"Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be...”
                                         ― Abraham Lincoln
                              

Presidential transitions are normally quiet affairs, rarely audible beyond the outer lanes of I–495. This year's, belated to begin with, promises to be long, and touch all aspects of American life as few have seen government so much as attempt (raise a virtual hand if you were politically conscious in 1933).  We're undergoing a little transition in this publication as well, as you'll see below, a glasnost to go with the flow, in solidarity with those doing the heavy lifting...

 

Our Year For Building A Wonderful Life
Like so much these days, the holiday classic It's A Wonderful Life is not what it seems, and holds positive guidance for the year we dare not say can't be worse than the one before... Read More...

http://bit.ly/wonder_life

Rebuilding & Renewing Government 
Shocking as 1/6 may have been, the Capitol Building was the only one left in government Trump and his supporters had not yet stormed... Read More...

http://bit.ly/rebuild_renew

Rebuilding & Renewing The Middle Class
The American middle class may soon go the way of the dinosaur. But it will not disappear completely or become extinct.  And it's not too late to ensure it evolves into a flock of birds instead... Read More...

http://bit.ly/renew_mid

12/7, 9/11, and 1/6 
Three dates that will live in infamy.  We came back from the first two unified (at least until some decided to use 9/11 for partisan gain).  To make 12-7-9-11-1-6 a winning ticket, we must make 1/20/21 the most important date of all... Read More...

http://bit.ly/12-7-9-11-1-6

MLK v. MTG
They share three letter acronyms, but only one belongs in the company of FDR, JFK, and LBJ; indeed, leads them where embodiment of our founding values is concerned. The other? Is the real Other... Read More...

http://bit.ly/mlk_mtg

Library of Congress Kluge Award winner Danielle Allen is hosting Our Common Purpose--A Campaign For Civic Strength, a series of free online all-star panels with accompanying workshops. You can check out a recording of the first, Using Civic Media To Build A Better Society, here; the next two will be on April 15 and May 13...  Learn More...

https://bit.ly/com-purp

While the Insurrection made the worst kind of history, we've had one transition more dire, when all that stood between our country and chaos was the first female Pinkerton detective, charged with getting Abraham Lincoln safely into DC to begin his first term.... Learn More...

http://bit.ly/1861_2021     

This is the first tax season of the new administration, and nobody likes hearing from the taxman, but Creative Politics has some (simple) ideas for reform they believe will result in letters from the IRS that everyone's going to want to get, every year, and read... Learn More...
 
http://bit.ly/better_letter       

Sometimes transitioning back is is where the nation needs to go. The Atlantic's Anne Applebaum and Peter Pomerantsev share their vision of how the Internet could be used to return democracy not just to the pre–digital era, but to the salad days of deToqueville... Learn More...

https://bit.ly/detoq_net

In the wake of 1/6, Alan Solomont, retiring Dean of Tufts University's legendary College of Civic Life, throws down the gauntlet in support of landmark bipartisan (in both House and Senate) legislation that he believes is necessary to ensure there's never a 1/7... Learn More...

https://bit.ly/al_solo

What does it have to do with COVID? That's the ironic demand of the trickledowners, and the flash point they've chosen, aid to Black farmers, illuminates the entire landscape of big T transition, as does the quotidian experience of Blacks living in rural communities. "Reparations!" thunders Lindsey Graham. And your point is? Vann Newkirk replies... Learn More...  And More...

https://bit.ly/black_ag  https://bit.ly/covid_ag  https://bit.ly/black_trumpland

Masha Gessen, the emigre from Putin’s Russia whose “Autocracy: Rules For Survival” in late 2016 proved so prescient, urges us not to let bygones be bygones in the name of unity–in a column she penned on November 10th– while we continue to add to our collection of Trump retrospectives and legacies... Learn More...

http://bit.ly/trumpreck             https://bit.ly/trump_legacies

Few societal volte–faces are more dramatic or courageous than those made by individuals, especially in America.  Take British slave trader John Newsome, whose life's journey was literally amazing, and whose legacy is perhaps even more so, a testament to the fundamental character of those with the most reason to give up on our country... Learn More...

https://bit.ly/john_new

Could there be a more death-defying, wrenching transition for a city than Pittsburgh, PA's, from steel manufacture to high tech hub? Could there be a better microcosm, with more lessons for us? That master planning doesn't work, that your best solutions might come out of your worst disasters, that every tool in the box is required, and more... Learn More...

https://bit.ly/pitt_ren4       https://bit.ly/pitt_tech       https://bit.ly/pitt_all   

In new media, iteration is the Thing--it's always in transition, and it's easy to get turned into a frog if you snooze. The Wayback Machine is an archive of 531 billion pages dating back to 1996; the Webby Awards have been highlighting the best of the best since 1997; they're both great ways to track where tech has been/might be headed next... Learn More...

https://bit.ly/way_bck           https://bit.ly/webby_a