Listening Tour

We will be organizing listening sessions in cities and towns around the country to learn what young people are thinking and feeling about American democracy in the current moment, what issues matter to them most, where they see America headed and what role they see for themselves in the future of American democracy.

Recent Listening Events

November 3, 12:45-1:45pm at Long Island University, Post Campus

November 10, 6:00-8:00pm at Madison Square Boys and Girls Club, Harlem

If you would like to bring the Renewing American Democracy project to your city, town or campus, email: renewamericandemocracy@gmail.com with subject line: listening

Study Guide

· January 6th memo

·  “Our constitutional crisis is already here,” by Robert Kagan for The Washington Post, September 24, 2021

·  “In US elections, its winner take all—and Blacks are the losers,” by Ellis Cose for Yahoo! News, September 14, 2020

·  “This is why Trump should be reelected,” by Lew Jan Olowski for The Baltimore Sun, January 7, 2020

·  “What Facebook Did to American Democracy,” by Alexis Madrigal for The Atlantic, October 12, 2017 

·  “The Nation,” by R.W. Apple Jr., for The New York Times, July 4, 1971

  • Do you think America was ever a democracy?

  • Does the word democracy still have its original meaning –– or does it mean something else? What should it mean?

  • The Founding Fathers didn’t think that women, non-whites, or even most landless people deserved the vote. How much progress have we made since then?

  • Is the country becoming more or less democratic?

  • Do you feel like your interests or needs are being served by the government – either local or national?