EP08 | The Quest for America's Multi-Racial Democracy

As America poises on the brink of the authoritarian vision posed by Project 2025, pro-democracy citizens must brace for an assault on democratic principles by stewarding themselves.  The real work lies ahead in a resistance to the oncoming efforts to dismantle our democracy. 
 
A hero's journey is always fraught with struggles, and this one is no different. In this episode, American Musecast seeks to identify the vision of America that was promised by our founders and framers. What is the America we want to see, and how is it different from what the MAGA movement wants to see? How do we reconcile the two visions into one America?

Together, a new democracy may well emerge under a banner that says, "Yes we can, build back better, because we're not going back."

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Helpful Resources:  Consider the following resources related to positive psychology:

The School of  Positive Psychology
19 Top Positive Psychology Exercises - by Positive Psychology.com
20 Positive Psychology Exercises - by Rec Therapy Today

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Transcript

Welcome to American Musecast!   I’m your host, Susan Travis, exploring American politics using the construct of the hero’s journey and archetypes of the psyche. 

In this first episode of American Musecast following the 2024 US Presidential Election, pro-democracy listeners are no doubt speculating about the state of our quest.  Shall we ignore the whole thing and go about our business, maybe batten down the hatches and grow a garden, perhaps make a run for the border, or shall we ride at dawn? 

Our challenge is that of the 2024 American voters, roughly half voted for “change,” though their visions of change certainly varied in an election with uncomfortable choices.  Many looked beyond the darker lurking threat of Project 2025 and the freight car of baggage, hoped for the best, and voted for a constellation of concerns, from the price of groceries to the security of the border. For them, their interest was never to dismantle democracy or remake the government.  

For that contingent, their concerns felt BIGGER than egregious flaws of character, criminal behavior, or even incitement of an insurrection against the United States.  Whatever their concerns, those worries overrode the threats perceived against democracy.  So, for many, the consequences to the country, and to the world, may come as a surprise, and they may eventually join the rest of us in feeling, as my cousin would say, “fakootched.”  

In the end, the quest hasn’t changed, because the oligarchs and authors of Project 2025 now move forward with a perceived mandate to remake the government outside the bounds of democracy.  And surely, there’s no such mandate held in the hearts of most Americans.  That said, we will need a new infusion of energy for our quest.  So let’s hope for the unexpected cowboys who ride up to join the posse at the last minute – the finally convinced holdouts, who might make all the difference to the quest at hand.

Generally, heroes accept the call to quest hoping for blue skies and following winds, for balmy weather, calm seas, and at the end, a tally of fingers and toes showing all have returned unscathed.  Heroes hope for noble comrades, wise mentors, flashy gadgets, magic beans, and any luck, a red Lamborghini, and a sweeping vista with a dramatic orchestra score as the credits roll by.  (ZZIPP)

Yeah. Well.  Most of us really don’t go questing very often, do we, and any hope for a nicely paced quest, suited to our skills, allowing for plenty of rest and a healthy work-life balance – well, it would have been nice, wouldn’t it? If this were going to be more of an elementary quest?  Well.  It never is.  It was never going to be that easy.  It was easier and lighter to spend 9 episodes rallying the troops to save democracy; it’s sinking in that the troops are now discouraged, and that the quest has been moved to a new level of difficulty. 

But knowing what I know of quests, I rather imagine if the hero archetype could speak to us now, it would say quite decisively, “Perhaps I wasn’t clear, that a quest isn’t easy.  That a quest is rife with set-backs and self-doubt, and that there WILL be dragons and armies of trolls. That our moments of hope and celebration will come to us peppered with moments of despair.  Perhaps I wasn’t clear, that we are just getting started, and, that giving up, is not an option . . . well, not for a hero, that is.”  So, up we get.  

Because the pattern of the hero’s journey fits any saga, it appropriately serves this journey of the American citizenry.  Its unique application allows us to predict, to strategize, and to better cope with what lies ahead – IF we welcome its pattern as a necessary tool. If we recognize our place within a plot as old as time.  If we place our feet in the tracks and recognize the handholds and markers along the way.  The pattern of the Hero’s Journey helps to make sense of the nonsense, not only to conquer dragons and armies of trolls, but also to stay grounded and hopeful when unsettling forces seek to rattle our psyches.    

On November 5, 2024, Americans stepped over a threshold as too many missed mayday alarms and the rallying cries to the cynical and complacent.  And so, we toppled through the wardrobe of Narnia, into Dr. Who’s phone booth, and down the rabbit hole, as millions of fellow citizens dragged us into somewhere we don’t want to be.  And so it is, my friends, that the journey begins. 

It’s always been this way, as each generation steps across that threshold into the myriads of fraught journeys of American history – wagons west, and a trail of tears. Native boarding schools and Japanese internment camps. A day in the life of Jim Crow laws, or just another ordinary day biding one’s time at the back of the bus.  

There is always a threshold between one way of being and another.  It’s the place between a message sent, and a message received, a place of choice between giving up or getting on with it, where the Greeks would invoke the god, Hermes, or Africans, the goddess, Oya.  Change, when, like silence to a thunder clap, one thing ceases, and another begins.   Ann Reed, in her song “Heroes,” tells us that “By your lives you tell us it can be done, that I must do the thing I think I cannot do.”  And Cesar Chaves, leading farm workers in a labor movement famously pointed out that the only direction is forward.  

The threshold is a place of guardians, those characters and energies of discouragement, just trying to see if the hero has the moxie to proceed.  It’s that voice that says:  “You can do better than that guy – you’re not college material – the country is already lost.” It’s the place where we show what we’re made of, and how badly we want it for ourselves and our progeny, and whether we trust in our tools and mentors enough to proceed despite our trepidations.  Because, as we all know, courage means taking action in spite of our doubts and despair.

What our ancestral heroes have in common is not that they never collapsed, but that they always rose after falling.  Each generation has had to step over that threshold, to plow throw the naysayers, and to fight for a future in the company of better angels.  In days gone by, our multi-great grandies found their way, entering their journeys already tired, but resisting tyranny and exploitation with the same number of hours in a day as have each of us, and at least, the same outrage and determination in their hearts.  They pressed through their moments of doubt, their Gethsemanes and meltdowns.  Now, it's our turn.  The question is, what are WE made of?  what are we going to do?  Give up, rend our garments, or forge ahead?  

To be sure, we can surrender and move back into the realm of complacency, accepting Trump’s embrace of Project of 2025 and its promised autocracy.  We can turn our backs to the assault on already beleaguered institutions and the least fortunate among us who will fare the worst.  This will be to allow democracy an ignominious death at the hijacking hands of oligarchs and the authors of Project 2025 with their self-proclaimed mandate, and we can choose this path.  Some say this is overreacting anyway, being melodramatic, but that’s always a dynamic accompanying any warning; to discredit Cassandra, the canary in the coal mine or Nostradamus – those who study patterns, and who can read the writing on the walls of the future or understands trends in social and economic politics. Those who predict or read the signs. 

SO Those who study the disintegration of democracy into fascism point out that among the first, most insidious features of democratic decline are that citizens become disengaged, ever more uninformed, and detached from the stewardship of democracy. We looked at this in Episode 3, and now, already we see this happening, as ratings to reliable news sources plumet by over half, as too many from among those previously engaged, increasingly say, “I just can’t watch anymore.  It’s too depressing.”  So.  There’s our first check mark, the surrender, just as predicted. The chaos and outrage were designed to wear us down, because that is the energy meant to test us, and diminish our numbers. The guardian energy. Unless, of course, well, perhaps surrender is short-lived; and America’s stewards will return after a much-needed break.

Some truly are rending their garments. They’re in some state of surrender packing their bags and making for greener fields, emigrating to different lands just as immigrants into America have done so often under even more savage circumstances.  Fortunately, those dearly departing won’t have to walk, or swim. 

The other choice, which you may suspect I prefer, is that we gather our wits and protect the principles of democracy as if they’re our own precious family jewels.   We use Lincoln’s words at Gettysburg as our north star.  We highly resolve that our heroes shall not have fought and died in vain – that this nation, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.  We put our backs into democracy and work to make America live up to its promise of liberty and justice for all.  I say, “check THAT box, accept that challenge, stand our ground, and be the heroes needed for the American journey of democracy!”  

Averting an authoritarian era, will be achieved by staying informed, and by honing our attitude of approach, and our ability to personally and collectively organize.  As heroes of the pro-democracy movement we begin with deep breaths and a review the tools of our kit in terms of discipline, strategy, and the legitimacy of our quest.  

The antidote to complacency and disengagement nestles at the very root of resistance to authoritarianism – an antidote which not only raises the spirits, but also lays the groundwork for a disciplined dynamic citizenry.  When disengagement is rooted in denial, fear, or depression it can fester as a sort of toxic brew masquerading as self-care.  But when we step back, mindfully detaching, we importantly strengthen both personal and collective consciousness with inner strength.  Our energy, our calm demeanor and sense of normalcy becomes then the bedrock of our journey as a whole. 

This is a much-needed super-power, born of positive psychology, rich with strategies and principles that buoy our spirits and ensure our resolve.  Traditionally, psychology (like traditional media) looks at our wounds for  keys to our struggles – where did we go wrong and what so deeply ails us that we self-sabotage?  That’s important to the long-game, of course, but in our case, more immediately, we need to leverage the constructive side of our psyches, where our current strengths build resilience, motivation and confidence.  What are our tools, where is our support, and how might we leverage those assets toward recovering democracy?  

From Timothy Snyder to Zibblat and Levitsky, we learned that there are daily habits necessary to the resistance of tyranny. When we lightly engage or even fully disengage, we can do so in ways that strengthen these recommended habits: By establishing a strong private life dedicated to a high ground denouncing violence and hate.  By strengthening civility through the maintenance of healthy trusted friendships and alliances, and by supporting good causes, and engaging in volunteerism.  These foundational habits of mindful detachment prepare all of us for a more robust dynamic citizenship.  The antidote then is self-reflection, identification of our own places of character deficit and of strength, and resolving to a more disciplined, less politically indulgent outlook.  

Critically, indulging in low-road habits of snark and disdain toward fellow citizens cannot continue.  Those habits neither further our goals of moving toward a more mature citizenry nor do they demonstrate a healthier path.  BE what we want to see and what we want to become.  –It’s time to do kind deeds for others, even for those who are thick into fascism, because pro-democracy stewards must demonstrate a contrast of THIS, not that.  So, it’s in our best interests to neither panic nor surrender, but to demonstrate a citizenry dedicated to institutions rooted in accountability, dedicated to truth, expertise, and evidence, and dedicated to the betterment of ALL Americans.  

Those who take comfort in their faith should lean into that, with a reminder to remain particularly vigilant in protection of your sense of kindness, forgiveness and generosity.  And remember what we all learned in elementary school; that losing an election doesn’t make anyone a ‘loser.”  The media has done a public disservice in failing to characterize poor sportsmanship behavior as that of “sore losers,” because the shame lies not in the loss, but in the reaction.  When there’s no evidence of foul play, Americans of any stripe are called to accept the loss with gracious acknowledgement, and to begin again, with a peaceful transfer of power and a fire in the belly to do better next time. 

When Barack Obama won in 2008, his millions of campaign supporters dusted their hands in satisfaction, toddled off home, and left him to his work.  In retrospect, we’d have been much better served had we honed ourselves into a professional citizenry unceasingly aimed at hardening our institutions against threats to a healthy democracy.  Well, lesson learned; I hope.  

Unfortunately, the leaders we came to know during that fierce and frenzied 2024 campaign seem to have evaporated as if taken in the Rapture.  It’s as though we’re left milling around in the clutter of the afterparty, kicking at discarded party hats and unused kazoos.  Now, new leaders unknown to the public are being chosen by the DNC, the Democratic National Convention, and we can anticipate that their work will be to get out the vote for 2026.  

Well, we’re going to need a lot more than that, but in the meantime, we can build on our political muscles, and discipline our outlook and commitment.  In the coming months, we’ll need to sort ourselves for directed purpose, and find that fire in the belly to reclaim and reconstitute our democracy!  

All of those scary ways of being – anger, fear, or depression. . .  None of that need overtake us, because in this moment, we’re preparing, we’re standing back, assessing, hydrating, and gathering our wits, all of which are critical habits necessary for disciplined political health.  In the end, it will be mindful, strategic activism that inspires all of us to the light of better days.  We’ll achieve a healthy democracy when we become a citizenry worthy of its bounty, because democracy is only found in the fertility of higher ground.  

Now, a recent Tiktok activist gave a hard NO to taking the high road, saying, “that may work for you, but the rest of us will fight fascism, our way.”  I get it.  I, too, have a talent for snark that I’d like to unleash and wield with abandon.  But if we succumb to the temptation to “fight fire with fire,” and use overt lies and mayhem, then we become what we struggle against. How will anyone tell the difference?  Most importantly, what will our children and future generations learn about public discourse and the promised dignity of democracy?  Right now, the last eight years are their example of public discourse and the role of citizenship, and we can’t let that stand.

So, the high road.  That’s the path for which I’ve made a case, and the path which I’ll advocate through this podcast.  Because, eventually, high ground is the ground on which we will find the democracy and the peace of mind that we seek.  And it’s the ground upon which we hope to seat future generations for their own stewardship.

Now, strategically speaking, we hold some marvelous advantages – maybe not magic beans, but advantages not available to heroes of yore.    Our mentors and authors schooled in the path of fascism and who’ve studied the advancement of tyranny in other times and places do more than just list breadcrumbs; rather, they have literally written books detailing what we may expect, along with strategies for blocking egregious policies and behaviors.  The works of Tom Nichols, Ruth ben-Ghiat, of Ziblatt and Levitsky and Timothy Snyder, have been featured in previous episodes of this podcast, and their insights are invaluable.  

The solution lies in a growing commitment to democratic principles, which many will need to relearn, and in re-valuing truth and trust as critical to democracy.  That part is a long-game, so we need to get started.  Because the arc of history isn’t a rainbow being magically pulled by unicorns– it bends toward justice only if we put our backs into it and bend that sucker.  

We’re not all in the same boat, but left, right, and center, stewards of democracy struggle together within the same storm.  We don’t all snap to what is going on at the same time, but bringing people into the light, into awareness, is how we build a healthy democracy.  It’s not by berating our opponents into submission – it’s by convincing them that protecting democracy is in their interest.  So.  When on our paths we meet those who see with newly open eyes, our job is to welcome.  It needs to be what we do, with a gracious and hospitable heart.  It’s on all of us, to build our numbers until enough dynamic citizens are on the side of democracy, so that our teeter, cannot and will not ever again totter outside the bounds of democracy. We build our personal mental core, and we build our community through numbers. 

If there’s one thing that President Trump understands and fights against, it’s numbers.  The numbers in his crowd size.  The number of Covid cases.  The numbers that might be unveiled through an accurate census, or the legitimate ballots of a popular vote.  “STOP counting,” he says each time, wanting to freeze counts in the moment when he is ahead, as if that works.  “WE HAVE A MANDATE” he cries, until it is shown that he decidedly does NOT have a mandate.  Final tallies are not his thing.  His golf scores - the amount he charged the Secret Service and foreign dignitaries was not enough, his apartment was not big enough, and the list goes on.   He’s the Goldilocks of numbers – ever seeking to adjust up or down to his preference – facts be damned.

But in the stewardship of democracy, each single count moved out of the columns of complacency and autocratic support adds to the stewardship of democracy.  Not only that, but each person in the crowd, each citizen, voting or not voting, in all of our bodies, the courts, the people, the states, the interest groups, the institutions, corporations, and the haves and have-nots . . . in every subgroup of Americans we find the multitudes of individual s living a version of an American Dream that doesn’t quite live up the promise of liberty and justice for all.  Those are the real numbers that can’t be stuffed into some ostrich hole. Those are the American numbers that seek understanding of their diversity, a just and equitable opportunity, and inclusion within the democratic process.

The visceral opposition against all that is left of the extreme right is BECAUSE by its very definition, a liberal democracy grows, expands, and includes; it embraces, celebrates, and accepts . . . EVERYTHING that actively anti-democratic forces reject.   A liberal multi-racial democracy embodies all of the “Bogeyman Other” outside the smaller tent of those opposing democracy.   The goals of grants, studies, and non-profits focused on every subgroup across America and the western world have established a trajectory of America that progresses toward justice and toward diversity, equity, and inclusion.  But as those numbers move ever further toward a more perfect union, or at least, a more inclusive union of diversified power.  Those numbers move ever further away from the constricting tallies that narrow and concentrate power into an autocratic minority, desperation grows in the extreme right corner of our populace.

AT this point, to be left of the extreme right is all of that ideological space from moderate conservatism to progressive.  Hard right extremists characterize all of that space as “liberal,” but those who occupy this space are more accurately characterized as “pro-democratic forces.” 

Some say that that “liberal” tentpole should be economic, and perhaps so, because clearly, the distance between the haves and the have-nots, pits us against one another.  Critically, Americans need to understand economics better, because, despite warnings, we are too easily lured onto a fascist path. Perhaps it was as inevitable as the day Eve was lured by the apple.  

What we MUST recognize is that democracy is bigger than any few of us - it’s about our humanity throughout all of our diverse identities.  Our humanity is our biggest silo, the biggest tent, and the ultimate unifier. 

Democracy is the only governing structure that places our humanity at its core, so what’s outside of the tent?  Anti-democracy.  I think the words of James Baldwin sum it up, “We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”  And that’s outside the tent.    So. There’s the line in the sand. That’s the intolerable, the caveat, that we are ONLY a democracy if we are a multi-racial democracy willing to place the American Dream in a place available to all of us.  

And so, left of the extreme right, whether we are conservatives, moderates, liberals or progressives, we are the cadre known as “pro-democratic forces.”   Because we are poised to lose even the very path to a healthy democracy, it will take all of us, in all of our diverse ideologies and sub-identities to find our way back . . . to put our backs into bending that ol’ arc of history toward justice.  

AMERICA PROMISED – BREAKING the PROMISE

Our journey is about pursuing the America promised by the better angels of a moral world. A democracy emerging out of a petulant adolescence into a space of poise and dignity for all.  Democracy, maturing, yet, under siege by its juvenile sense of self.   Ever met an angry adolescent?  Well, meet America at its own stage of democratic arrogance and immaturity. “I want it my way, or I’ll break it so no one can have it.” That’s what happens when power is challenged.

The America promised by better angels of a moral world has cast pearls before us, gifting us inspiration through our short history.  Liberty, and justice for all. Not just for Trumplicans, not just for men or Christians, or billionaires.  Not just white people.  Liberty for all.  Justice for all.  Yet for those fearing the loss of 250 years of power, the encroachment into their power is so unacceptable as to push them to the brink of breaking democracy.   

The prospect has been there all along, promising through various wordings amid the declaration, the constitution and even the pledge of allegiance – that pesky aspirational notion of liberty and justice for all.  It just keeps coming back.  That recurring promise within our founding documents paves the way for a multi-racial democracy, giving some hope, and others heartburn.  That will mean a truly multi-racial, multi-cultural democracy, and that is the part, that promise of equal footing that is the nut of our authoritarian drift.  Yet, it’s the America we must defend.  It’s the foundation of an America awaiting in a future worth fighting for.

MULTI-RACIAL DEMOCRACY

We are the only country in human history where race, culture, nationality or religion does not preclude one from being of US. We can move to China and while we might become Chinese citizens, we will never be Chinese.  But anyone can come to America and not ONLY become an American, but also celebrate their own cultural heritage as Irish Americans, African Americans, Native Americans – whatever Americans, in all the colorful adornment of their Americanism.  Americanism so often wears cultural heritage as a plumage – because it takes all of us to make this beautiful vibrant country.  

But strip away our cultural diversity?  Cloak us ONLY in red trucker hats made in China and flag print promo gear and that getup does not make anyone MORE American. But it does identify the tribal trappings and plumage of those demanding ONLY a meat and potato Americanism – speak only English, and stop calling yourselves by another heritage.  From the extreme right, there’s a strange imperative for ethnicities to fit into a narrow characterization of “American-like-us,” which demonizes an exotic identity, ancestry, and history.  That vision of the hard-right America says bygones to all but a whitewashed history, archiving the rest into a dusty unspoken memory they prefer ignored.

 ETHNIC HISTORIES

But, you know, history is not only closely felt, but it’s also too much a part of us to just scrape away, even if we don’t understand it!  I recently watched the movie Harriet about Harriet Tubman’s enslavement, her escape, and her work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, just prior to the Civil War.  She liberated over 300 enslaved people before the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863.  Lincoln died two years later, and she regretted not meeting him, though they lived at the same time.  She could have shaken Lincoln’s hand, breathed in the air of his day.  When she was born, James Monroe was our fifth president, and when she died at the age of 91, my grandfather, Olin Travis, was 25 years old – she could have also shaken HIS hand, breathed HIS air. That’s how close we are to history – how close I AM to Harriet Tubman.

 I’m only three degrees of separation, from the fifth president of the United States, as are many Americans.  When people say of early American slavery, “it’s time to get over it!” they’re speaking of a trauma so close to our own history that it touches generations still coping with the aftermath.  The trauma of our nation is still right up against us.  And the sore losers of the confederacy are still butt-hurt, not only that they lost the war itself, but that they lost power over a people whom they believed were lesser than themselves.  It’s not hard to figure out that we are in an era in which the past still fights for power and is still unable to cope with a maturing democracy.

The future holds the potential for a multi-racial democracy that leaves patriarchy in its wake, Ah! But then the lure of “making America great again” would put everything in its very conservative place, wouldn’t it?  Project 2025 is the new Jim Crow, 2.0, more broadly applicable than the last with its narrow view of “appropriate” Americanism.  The old white guys in power, the little woman in the kitchen, the many other cultures knowing their place, along with a closet full of gender issues.  If Project 2025 realigns America according to its design of a perpetual white Christian supremacy, autocratic supporters, the oligarchs, and authors of project 2025, could then dust its hands and nestle in for the long haul in which all’s right with their world.  

This episode is about pursuing the America promised by the better angels of our constitutional framers. Well, and those who eventually decided that blacks were more than three fifths of a person.  Our constitution was not born without blemishes . . . and in two very important ways, the United States began with what are understood as our original sins:  the genocide of Native Americans, and the enslavement of Africans. We don’t get to ignore that stuff when we tell our story.  America was born of that muck.  Exploitation critically fostered success of the privileged in those early days of America, and racism has long been our drug of choice, still craved by many. That shame of launching out of profound racism can’t be just erased - ever.  History sticks to us like a shadow.

We aren’t personally responsible for this shame.  The guilt is on those of our forefathers in whatever ways they participated or were complicit.  But contemporary Americans ARE responsible for how we react to and perpetuate those shames, personally and collectively. We ARE guilty of a tremendous shame when we try to shut down the discussions and education around these matters.  That’s called “the whitewashing of American history.”

We’re taught to embrace the fortitude of pioneers and of EARLY American immigrants, and pioneers like Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone are characterized as reflective of America’s spirit.  Our revered authors include Steinbeck, Hemmingway and Walt Whitman, but where is ever a welcoming hand extended to tell the contributions of non-white citizens of that era?  The Chinese, the Irish, and the Italians, . . . the Jews; there’s a hierarchy to America’s acceptance of each.  So American history gives us the Revolutionary War, The Civil War, the cotton gin, World War I and II, maybe Korea, but in my school, Vietnam and the Civil Rights movements were considered “Modern History,” and so they weren’t included.  Those aspects are so close to contemporary times that they weren’t really history per se, so, that was the way American history is told to many of us, that now we all have the same rights, the end, enjoy your summer.  But where in that recitation is the history of those who are not white?  Because I’ve already shown how close it is to us.

So, clearly, we have imperfectly bumbled our way into a flawed and failing democracy.  It happens.  We’re a new democratic experiment, and we have to work with what we have, along with our nearly 400 million fellow citizens.  Not everyone can do it.  But my dear listeners, we are NOT going back.  WE have the diversity and comradery of each other. We have our tools, and mentors.  And we have the legitimacy of our quest for a multi-racial democracy.  

To surrender to a new authoritarian age of American history will color the world for future generations. So encourage your fellows, not with empty platitudes or little pats of there-there, but with daily reminders that we have in our kit much more that past heroes had in theirs.  A quest isn’t easy.  A quest is rife with set-backs, and there WILL be dragons and armies of trolls. And while our moments of hope and celebration come to us peppered with moments of uncertainty and self-doubt, like our great-grandies, we’re just getting started, and taking a breath, because, we ride at dawn.

Now, in today’s call to action, I urge you to have a calming creative outlet that gives you time away from political discourse.  If you’re not ready to reengage with democratic stewardship, your SOLE TASK is to not give up.  For now, that’s enough.  Just don’t surrender.  I’ll post some links to some good resources in the show notes, and you may trust that we will explore paths to a robust stewardship as we move forward.  

Now, our next episode will explore the realities facing citizenry seeking information looking at Project 2025’s dismantling of the Department of Education, and the appointment of Kari Lake, an avowed election denier and Q-Anon to oversee Voice of America.  Generally, speaking, that’s not going to work for us! 

So please, follow this podcast so that you get alerts when a new episode has loaded.  We’re getting too big for me to text you all individually – American Musecast now has listeners in 43 countries, and 167 cities, and, wow, I’m ever so grateful for your time!  Thank you to those of you in Germany and France – and thank you in Taiwan, South Africa, and Slovakia.  Thank you in Colombia, New Zealand, and Finland.  Thank you in Turkey, Poland, and the UK.   I’m so humbled to now have at least one listener on EVERY continent!   If I didn’t mention you here, I will next time!  

So! That’s it for today, but for my dear listeners with a fire in the belly, please follow this weekly podcast, share it with others, and tell them how much you love it. I welcome your observations in the comments section because sometimes they offer a sparkle of ideas to include in other episodes.  Just use your manners.  I’m a real person, not a chew toy!  So, buckle up buttercups!  Let’s get out there, and steward democracy!     

As always, aside from the views expressed by authors and guests, the observations included in this podcast are my personal contribution to the national dialog on democracy, and are not necessarily held in full by my sponsors.  

American Musecast is underwritten, in part, by WOODSWAN, modern, minimalistic, organic furnishings and architectural elements derived from rescued fallen trees, stumps, and reclaimed wood. Designed, built and sourced in New Mexico, each piece is handmade with great attention and care by my friends at Woodswan. Like America, every tree naturally displays beauty and character born from adversity, thus we’re invited to celebrate all their cracks and wrinkles. I know my own pieces add to the elegance of MY home, so check out the beautiful creative pieces at woodswan.com and when you order something beautiful, tell them you’re stewarding democracy!