Rediscovering Our Song

For the next three months, on The Radical Centrist Podcast, we will be talking with some of the most innovative thinkers in the country, particularly those who have ideas for rebuilding a sense of community, both locally and nationally.

Most of our lives and the culture(s) of America are built around the stories we tell ourselves and one another. We'll take a look at some of those stories and ask ourselves if there is another, better, more unifying, story to tell. One that unites us, one that opens up new avenues for our future; one that builds a sense of hope and purpose for every American, beyond the dividing lines of race, religion, income, and geography.

I believe there is an American song inside nearly all of us, the folks we will be interviewing will reveal some of their most interesting and innovative ideas for drawing that song out.

This is our moment . . . other "generations" of Americans have had theirs: before and after the Revolution; After the Civil War; during and after the Gilded Age; During the New Deal; and during the Civil Rights era.

Americans are ready to feel good about themselves and to feel hopeful about their future. We can make it happen but we have to shed some of the baggage of the past. We have to listen to one another; to meet our neighbors, near and far, "where they are" and seek out ways to move forward together. We will not always agree. That's what Democracy is all about - sometimes raucous, sometimes gracious - but as long as we can listen to one another there is always a path forward. To borrow an age-old quote: "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."