Pete Davis

#18. Daniel Berrigan (ft. Fr. John Dear) A lost prophet who worked to build "a solid wall of conscience" to "confront the death-makers"

Newest LOST PROPHETS out — on Fr. Daniel Berrigan, the "devout and dangerous" priest who took "blessed are the peacemakers" seriously: www.lostprophets.org/p/18-daniel-...

The major social media presence of the party should be the social media accounts of each local chapter — and the vast majority of their content should be information about the next opportunities to meet up in person with the chapter!

The US Is a Civic Desert. To Survive, the Democratic Party Needs to Transform Itself. The party should jettison its consultant class and move toward a local-membership model that would help to rejuvenate civic life across the country.

The best "digital team" for the Dems is a non-digital team embedded in every city, participating in local community life, serving neighbors while inviting them to co-create the party together—a local chapter! thenation.com/article/poli...

(Of course, you can care about specific issue positions for governing reasons or just because you think they're good for your side to take up — but I'm just pointing out that if you're making it your whole strategy for winning converts, it might be a misread of how this works.)

The same is true with issue positions—you can't just pluck one out of the other side's constellation of meaning and bring it into yours in the hopes of achieving the same success as the other side does with it. You need to cultivate your own constellation of meaning holistically.

A crown or a rose or a heart in one particular constellation of meaning might mean something different than it does in another. So you can't really analyze what people think about crowns, roses, or hearts independent of these particular wholes.

Much of political conversion is at the subconscious level (one might say "at the spiritual level") — the level which deals in particular wholes (like symbols and constellations of meaning) not modular parts (like specific issue positions).

this was a great episode!

#17. Daniel Wortel-London on Alternative Visions of Urban Prosperity A conversation about the folly of cities banking on billionaires.

17th LOST PROPHETS just dropped—Elias Crim and I talk with historian @dlondonwortel.bsky.social about his new book about alternative visions of urban prosperity. Cameo appearances from Lost Prophets Jane Jacobs, Paul Goodman, and others: www.lostprophets.org/p/17-daniel-...

Would love that!

Want to learn more about how states can enable and empower the creation of municipally-owned, mixed-income housing developments? Check out DPN's kit on Social Housing at: democracypolicy.network/SocialHousing

On Francis “God is the God of Law, but he is also the God of surprises."

On Pope Francis and the God of surprises: petedavis.substack.com/p/on-francis

Would love to hear @kenmartin.bsky.social, @davidhogg.bsky.social, and others put together a serious plan for structurally changing the party's relationship to community organizing. It’s one thing to say it’s important every so often; it’s another to start building meeting halls around the country.

Perhaps you could design this meeting hall fund like the Rosenwald Schools fund was — big donor gives a lot, but the local party has to raise some money for the meeting hall too, fostering a sense of ownership over the hall.

The community-based path forward works in two directions. It not only gets the message of the party out to the people better — much more importantly, it gets the message of the people in to the party better, disciplining the party into being a better vehicle of the public interest.

The US Is a Civic Desert. To Survive, the Democratic Party Needs to Transform Itself. The party should jettison its consultant class and move toward a local-membership model that would help to rejuvenate civic life across the country.

Wrote about the community-based path forward for the Dems in @thenation.com back in November: www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Storefront county Republican community headquarters that I saw in Texas recently.

Dems should build a meeting hall in every county in America. There are ~3,000 counties in America — a $3 billion fund could build them all. Much better long-term use of party funds than more ads.

To answer this, we need to bring people together to flesh out what we want—and as we flesh out what we want, we gather more people around those ideals and proposals. Gathering and visioning—a dance back and forth, that eventually generates power for advocacy.

Roberto Unger reminds us of a good first step: “Before we convince the others, we must convince ourselves.” When we are in reaction mode for too long, we lose track of our vision. To find it again, we need to ask things like: “What do we want? What do we think would be good?”

There is no reason 2025 need not be the year to begin (or continue) proposing a positive alternative vision, organizing in favor it, and pressuring our elected officials (including the President) to support it. We all have a right to have a go at setting the national agenda.

You don’t rebuild a majority by having the best reactions to power. Even the cleverest reply reinforces the deeper message: They act, we just react. You can only rebuild by taking action yourself: having a vision, advancing that vision with courage…and forcing them to react.

YouTube video by Abramorama OFFICIAL TRAILER | JOIN OR DIE

If you enjoy a good documentary, I watched "Join or Die" on Netflix after I filed the draft above. It's a great watch, and it explains the arc of Robert Putnam's research on community before and after "Bowling Alone." www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKgQ...

JOIN OR DIE: A film about why you should join a club A feature documentary on the life and work of civic guru Robert Putnam.

Highly recommend watching the documentary Join or Die www.joinordiefilm.com. Helped me understand how we got to where we are now. Maybe it's not too late.

Watching the documentary Join or Die on Netflix this morning. It's based on Robert Putnam's life work on civil decline à la Bowling Alone.

Makes you want to join a club.

I am watching Join or Die, a documentary about the significance of clubs. Stumbling upon this just now was kind of a wow for me.

Social Bonds May Save Our Lives “Join or Die” is part of a cresting wave of cultural production circling around the intertwined issues of loneliness, divisiveness, and our political right turn.

The documentary “Join or Die” delivers exactly what its tagline promises: a compelling case for why joining a club could save your life — and democracy.

JOIN OR DIE: A film about why you should join a club A feature documentary on the life and work of civic guru Robert Putnam.

So happy I watched “Join or Die” on Netflix. Highly recommend… and join a club!

www.joinordiefilm.com

Watch Join or Die | Netflix This documentary examines social scientist Robert Putnam's "Bowling Alone" theory of how declining community engagement created an American civic crisis.

Watch Join Or Die on Netflix to see why we love bringing people together! buff.ly/48eRgxW

The US Is a Civic Desert. To Survive, the Democratic Party Needs to Transform Itself. The party should jettison its consultant class and move toward a local-membership model that would help to rejuvenate civic life across the country.

I also recommend this, from @petedavis.bsky.social , with sharp-eyed history & optimistic hopes. Which I share—& yet, the tides pulling against, and weird whirlpools they create when people/groups try to push upstream [very! mixed! metaphor!] are also real
www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Hoping that "clubs!" will be a bit more of the reflexive answer now in 2024.

See @petedavis.bsky.social @joinordiefilm.bsky.social for more.

But my 2 cents is clubs are really needed that are:
- neighborhood level
- politically multi-issue
- mostly other than politics i.e. fun, care, community