Aaron Tanaka, CEO of One Project and founder of the Center for Economic Democracy, joins Sean Buffington on this episode of Luce Change to make the case that America’s political crisis is, at its root, an economic one. When the majority of people have no real agency over the decisions that shape their lives, democracy becomes a ritual rather than a reality.

Tanaka traces this failure from the founding contradictions of the country through the bipartisan embrace of neoliberalism, and argues that the antidote isn’t better messaging—it’s restructuring who controls land, labor, and capital.

Articles & Organizations Mentioned:

One Project: https://oneproject.org/

Center for Economic Democracy: https://www.economicdemocracy.us

Boston Ujima Project: https://www.ujimaboston.com

Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative: https://www.dsni.org

Right to the City Alliance: https://righttothecity.org

City Life / Vida Urbana: https://www.clvu.org

Climate Justice Alliance: https://climatejusticealliance.org

Civic Lex: https://www.civiclex.org

Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance: https://www.amazonsacredheadwaters.org

Participatory Budgeting Project: https://www.participatorybudgeting.org

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On this episode of Luce Change, Sean Buffington sits down with Ash Hanson—theater artist, rural cultural worker, and Creative Executive Officer at the Department of Public Transformation—to explore why bending the arc of history toward justice has to start locally. Ash makes the case that civic culture erodes the way sandstone does: slowly, incrementally, and at enormous cost to the communities least resourced to rebuild.

With only 3–7% of philanthropic dollars reaching the 20% of Americans who live in rural places, Ash argues that geographic inequity is foundational to the democratic crisis, and that artists and cultural organizers are doing the essential work of shifting community narratives and building civic imagination before traditional engagement can even begin.

Articles & Organizations Mentioned:

Department of Public Transformation: dopt.org

Voices for Rural Resilience: voicesforruralresilience.org

The Mellon Foundation: mellon.org

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson: justmercy.eji.org

SiP Culture: sipculture.org

Blue Sky Center: blueskycenter.org

Cheyenne River Youth Project: cryp.org

No Hate in My Holler: nohateinmyholler.com

Epicenter Utah: epicenterutah.org

Art of the Rural: artoftherural.org

Springboard for the Arts: springboardforthearts.org

Daily Yonder: dailyyonder.com

Center for Rural Strategies: ruralstrategies.org

Rural Assembly: ruralassembly.org

Masumoto Family Farm: masumoto.com

Country Queers: countryqueers.com

Civic Lex: civiclex.org

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On this episode of Luce Change, Sean Buffington speaks with Richard Young, Executive Director of CivicLex in Lexington, Kentucky, about the power of place, and why local democracy is the most underestimated front in the fight to rebuild civic life in America.

At the center of the conversation is CivicLex’s first-ever civic assembly: 36 randomly selected, demographically representative Lexington residents convening across six sessions to deliberate on proposed changes to the city charter. Like the concentric rings of a public square, the assembly draws people inward toward a shared decision–Young believes that is exactly how civic repair begins.

Articles & Organizations Mentioned:

CivicLex: civiclex.org

American Academy of Arts and Sciences: amacad.org

Everyday Democracy (Martha McCoy): everyday-democracy.org

Harvard Kennedy School / Archon Fung: hks.harvard.edu

Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange: kyrux.org

Oak Ridge Periodic Tables (David Allred, Oak Ridge, TN): oakridgeperiodictables.com

Black Yarn (Lexington, KY): blackyarn.com

Outlier Media (Detroit, MI): outliermedia.org

People’s Budget Office / Mural Arts Philadelphia: muralarts.org

North Carolina Local News Lab Fund: nclocalnews.org

Panelot (sortition software): panelot.org

The Austin Common (Austin, TX): theaustincommon.com

The Village Square (Liz Joyner, Tallahassee, FL): tlh.villagesquare.us

Good Neighbor Week (San Francisco, CA): sfgoodneighborweek.org

Department of Public Transformation: publictransformation.org

Knight Foundation: knightfoundation.org

Bluegrass Community Foundation: bgcf.org

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