most powerful special interests in her home state of Texas, organizing construction workers, immigrant mothers and young voters to build a government and economy that works for all of us. Today, Cristina is the Executive Director of NextGen America, the nation's largest youth voting rights organization. NextGen has registered and mobilized millions of young people to the polls, with the goal of harnessing the power of young people to reshape the political outcomes of our country – not for an election cycle but a generation. Previously, Cristina founded two of Texas' largest voting and civil rights organizations. She founded Jolt, a statewide organization focused on mobilizing the Latino vote, when she was six-months pregnant and in the wake of the 2016 election. Under her leadership, Jolt mobilized tens of thousands of young Latinos and developed some of the nation's most creative strategies to engage young Latinos, like #Poderquince that supports young quinceañeras to use their sweet 15 birthdays as a platform to register and mobilize Latino voters. You can follow her on Twitter @cristinafortx.

The Power of State Legislatures State legislatures pass the laws that affect our daily lives. When Democrats won the 'trifecta' in Virginia in 2019, they controlled both chambers of the House and the governor's office. Immediately, they passed voting rights legislation, abolished the death penalty, improved the criminal justice system, abolished no-knock warrants, and more. Purple District Network Sister District identified a gap in resources for legislators from purple districts. The Purple District Network focuses on providing support by sharing best practices, governance techniques, and strategies for being effective. They also give lawmakers access to alumni of their program, allowing for mentorship, networking, and strategizing across state lines. Redistricting Flipping and holding districts is key to progressive strategies in 2021-22, especially because of the redistricting process after the 2020 census. Democrats were unable to take any state legislatures back from Republican control last year. However, several states do have bipartisan redistricting commissions, which will make redistricting fairer for Democrats; and there are several competitive upcoming state races. FIND OUT MORE: Lala Wu is a Co-Founder and the Executive Director of Sister District. Since its founding in 2016, Sister District has raised millions in small dollar donations directly for candidates and reached out to voters through doors, calls, texts, and postcards on behalf of over 100 state legislative candidates in key swing districts. Lala has successfully led the expansion of the organization's volunteer infrastructure to over 50,000 and has also led the development of strategic partnerships with local and national organizations such as the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, EMILY's List, Human Rights Campaign, Vote Save America, and more. Prior to Sister District, Lala clerked for federal judges in the Northern District of California and the District of Massachusetts. She was also an attorney at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco and Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell LLP in Denver where she counseled renewable energy and real estate clients on land use, regulatory, transactional, and litigation matters. Lala graduated from U.C. Berkeley, School of Law and Barnard College of Columbia University. While at Berkeley, she served as Co-President of the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative and successfully represented a Chinese asylum-seeker through the California Asylum Representation Clinic. You can follow her on Twitter @_lala_wu.

Helping Diverse First Time Candidates Run Since its founding, Run for Something has helped elect 515 young, local officials across 46 states. A third of those elected officials are between 25 and 30, 10% are between the ages of 18 and 24, a third are women of color, and 11% are LGBTQ. Electing young diverse candidates compounds on itself. After transwoman Danica Roem was elected in 2017, many other trans people decided to run for office. Local and State Races Run for Something focuses on local and state elections because of their impact on people's daily lives. Members of state legislatures have control over election administration, school boards have real power over what children learn, city and municipal officials have real control over police reform, and more. Winning local office is often easier to achieve than state or national leadership and has more direct impact on constituents. Better Governance Electing younger, more diverse candidates has resulted in better governance. Jessica Ramos of New York State has introduced groundbreaking legislation to combat wage theft; Florida State Rep Ana Eskamani helped more than 30,000 Floridians access unemployment insurance; and Texas State Rep James Talarico helped lower the price on insulin in his state. FIND OUT MORE: Amanda Litman is the co-founder and executive director of Run for Something, which recruits and supports young, diverse progressives running for down-ballot office. Since launching in 2017, RFS has identified more than 75,000 young people who want to run, endorsed nearly 1,500 and elected nearly 500 across 46 states, mostly women and people of color. Politico named Run for Something (and Amanda) one of the 50 ideas driving politics in 2018. Bloomberg called her one of the people to watch in 2019. Fortune named her to their annual 40 under 40 list in 2020. Before launching Run for Something, Amanda worked as a digital strategist — she served as Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, the digital director for Charlie Crist's 2014 Florida gubernatorial campaign, the deputy email director for Organizing for Action, and an email writer for Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. You can follow her on Twitter @amandalitman.

Pro-Choice Democratic Women Eleanor's Legacy specifically helps pro-choice Democratic candidates for several reasons. First, due to a long-standing Republican majority in the state legislature, New York State had not codified Roe v. Wade protections until 2019. Second, not all Democrats are pro-choice, and Eleanor's Legacy only supports candidates who are pro-choice. Lastly, clearly stating your values and building your brand always helps in politics. Importance of State and Local Office Controlling state and local office can mean huge differences for everyday voters. When Democrats took control of the New York State legislature in 2019, they significantly expanded access to voting, immediately protected abortion rights, began to address climate change, and protected survivors of childhood sexual abuse. None of these laws would have been passed if Democrats hadn't won in local elections. Healthy Political Landscape Although things are improving politically in New York, there is still work to be done to create a truly healthy political landscape. For instance, voter turnout needs to climb beyond the usual 20%. Just as important, more women need to be elected to executive roles. The gains made by women in local and state offices are promising. However, electing a woman mayor of NYC would go a long way in creating a healthier political landscape. FIND OUT MORE: Brette McSweeney is the president of Eleanor's Legacy, the only statewide organization in New York focused on recruiting, training, and funding pro-choice Democratic women candidates at the state and local level. She was a member of the New York Leadership Council for Hillary for America in 2016 and the deputy New York State director for women's outreach in 2008. Brette is a graduate of Georgetown and Columbia. You can follow her on Twitter @blmcsweeney.

Normalize Black Women's Leadership Normalizing Black women's leadership means that it is as plausible to have a Black woman represent a majority-white district as it is to have a white man represent a majority-Black district. Supporting Black women candidates in all districts will allow more qualified, more diverse candidates everywhere. Political Power of Black women Black women are the building blocks of successful political coalitions on any level of government. They were instrumental in Obama's election, the "Blue Wave" in 2018, and in 2020. They are the best return on our voting investment because they also organize their families, neighborhoods, churches, unions, and other social groups. Black women have immense political power. Participating in Democracy Voting is only a starting point for participating in our democracy. Organizing for a cause, proposing legislation, and holding power accountable are all ways to be governing partners for our elected officials all year long. By being active participants, we create an environment to innovate our democracy and shape public policy. FIND OUT MORE: Glynda C. Carr is at the center of the national movement to grow Black women's political power from the voting booth to elected office. In 2011, she and Kimberly Peeler-Allen co-founded Higher Heights to address the dearth of organizing resources for politically active Black women and the lack of support for prospective candidates seeking elected office. Through her leadership, the organization has developed several innovative programs and efforts that have quickly solidified its reputation as the political home and go-to resource for progressive Black women. Carr is the co-creator of #BlackWomenLead—a powerful coalition movement that is creating an environment for Black women to run, win, and lead—and the Higher Heights-powered #BlackWomenVote, a nonpartisan voter-activism campaign that serves as an independent and trusted voice for Black women's political concerns. Her work to date has helped to elect 11 Black women to the U.S. Congress, including one to the Senate, and increase the number of Black women holding statewide executive office, including helping to elect the first Black woman to serve as New York State attorney general. You can follow her on Twitter @GlyndaCarr.

Qualifications Women need to highlight their credentials early and often, particularly in economics. Voters do recognize that women understand kitchen table issues and that they mostly shoulder the emotional labor of a family. Effective campaigns use action-oriented language that illustrates how women are effective leaders in a crisis, will be accountable team leaders, and listen to experts and constituents. Finally, women who appear likable are more electable. Addressing Sexism Voters expect women candidates to call out sexism. It's a chance for a woman to show how she can stand up for herself and, in turn, for her constituents. Gender bias against women is common among both men and women. Confronting these biases—such as ending the double standard in what we perceive as required qualifications—will make it possible for more women to run for office. Building a Pipeline of Women Candidates Electing a woman to the White House requires building a pipeline of strong women candidates in public office nationwide. Writing grants and working with groups that promote women make it possible for more women to win elections. When we see more and more powerful women in politics, gender stereotypes are less likely to be reinforced. FIND OUT MORE: Amanda Hunter leads the Barbara Lee Family Foundation's nonpartisan efforts to advance women's political equality and increase women's representation. With extensive communications experience, Amanda brings her strategic insight to the Foundation's work. Prior to becoming Executive Director, Amanda was the Foundation's Research and Communications Director. In this role, she was responsible for promoting the Barbara Lee Family Foundation's mission to advance women's representation in American politics by leading all research and communications efforts. Previously, Amanda served as Director of Marketing and Communications at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, America's first museum of modern art, and as Senior Press Representative at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, leading media relations efforts on events like The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and Kennedy Center Honors. She also served as Deputy Communications Director at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the trade association for record companies. You can follow her on Twitter @ahuntah.

Motivations and Perspectives The goal of promoting women to run for office is not simply to achieve parity in Congress or in State legislatures. Rather, it should be to recognize that women offer a variety of perspectives and lived experiences that men lack. In addition, women have faced more barriers than men to be elected and are generally more motivated to get things done. Confronting Our Biases Toughness, experience in national security, and negotiating tactics are often thought of as ideal leadership qualities, which are viewed as inherently male characteristics. Although female leaders do often possess these skills, championing women also means that we need to confront such biases and value traits like compassion, cooperation, and consensus building skills. Women's Interests All women, like all men, are motivated by a large number of factors in forming political opinions. Our senses of identity are not solely based on gender, which is why there is no such thing as the "women's agenda." Women see the world through racial, social, and class identities, which often conflict with and supersede gender identity. However, these factors do intertwine with gender in public policy decisions. FIND OUT MORE: Kelly Dittmar is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University–Camden and Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. At CAWP, she manages national research projects, helps to develop and implement CAWP's research agenda, and contributes to CAWP reports, publications, and analyses. She also works with CAWP's programs for women's public leadership and has been an expert source and commentator for media outlets including MSNBC, NPR, PBS, The New York Times, and The Washington Post She is the co-author of A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen's Perspectives on Why Their Representation Matters and author of Navigating Gendered Terrain: Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns. Dittmar's research focuses on gender and American political institutions. Dittmar was an American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Fellow from 2011 to 2012. Dittmar earned her B.A. from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI and her Ph.D. from Rutgers University-New Brunswick. You can follow her on Twitter@kdittmar.

Publication of Transcript Levine and the co-editors were outraged by what was happening in the trial and wanted to make sure the general public knew what was going on in that courtroom. They decided to buy the transcripts from the court reporter and edited over 22,000 pages of transcript into a compilation of the most shocking colloquies, which reveal the immense effort put forth by the government to quash dissent against the war in Vietnam and the injustice of Judge Hoffman's court. About 180,000 copies were sold shortly after the book was published. Injustice Judge Julius Hoffman was anything but fair and impartial during the Trial of the Chicago 7. He openly disdained the defendants and their attorneys, accused them of insulting him, threw some of the defense attorneys in jail, and even ordered the physical gagging of Bobby Seale, the sole Black defendant who was not even part of the protests during the convention, for four days. The guilty verdict and the trial proceedings radicalized a lot of young people at that time. Power of Protest The Trial of the Chicago 7 helped popularize the anti-war movement, which was critical in America's eventual withdrawal from Vietnam. In response to the trial and the beating of protesters during the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968, massive marches by conscientious objectors became more intense around the country. The United States ended the war in 1974, not only because it was losing, but also because of public pressure to do so. FIND OUT MORE: Mark L. Levine is a lawyer, writer, and teacher who practiced corporate banking and publishing law in New York City for over forty years. Together with George McNamee and Daniel L. Greenberg, they published The Trial of the Chicago 7. Levine is also an experienced voter protection lawyer. His previous books include Negotiating a Book Contract and The Complete Book of Bible Quotations. A graduate of Columbia College, NYU School of Law, and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he has taught at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and Zicklin School of Business/Baruch College.