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Light Many Fires began as a book called When We The People Lead, The Leaders Will Follow . It is becoming something more. The book grew out of a simple but unsettling observation: America’s core problem is not that we are hopelessly polarized. It’s that most people—the exhausted, reasonable 70% majority—have gradually been separated from our sense of agency. We don’t vote regularly, we consume politics as entertainment, and assume that meaningful change is the work of others.

In a recent print conversation between NYT columnists, conservative Bret Stephens, who calls himself “a law and order guy,” and liberal Frank Bruni, discussed the cruelty on display in Minneapolis and the shooting of Renee Good.   Stephens did not dismiss the horror, but stressed that America has endured worse moments. Bruni’s response to this caught my attention: “‘We’ve survived a lot worse’ sounds increasingly to me like a psychic binky—more pacifier than reality check.” H

Don't believe the headlines about polarization. True or false: America is a nation split into two furious camps, locked in an endless culture war. False or mostly false. That picture is badly distorted. In my book, When We The People Lead, The Leaders Will Follow , I articulate the terrible consequences of believing this distortion, namely, cynicism and passivity. The truth is that most Americans are not ideologues and do not hate one another. But we are tired. A growing body

From Subject to Consumer to Citizen—and the Choice That Shapes Our Democracy Citizenship is often treated as something external: a legal status, a set of rights, a periodic obligation to vote. But that definition is far too thin to sustain a democracy—especially one under strain. At its core, citizenship is both inner and outer  work. The outer work is visible: voting, organizing, serving, showing up. The inner work is quieter but just as essential: how we understand our rel