Democracy Unchained: Rediscovering the Power of the People

Bioneers Pulse – updates from the Bioneers Community

Bioneer,  “Imagine a real democracy – us, we, ours – where all votes are counted. The right to vote in fair electoral districts is guaranteed. Our representatives both in state legislatures and county legislatures and federal government and so forth are diverse.” —David Orr, author and professor Democracy and its promise of equality have always been seen as a foundation for American politics. But do we really live in a democracy? What does that mean? As we continue through the primary elections with the national election around the corner, now with the added complication of a global health pandemic, increasing questions around access, equity, influence and more are inevitable. This week, we highlight key leaders who are challenging how we define and perform democracy. Spread the News Help us increase the reach of Bioneers ideas by sharing our browser-friendly version of this newsletter with your community. Share These Stories! Steps We're Taking to Address COVID-19 Obviously the global spread of the COVID-19 virus is front and center for many of us. In this time of anxiety and disturbance, we hope that everyone is taking care of themselves and those in their community with love, respect and compassion. Expect to see perspectives and analysis of the coronavirus pandemic in this newsletter and on Bioneers.org with regularity. Currently, the 2020 Bioneers Conference remains scheduled for October 16-18. Registration is not yet open. We are tracking events quite closely and will be in touch should there be any major changes. Democracy Unchained: Using “We the People” Power to Rebuild Government Democracy Unchained: How to Rebuild Government for the People is a collection of essays by visionary political thinkers — such as Maria Hinojosa, Bill McKibben and lead editor David Orr — in which they tackle our nation’s most pressing problems and provide solutions to revitalizing our government from the grassroots up. K. Sabeel Rahman is President of Demos, a “think-and-do” tank dedicated to equity and democracy, and wrote this essay in Democracy Unchained about how we can build a solid structure of democracy with our own moral values. Read more here. David Orr: How the History of Democracy Can Help Us Invent a New One How do we fix a democracy that has strayed so far from the people it’s supposed to serve? Professor and author David Orr is calling on us, in this unique moment, to create a new one entirely. Orr draws from the warnings of Greek philosophers and the descent of the Weimar Republic into Nazi Germany to understand the deficits of democracy today, and how we can fix them. Read more here. More from Bioneers.org: Heather McGhee: A New “We The People” For a Sustainable Future | Heather McGhee is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos, a public policy organization focused on political and economic equity. In this keynote speech, she explains how deep democracy is the only solution to the crises of inequality and climate change — and how we can achieve it. Terry Tempest Williams: The Open Space of Democracy | In this keynote speech, celebrated author Terry Tempest Williams inspires us to dig deeper than political rhetoric in our conversations about democracy. For her, the test of true patriotism is not what we are willing to die for, but what we are willing to give our lives to. Chief Oren Lyons: The Roots of American Democracy | Iroquois elder and global indigenous leader Oren Lyons describes the authentic origins of the U.S. Constitution in the ancient Iroquois “Great League of Peace.” He weaves the story of the Peacemaker and how leaders are raised and chosen, with decisions based on seven generations and women choosing chiefs. An Oil Spill Runs Through It: Corporate Power and the Sliming of American Democracy | In this podcast, constitutional attorneys Jeff Clements and John Bonifaz join with biologist and democracy advocate Dr. Riki Ott to explore new strategies to overcome big oil and big business to protect the Earth. David Orr: Is There a Future for Our Democracy? Why Everything Depends on the Answer | David Orr, an author and environmental studies professor, is one of the most influential political thought leaders of our time. In this keynote speech, Orr considers the challenge to free government that we’re witnessing today, and what we must do to reverse this downward spiral. What happens next is up to us. Bioneers Now on Free Speech TV! Free Speech TV is now airing a collection of videos from the Bioneers: Seeding the Field series! This independent network provides a platform for voices and stories traditionally excluded from television. How to Tune In Do you know people who might enjoy reading this? Please share it with them! Share Tweet Share +1 Forward

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