The Renovator | Danielle Allen | Substack

Talking About Love, Part II: Love and Power

How “Moderates” (Like Me) Can Redeem Their Sins

Jan 15 • Anne-Marie Slaughter

The Loyal Opposition

Restoring democracy requires more than just resistance

Jan 13 • Danielle Allen

Civic Education News Roundup: Common Sense turns 250, dialogue across difference, and exciting new publications.

Thomas Paine’s 1776 pamphlet “Common Sense,” which played a major role in turning American public opinion toward independence, turned 250 years old on…

Jan 12 • Joanna Kenty

Rewiring Democracy Now

A new kind of political engagement emerges in Japan

Jan 11 • Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders

AI Supports Legislation By the People, For the People

A new Massachusetts online hub connects legislators with communities.

Jan 8 • Joanna Kenty

The Democracy Renovation Agenda

Talking About Love, Part II: Love and Power

How “Moderates” (Like Me) Can Redeem Their Sins

Jan 15 • Anne-Marie Slaughter

The Loyal Opposition

Restoring democracy requires more than just resistance

Jan 13 • Danielle Allen

Venezuela and Common Sense

In the style of Thomas Paine

Jan 7 • Danielle Allen

Happy Semiquincentennial Eve!

"We dream'd of your times"

Dec 30, 2025 • Danielle Allen

Democracy in the States

Session Season: Budgets, Ballots, and the First Skirmishes of the 2026 Cycle- Weekly States' Roundup

It’s Saturday, January 3, 2026, and time for your Democracy in the States: Weekly Roundup.

Jan 3 • Beth Fukumoto

The Quiet Work Before 2026: Budgets, Courts, and Election Rules - Weekly States' Roundup

It’s Friday, December 26, 2025, and time for your Democracy in the States: Weekly Roundup.

Dec 27, 2025 • Beth Fukumoto

ACA Cliffs, Budget Crunches, and the Next Map War - Weekly States' Roundup

It’s Saturday, December 20, 2025, and time for your Democracy in the States’ Weekly Roundup.

Dec 20, 2025 • Beth Fukumoto

How Santa Delivers Hope When His Helpers Go Viral

Every holiday season, my mom, MaryAnn, and her book club join the holiday gift drive at She Believes in Me, a Northern Virginia community organization…

Dec 18, 2025 • Shared America - Conor Gaughan

Tech & Democracy

Rewiring Democracy Now

A new kind of political engagement emerges in Japan

Jan 11 • Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders

AI Supports Legislation By the People, For the People

A new Massachusetts online hub connects legislators with communities.

Jan 8 • Joanna Kenty

Can The Pope + Steve Bannon Save Us From AI Acceleration?

The plot has thickened— Tech & Democracy's greatest hits are back in this Roundup

Dec 12, 2025 • Aidan Fitzsimons

America Can Fight the Wildfire

The Democracy Renovation Agenda can help us douse the flames of domestic and global chaos.

Dec 10, 2025 • Danielle Allen

Democracy 101

Civic Education News Roundup: Common Sense turns 250, dialogue across difference, and exciting new publications.

Thomas Paine’s 1776 pamphlet “Common Sense,” which played a major role in turning American public opinion toward independence, turned 250 years old on…

Jan 12 • Joanna Kenty

47:04

Live with Bridging Differences' Juliana Tafur

Last month I had the pleasure of interviewing Juliana Tafur about her work at Bridging Differences, an initiative out of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good…

Jan 7 • Joanna Kenty and Juliana Tafur

Civic Education News Roundup: Meeting Gen Z where they are, higher ed's civic mission, and looking forward to America's 250th.

I hope you checked out Caroline Klibanoff’s post about MadeByUs, Youth250, and making the semiquincentennial a celebration that Gen-Z will actually want…

Dec 29, 2025 • Joanna Kenty

A Wake-Up Call For Those Who Want to Reach the Nation’s Future Inheritors

America’s 250th birthday is an opportunity to engage Gen Z, and we can’t afford to miss it.

Dec 28, 2025 • Caroline Klibanoff

Renovator Features

Democratic Divinity

Perhaps the most important image in American literature

Dec 25, 2025 • Aidan Fitzsimons

The Unitary Executive Is About to Get Turbo-Charged

The Supreme Court appears headed toward a ruling that goes most of the way to a full-blown unitary-executive regime.

Dec 10, 2025 • Harry Litman

On Marjorie Taylor Greene's Apology

Sometimes an apology matters less for what it reveals about the speaker than for what it asks of us.

Dec 1, 2025 • Adam Harper

The Past Waits for the Future in Gettysburg

272 words at Gettysburg changed the meaning of what the dead had done. I walked those fields with Navy SEALs to learn what the ground still had to…

Nov 22, 2025 • Michael Gibson

Recent posts

Venezuela and Common Sense

In the style of Thomas Paine

Jan 7 • Danielle Allen

47:04

Live with Bridging Differences' Juliana Tafur

Last month I had the pleasure of interviewing Juliana Tafur about her work at Bridging Differences, an initiative out of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good…

Jan 7 • Joanna Kenty and Juliana Tafur

Session Season: Budgets, Ballots, and the First Skirmishes of the 2026 Cycle- Weekly States' Roundup

It’s Saturday, January 3, 2026, and time for your Democracy in the States: Weekly Roundup.

Jan 3 • Beth Fukumoto

Happy Semiquincentennial Eve!

"We dream'd of your times"

Dec 30, 2025 • Danielle Allen

Civic Education News Roundup: Meeting Gen Z where they are, higher ed's civic mission, and looking forward to America's 250th.

I hope you checked out Caroline Klibanoff’s post about MadeByUs, Youth250, and making the semiquincentennial a celebration that Gen-Z will actually want…

Dec 29, 2025 • Joanna Kenty

A Wake-Up Call For Those Who Want to Reach the Nation’s Future Inheritors

America’s 250th birthday is an opportunity to engage Gen Z, and we can’t afford to miss it.

Dec 28, 2025 • Caroline Klibanoff

The Renovator

The Renovator

The Renovator is a Substack for everyone who wants to help renovate our democracy.

The latest from

Anne-Marie Slaughter

Talking About Love, Part II: Love and Power

Danielle Allen

The Loyal Opposition

Joanna Kenty

Civic Education News Roundup: Common Sense turns 250, dialogue across difference, and exciting new publications.

Beth Fukumoto

Session Season: Budgets, Ballots, and the First Skirmishes of the 2026 Cycle- Weekly States' Roundup

Aidan Fitzsimons

Democratic Divinity

Malcolm Salter

Pro-Business Should Mean Pro-Democracy

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