This is a recording of a live event of the American Voter Project at the Eric H. Holder Jr. Initiative for Civil and Political Rights. We discuss the long history of voter suppression, voting rights, the electoral college, the Supreme Court, and democracy.

General Holder’ and Michael’s civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1. Vote!

2. Engage in a major social movement

Eric H. Holder, Jr. serves as Chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. He served in the Obama Administration as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from February 2009 to April 2015, the third longest-serving Attorney General in U.S. history and the first African American to hold that office.

Michael Waldman is president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. A nonpartisan law and policy institute that focuses on improving systems of democracy and justice, the Brennan Center is a leading national voice on voting rights, money in politics, criminal justice reform, and constitutional law.

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Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Attorney General Eric Holder & Michael Waldman

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss deepening our understanding of the climate crisis, the urgent need for decarbonization, and our role in speaking truth about phasing out fossil fuels.

Genevieve’s civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1. Call your elected representatives and demand policies to phase out fossil fuels.

2. If extreme weather comes up in conversation, connect the dots to climate change and say: “We really need to phase out fossil fuels so we can halt global heating.”

Genevieve Guenther is the founding director of End Climate Silence and affiliate faculty at The New School. Her most recent book is The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil-Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It.

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Read the transcript here:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/end-climate-silence-genevieve-guenther

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Genevieve Guenther

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss the power and the promise of public schools, the universal rejection of book bans by parents across the country, and an inclusive vision for democracy.

Their civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1. Have a conversation with people with whom you disagree

2. Remain open-minded.

Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider are co-hosts of the education podcast Have You Heard. Their new book is The Education Wars: A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual.

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Read the transcript here:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/everybody-benefits-from-public-schools-jennifer-berkshire-and-jack-schneider

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Jennifer Berkshire & Jack Schneider

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss how ballot measures give voters the opportunity to take power and agency. It is about citizens putting issues that are important to their communities, gathering signatures, and then putting them on the ballot directly to effect policy change.

Her civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1. Voting is the starting line, not the finish line.

2. Hold your elected officials accountable after elections by reaching out to them about the issues that matter to you, and making sure they are keeping their promises.

Chris Melody Fields Figueredo is the Executive Director of The Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, which works to strengthen American democracy using ballot initiatives.

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Read the transcript here:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/people-power-on-the-ballot-chris-melody-fields-figueredo

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Chris Melody Fields Figueredo

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss how two parties alone cannot represent the diversity of views in American society, how fusion voting could solve for better representation, and who exactly should get engaged in our civic lives.

His civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1. Support political parties and reforms that create more choices.

2. Be a good neighbor and participate in a local meeting.

Lee Drutman is Senior Fellow in the Political Reform program at New America, co-host of the Politics in Question podcast (a fellow Democracy Group podcast!), and author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America.

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Read the transcript here:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/break-up-the-two-party-system-lee-drutman

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Lee Drutman

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss what it takes for citizens to take action and run for elected office. Wendy ran as a Democrat in Utah because she wanted to give voters a viable, different choice. She knew it was going to be difficult to win as a first time candidate, but she ran so hard that she left a body mark in the wall. She lost by a mere 78 votes.

Her civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1. Vote and encourage other people to vote

2. Work or volunteer for a candidate during an election year

Wendy Davis is a former candidate for Utah House of Representatives and the author of The Fight You Don’t See – an honest memoir about her campaign.

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Read the transcript here:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/what-is-it-like-to-run-for-office-wendy-davis

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Wendy Davis

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

Joe Spielberger is the policy counsel for the Effective and Accountable Government team at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), where he advocates in Congress and the executive branch to strengthen whistleblower rights, protect a merit based civil service, and promote government ethics and transparency. We discuss how government can be transparent and accountable to us, the People.

All Americans need to be confident that federal employees are hired based on their qualifications and not because of their partisan political ideology. In retaliation to the whistleblower on Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian president Zelensky, Trump signed Schedule F, an executive order that could have allowed a complete purge of the civil service of nonpartisan career civil servants. Because whistleblower retaliation is rampant, protecting whistleblowers and civil servants is one of the best ways to protect the public from harm. The Supreme Court does not have a binding code of ethics because the Supreme Court refuses to adopt one. However, Congress has clear and direct mechanisms to hold the Supreme Court accountable and can pass legislation that would implement a binding code of ethics.

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Read the transcript here:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/protect-whistleblowers-joe-spielberger

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guest: Joe Spielberger

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

Daniel Alvarenga is a journalist who covers issues pertaining to immigration, racial equity, and Latinx cultures – with a special emphasis on Central America and its diasporas. He’s also the English language podcast host of Humo: Murder and Silence in El Salvador. We discuss the intersection of foreign policy, immigration policy, and democracy.

US foreign interference in Central America has had a huge impact on destabilizing the region. During the civil war in El Salvador between 1980 and 1992, the US contributed $1 billion in military aid. This destabilization is one reason Central Americans migrate to the United States, which in turn creates problems in the US. For example, MS-13 was started by Salvadoran children who moved to Los Angeles. In response, the US government has deported many of them back to El Salvador where the cycle of violence continues. El Salvador has the largest number of murders and disappearances in the world.

Listen to Humo:

https://sonoromedia.com/podcasts/humo

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Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:

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Sponsor:

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Read the transcript here:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/us-influence-in-central-america-daniel-alvarenga

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Daniel Alvarenga

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis