Democracy Does: The Civic Power Playbook

At a time when political and cultural divisions feel sharper than ever, one question keeps surfacing: How do we talk to each other without tearing each other apart?
On this week’s episode of Democracy Does: The Civic Power Playbook, I spoke with podcast host Corey Nathan, creator of Talkin’ Politics and Religion Without Killing Each Other. His mission is exactly what the title suggests—helping people navigate difficult conversations in ways that preserve both truth and humanity.
Corey’s journey into this work is deeply personal. A former theater and film producer turned serial entrepreneur, he eventually felt a pull back toward storytelling—this time through podcasting. What began as a creative outlet quickly became something larger: a platform dedicated to restoring goodwill and civic dialogue in a polarized era.
 

If your electric bill has felt like a shock lately, you’re not imagining it. In my recent conversation with energy economist Professor Severin Borenstein, we unpacked what’s really driving these increases—and it’s more complicated than any single headline.
Across parts of the country like the mid-Atlantic and Midwest, demand for electricity is rising faster than supply. When that happens, prices go up. But that’s only part of the story. Aging infrastructure, climate-driven disasters, and the cost of rebuilding and protecting our electric grid are all being passed on to consumers—often hitting lower-income households the hardest.
There’s also a policy layer. Efforts to revive older, less efficient energy sources like coal—and roll back support for renewables—risk adding costs over time, even as wind, solar, and battery technology become cheaper.
 

What does a conflict thousands of miles away have to do with your daily life? More than you might think.
In this week’s episode of Democracy Does, I sit down with Severin Borenstein to unpack why rising tensions in the Middle East.
The key takeaway: oil is a global market. Even though the U.S. produces a significant amount of oil, prices are set worldwide. When supply is disrupted—like the estimated 10–15% currently affected—costs rise everywhere, and those increases show up at the pump within weeks.
 

In this week’s Democracy Does, I sat down with Dr. Colleen Shogan—the first woman to lead the National Archives and now the CEO of In Pursuit, a national civics initiative from More Perfect.
She shared a powerful idea:Democracy is like a game—but many Americans don’t know the rules.
From low civics proficiency rates to adults struggling with basic government questions, there’s a clear gap. And as Dr. Shogan put it, we can’t expect people to fully participate in democracy if they don’t understand how it works.
That’s where In Pursuit comes in—offering short, accessible stories about U.S. presidents and first ladies, designed to make history engaging, human, and easy to fit into your day.

In this week’s Democracy Does, I sat down with Greta Bedekovics of the Center for American Progress to break down the proposed SAVE Act—and what it could mean for everyday voters.
At its core, the SAVE Act would dramatically change how Americans register to vote. Instead of the current, accessible system—often online or through the DMV using a driver’s license or Social Security number—the bill would require in-person registration with documents like a passport or certified birth certificate. For millions, that’s not simple. Nearly half of Americans don’t have a passport, and many—especially married women—may not have documentation that matches their legal name.

In this latest Democracy Does: The Civic Power Playbook conversation with Professor Adia Harvey-Wingfield, professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis, we unpack the ripple effects of recent labor policy changes and why they deserve your attention.
One major concern is the widespread reduction of federal jobs across agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Education. These positions aren’t abstract bureaucratic roles—they’re the workers ensuring our food is safe, veterans receive care, and companies follow regulations. Because the federal workforce includes a disproportionately high number of Black workers, these cuts also risk increasing unemployment and inequality in communities already facing barriers.
Professor Wingfield also highlights lesser-known workplace issues, like non-compete clauses that can trap low-wage workers in jobs with limited mobility.

What if the biggest barrier to civic participation isn’t apathy—but confusion?
That’s the insight communications expert Marjorie Clifton shared in my recent Democracy Does conversation. As the co-founder of March Matters, Clifton is working to close a civic knowledge gap that many Americans don’t even realize exists.
The idea behind March Matters is simple but powerful: make civic participation understandable. Clifton describes the initiative as a “communications toolkit in a box,” designed to help organizations explain elections—especially primary elections—in clear, accessible language. The program avoids partisanship entirely, focusing instead on helping people understand the basics: What is a primary? Why does it matter? And how do you participate?
 

As we head toward another pivotal election season, I sat down with Robert Boatright, professor at Clark University and director of research at the National Institute for Civil Discourse, to talk about what’s really happening in American elections — and what’s not.
Here’s the headline: Professor Boatright is less worried about the mechanics of voting than about the erosion of public trust.
 
 

In this episode of Democracy Does, I sat down with Professor Andrew Flachs of Purdue University to unpack how agriculture policy affects far more than farmers—it touches all of us. Dr. Flachs, an environmental anthropologist and author of Feeding the World as If People Mattered, breaks down how tariffs, trade wars, labor shortages, and consolidation in agribusiness ripple through the economy, from grocery store prices to the survival of rural communities.

During National Consumer Protection Week, the host Robin Hamilton interviews University of Michigan social work professor and consumer protection expert Terri Friedline about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), why it was created after the 2008 mortgage crisis to center consumers’ experiences, and how recent rollbacks weaken protections. Friedline explains how higher credit card interest caps can accelerate debt and harm health, how rewards programs can shift benefits to wealthier users, and why reduced oversight enables predatory payday lending with rates averaging 400% and sometimes reaching 1000%, often filling gaps where bank branches close in Black and brown communities. She also discusses discriminatory overdraft fees, dropped enforcement related to Zelle fraud, and the loss of CFPB complaint resources.