Daniel Yudkin

Our Civic Culture Needs Mending. Potentialism Can Help. Or: On Spinning Wheels and Handmaid's Tales.

#Potentialism, a new political philosophy from the Beacon Project at @MoreinCommon_US offers a way forward that preserves both freedom and mutual responsibility.

Read more: thebeaconproject.substack.com/p/our-civic-...

In order to fix our civic culture, we need to restore our bonds of mutual obligation. The problem is that most of the ideas for how we do this are bad.

Fixing democracy isn't just about reforming institutions—it's about mending civic culture.

Folks like Robert Putnam and James Davison Hunter argue that our current political problems are the result not just of a culture of individualism that places the “me” over the “we.”

Lessons in Marshmallow Hunting, Part II Celebrating the Beacon Project's 1-year anniversary

Last year I gave up on my lifelong dream of being a university professor and venture out in search of "other marshmallows." Little did I know I'd find a Reese's instead.

Lessons in Marshmallow Hunting, Part II
open.substack.com/pub/thebeaco...

The idea is straightforward but has big implications for everything from polarization to loneliness to AI.

This post is the first in a series explaining the framework: thebeaconproject.substack.com/p/introducin...

What do you think? Can potentialism help?

At The Beacon Project at @moreincommonus.bsky.social, we’ve spent five years developing a new civic vision that speaks to America's Exhausted Majority.

We call it potentialism.

It starts with a simple maxim: Everyone has a gift — and the right and responsibility to develop and share it.

Something in America is deeply broken.

It’s tempting to think the fix lies in the next policy or election—but our challenges run deeper than that. We need a new way of thinking about what we owe each other and what it means to be American.

Call it a new “civic vision.”

Thanks Cato Institute, Sphere Education Initiatives, Allan Carey, Sarah Lane and the all the teacher fellows for the wonderful opportunity to speak with you.

3. Look for “both-and” opportunities. The best ideas emerge when we combine seemingly contradictory ideas in new and creative ways.

2. Speak to—and listen to—people’s core beliefs. When we dig below the surface and start to ask *why* people hold the views they do, it helps us connect

I closed with three pieces of advice for anyone seeking to navigate difference in a polarized climate:

1. Break out of the 50/50 mindset. Today’s discourse leads people to believe there are only two options, but it’s just not the case.

I told them as much during my talk, where I spoke about America’s Exhausted Majority, about Perception Gaps, and about Potentialism: a new framework coming soon from the Beacon Project that we believe may help to bridge some of our deepest divides.

namely, conversations between our nation’s young people, trying to make sense of an increasingly fraught and complicated world, forming opinions and developing skill sets that will accompany them for the rest of their lives.

But also because the group of people I would be speaking to—middle and high school teachers who are navigating questions about polarization, civil discourse, and disagreement—is on the front lines of some of the most important conversations happening in our country right now:

When I was invited to be the Keynote Speaker at the Cato Institute’s Sphere Alumni Fellowship kickoff event last Friday, I was thrilled. Not just because I was honored to present almost ten years of More in Common’s work in political polarization at a well-respected think tank.

A semantic map of the situations described across all posts. The most frequently occurring situations pertained to family (21%), the office (8.4%), and weddings (4.2%).

Reddit’s AITA? board is a goldmine of data on how real people conceptualize and solve moral dilemmas. A study of posts on the board finds that the nature of the relationships between people in a dilemma is central to moral decision making. In PNAS Nexus: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

What makes people assholes?
Fascinating research by @dyudkin.bsky.social et al of 370k everyday moral dilemmas on Reddit's “Am I the Asshole?” reveals
→ 29 types of dilemma
→ relational obligations most common
→ dishonesty most often condemned
→…and much more!

academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Thanks Mikey! And likewise!

Thanks!

💡 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱

We’re looking for thought partners and collaborators to help shape this work. If you’d like to get involved:

📩 Follow our new Beacon Project newsletter for updates

📬 Reach out to me at daniel@moreincommon.com with thoughts, questions, or media inquiries.

📍 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝘂𝘁𝘆 – Using topic modeling, we’ll map Americans’ beliefs
about civic obligations and create an interactive website to explore these
insights.

📍 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆, 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 – We're publishing a new research report on Americans’ beliefs about personal agency and its role in a flourishing society.

📍 "𝗔𝗺 𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲?" – 𝗔 𝗟𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲-𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗺𝗮𝘀 – Using AI to analyze Reddit’s vast “Am I the Asshole?” repository, we’ll explore how people think about everyday moral obligations.

📢 𝗜𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀

📍 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 – In May, we’re convening top scholars, journalists,
and practitioners in Florence, Italy, to discuss questions relating to moral responsibility and the future of democracy.

1. *Research* core beliefs using national surveys, AI, and NLP

2. *Identify* new frameworks by integrating research insights with existing literature.

3. *Test* these frameworks in focus groups and national surveys.

4. *Share* findings with leaders and the public to influence national discourse.

That’s why I’m excited to announce the launch of The Beacon Project at More in Common—a multi-year initiative to identify such a vision for our country. Funded by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation, the Beacon Project will:

The truth is, we don’t just need new policies—we need a new way of thinking about our rights and responsibilities in a rapidly changing world. A new civic vision that helps us reimagine what we owe to one another.

In some ways, this desire for change fueled the election of Donald Trump. Yet for many Americans, Trump is the wrong answer to the right question. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has struggled to offer a compelling alternative to Trump's strongman tactics.

I'm excited to share I'll be directing a new initiative at More in Common to identify a new civic vision that can speak to modern challenges.

Americans disagree on many things—policy, culture, even beer preferences. But one belief unites a striking number of us: our political system isn’t working.

Beacon Project In search of a new civic vision

🚀 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁, 𝗮 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗰 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮

beaconproject.us