Politics tends to flatten people. Over time, complex lives get reduced to a handful of talking points, a voting record,… Read more
Category: Policy
Mapping the Mechanics of Power: A New Civic Tool for Midterms
Democracy is one of the most discussed subjects in American public life and one of the least examined. Citizens are… Read more
The Creative Economy Is Not a Niche. It Is the New Default.
Consider Marcus, a software engineer in Indianapolis who has not written a straightforward line of code in years. His job,… Read more
Stability Versus Growth in Late-Stage Capitalism
There is a man in his mid-fifties who works in logistics outside of Columbus, Ohio. He owns his home outright,… Read more
The Things That Still Work and the People Who Keep Them Working
There are moments in a long project when it is worth pausing to look around and take stock of who… Read more
The Machinery of Democracy: 250 Years and Counting
There is a gymnasium in a small Indiana town where, every other November, a few dozen folding tables are arranged… Read more
The Economy Shifted From Ownership to Access and Nobody Announced It
Consider a composite figure who is easy to find in any American city right now: a healthcare administrator, say, 39… Read more
The Rule Did Not Change. The Household Did.
Something happened in my family recently that I had not expected. As a member of the sandwich generation, we know… Read more
The Sound of the Siren
Your phone buzzes before the sky changes color. A cone graphic appears on television, tracking a spiral mass across warm… Read more
What We Quietly Teach Ourselves
There is a phrase that lands differently depending on where you sit in the American political conversation. Say “social engineering”… Read more