“Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free men.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower
Virtual LTD Forums
Virtual Forum: What is the Mission of Public Education in the 21st Century?
TueSday, DECEMber 5, 2023, 5:30 - 7:00PM EST
There have been many reports in the media recently about the assault on public education. States have drastically reduced funding, student debt is off the charts, Covid has introduced more questions than answers. Let’s Talk Democracy will be collaborating with the Civics Club at Nassau County Community College and our very own Forest Hills High School students to explore this important and timely issue regarding what the role of Public Education should be in our society. Are we educating students to participate in the workforce? Are we educating students to be well rounded individuals and good citizens? Are we educating students to discover and develop their unique talents? These questions and many more will be the subject of this dialogue.
FREE VIRTUAL ZOOM EVENT
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Virtual Forum: The Elections of 2023 - Portents and Possibilities
THURSday, NOVEMber 16, 2023, 7:00 - 8:30PM EST
We're at a crossroads in terms of our democracy. Chaos in the House, threats and violence at home, wars abounding. But there are also signs of hope – all eyes on the states during this election cycle where FREEDOM and CHOICE are on the ballot – from reproductive health care to book banning and much more. Michael Krasner, our favorite professor, will be here to make sense of it all. He doesn't have a crystal ball yet, but he will give us his sense of where the country is headed in 2024.
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ABOUT PROF MICHAEL KRASNER
An expert in American government and politics, Michael Krasner is co-director of The Taft Institute for Government, which promotes better understanding of the political process among young people, and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Queens College. Since 1970 he has taught courses on politics and the media; presidential, gubernatorial and mayoral elections; American foreign policy; public policy; and arms control and disarmament.
Many of us are focussed on elections in other states, but what's happening in New York City? Actually there are City Council seats, the DA, and lots of judges as well as TWO PROPOSITIONS! Local elections affect your life in critical ways. Come and learn about it when Let's Talk Democracy partners with NYC Votes to get the real scoop. Anyone eligible to vote in NYC would especially gain from this program.
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Virtual Forum: The Messaging is the Message!
MONday, OCTOber 2, 2023, 7:00 - 8:30PM EST
The largest political party in this country is that of non-voters! How can we reach these people and encourage them to become engaged in our democracy? Can people can get “hooked” into wanting to vote on the issues that matter to them? Researcher and strategist, Gretchen Barton, along with writer, director and producer Billy Ray, make a compelling case for clear, simple, common sense messaging to do just that. They have a handle on what’s important to people these days, including commonly held views of the main political parties, along with a sincere desire for some structure and certainty about our collective future. Mark your calendar, MONDAY, October 2nd, and join us for an invigorating dive into effective messaging.
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ABOUT GRETCHEN BARTON
Gretchen Barton, founder of Worthy Strategy Group, is a researcher and strategist with a special interest in the psychology underpinning behavior change to understand how Americans think and feel. She designs and leads research initiatives in the political and policy space across America on poverty, the youth vote, immigration, what the Democratic and Republican Party brands mean, and more. She is an advisor on History Wars, a Johns Hopkins research initiative looking to unpack a way to bring Americans together around a shared future, if not a shared history. Gretchen holds a BS degree in Communications and Planning Campaigns with distinction in research from Cornell University. She is the co-author of “The Science of Winning with Stories: Using Agency, Urgency, and Community,” a reflection on the most effective messaging to engage and move a populace. WEBSITE
ABOUT BILLY RAY
Billy Ray is a writer, director and producer of award winning screenplays, films and TV series. He serves on the boards of Common Defense and Big Sunday, and now hosts the podcast "StrikeTalk" for Deadline.com to discuss the labor movement in this country, and how it relates to the current stalemate that has ground Hollywood to a halt. He believes in democracy, justice, and the Dodgers. WEBSITE
Virtual Forum: Why Media Matters
THURsday, September 21, 2023, 7:00 - 8:30PM EST
News and media affect our opinions, voting decisions, degree of civic engagement, and ultimately shape the health of our government and society. Deregulation and technological upheavals have left the crucial work of informing Americans mostly in the hands of for-profit media corporations with political agendas. They often seek to entertain and distract, while failing to provide the accurate and relevant information Americans need to understand the world around us. Join Let’s Talk Democracy, via Zoom, as Milo Vassallo of the Media and Democracy Project helps us understand what we can do to hold the media accountable in this age of disinformation. A well-informed citizenry is the foundation of a democratic society!
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ABOUT MILO VASSALO
Milo Vassallo is the Executive Director of the Media and Democracy (MAD) Project MAD is a non-partisan, pro-democracy grassroots 501(c)(4) membership organization fighting for a more informative and independent media operating in the public interest.
Life certainly has its challenges - be it the recent pandemic, a death in the family, the state of the world, a school or job failure. Your life gets upended for some reason and it affects your mental health. What does resilience mean to you? How do we find what is meaningful? How is it the same and different across life stages? JOIN US for a lively intergenerational community discussion about RESILIENCE!
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Join us for a lively intergenerational community discussion about RESILIENCE.
Virtual Forum: Getting Beyond GDP
THURsday, MAY 11, 2023, 7:00 - 8:30PM EST
GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is “a blind meter that counts only output and ignores costs and losses.” JOIN US on May 11, 2023 at 7pm EST when Professor Dirk Philipsen from Duke University joins Let’s Talk Democracy to discuss the incentives inherent in the GDP. Find out what the GDP does and doesn't measure , and how this affects our social relationships as well as environmental sustainability. At this point, the GDP is a global standard, so how can we get beyond it? Professor Philipsen will introduce alternative ways to measure economic activity as an ethical imperative of our time.
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Dirk Philipsen is a historian and political economist at Duke University, Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics, Fellow at the Royal Society of Arts, and founding associate of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance. His research and writing centers wellbeing economics, the costs of growth, and the history of capitalism. His latest book is published by Princeton University Press under the title The Little Big Number – How GDP Came to Rule the World, And What to Do About It(2015/17). He is currently researching alternatives to economic systems grounded in expansion and growth. For a sample of such questions, see “The Tragedy of the Private: Theft, Property, and the Loss of a Commons”
Virtual Forum: Civil War by Other Means
THURsday, April 27, 2023, 7:00 - 8:30PM
Let's Talk Democracy will host Prof. Jeremi Suri to talk about the unfinished business from the Civil War, as exemplified by the rhetoric and actions of our present situation. Some even say that the North won the war, but the South won the peace. Join us for a lively discussion and to understand how the conflicts and questions Americans wrestled with as competing visions of democracy, race, and freedom came to a vicious breaking point.
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Jeremi Suri is an American historian and the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor's in history in 1994. He then obtained a master's in history from Ohio University followed by a Ph.D. in history from Yale University. While at Yale, he wrote a dissertation titled "Convergent Responses to Disorder: Cultural Revolution and Détente among the Great Powers during the 1960s. He went on to write several books including his most recent, CIVIL WAR BY OTHER MEANS.
Jeremi is a frequent public lecturer and guest on radio and television programs.His writings appear widely in blogs and print media, including Foreign Policy.
Virtual Forum: Surprising Reforms of the Gilded Age – Progressive Models for Today
THURsday, MARCH 16, 2023, 7:00 - 8:30PM
The Gilded Age of the late 19th century was a time of untrammeled power of giant corporations – in those days mainly the railroads – which was the catalyst for the industrialization that swept the nation. A thin gold veneer covered serious social problems and inequality. With the monopolistic consolidations taking place over many industries today, we may ask what can we learn from this earlier time. Join us to hear Prof. Nancy Unger's take on this. As a professor of American History at Santa Clara University, President of the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, and the author of three books on the topic, she brings an interesting perspective to this period in our history and the lessons it can teach us about our current challenges.
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ABOUT NANCY C. UNGER
Prof. Nancy C. Unger is an award-winning author and teacher who believes that the study of history is not only fun, but vital to understanding the present--and can be a powerful tool in solving today's problems. She chairs the History Department of Santa Clara University and has special interest in The Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, environmental justice and highlighting the role of women in history. She was born in Seattle and received her Masters and PhD from the University of Southern California.
Virtual Forum: Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China?
WEDNEsday, FEBRUARY 22, 2023, 7:00 - 8:30PM
Corruption damages the fabric of society causing apathy, cynicism, and division and often leads to violence. Yuen Yuen Ang, Professor of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University joins LET’S TALK DEMOCRACY on WEDNESDAY (repeat WEDNESDAY) February 22 to discuss the various types of corruption and what can be done about them. As Prof. Ang points out:, “Despite their great power rivalry, America and China are more similar than most people think. Both are living through a Gilded Age and struggling to end the excesses of capitalism.” Join us, and spread the word to family, friends, neighbors, co-workers. Free on Zoom. Link to follow a few days before on our website:
FREE VIRTUAL ZOOM EVENT
Join Us! All Invited!
We depend on you to get the word out so tell family, friends, neighbors, co-workers.
Zoom login info available a few days before the event right here.
ABOUT YUEN YUEN ANG
Yuen Yuen Ang is a professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University, the SNF Agora Institute, Center for Economy & Society, and the Department of Political Science."A native of Singapore, Ang received her PhD in political science from Stanford University and is an expert on China's political economy. She is the author of two influential books, "How China Escaped the Poverty Trap" (2016) and "China's Gilded Age" (2020). Her research focuses on the interaction between industrial development, technological innovation, and political structures, with an emphasis on China.
Virtual Forum: Welcome to the NEW New York...a SWING State!
THURsday, JANUARY 12, 2023, 7:00 - 8:30PM
Let's Talk Democracy kicks off the new year with Ben Yee who joins us to discuss the 2022 mini-red wave in New York State, as well as the rejection of recent ballot proposals on voting. As State Committeeman for New York's 66th Assembly District, Ben Yee will give us the inside scoop on the who, what, how, why, and where of these developments.
FREE VIRTUAL ZOOM EVENT
Join Us! All Invited!
We depend on you to get the word out so tell family, friends, neighbors, co-workers.
Zoom login info available a few days before the event right here.
ABOUT BEN YEE
Ben Yee started his career as a fundraiser and Digital Director for Barack Obama in 2008. He was recruited by the newly-elected Democratic State Senate to help revamp their IT infrastructure. Since then he has dedicated himself to better politics through empowering people. He joined Reinvent Albany, a good-government nonprofit invested in reforming New York State, invested in the Young Democrats. Understanding the importance of tech education to all children he teaches kids to code. Currently he is a State Committeeman for Assembly District 66 in Manhattan committed to transparency in government. WEBSITE
We are deeply grateful to Michael Krasner for his scholastic contributions to our first workshop series. His willingness to show up to our first session in spite of a personal injury that day is a testiment to his unfailing commitment to our cause.
We greatly appreciate the extraordinary support of The Taft Institute at Queens College and the help that allowed us to realize our dream.
We are very grateful to Queens Library for their ongoing support of our organization and to the Forest Hills branch in particular for providing a welcoming venue for our events and activities.
Special thanks to the NY Public Library and the Seward Park Brnach for their help in our expansion to Manhattan.
