We discuss the long history of vigilante democracy in the US and its return in our current politics. The playing field is currently tilted in favor of these vigilante policies, but blue states can level the playing field by playing constitutional hardball. David reminds us that the American people have beat back movements to use vigilante power to enforce a reactionary agenda time and again.

David’s civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1) Get involved in local politics

2) Resistance works and there are a lot of opportunities to resist authoritarianism

David Noll is the co-author of Vigilante Nation: How State-Sponsored Terror Threatens Our Democracy. He’s also the Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development and a professor of law at Rutgers Law School, as well as an academic fellow of the National Institute for Civil Justice.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark

Follow Mila on X:

https://x.com/milaatmos

Follow David on X:

https://x.com/davidlnoll

Read Vigilante Nation:

https://bookshop.org/shop/futurehindsight

Sponsor:

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: David Noll

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss how out of date immigration laws are and why the only cure is comprehensive immigration reform from Congress. In the face of rising arrests and deportations by ICE, this is the perfect episode to remind us that we still need immigration reform.

Aaron’s civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1) Be welcoming and model inclusion in your communities

2) Contact your member of Congress and demand comprehensive immigration reform

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick is the Policy Director at the American Immigration Council, a non-profit organization that strives to strengthen the United States by shaping immigration policies and practices.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark

Follow Mila on X:

https://x.com/milaatmos

Follow Aaron on X:

https://x.com/ReichlinMelnick

Follow the American Immigration Council:

https://x.com/immcouncil

Sponsor:

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss how certain radical acts of justice by everyday people challenge the legitimacy of the criminal system and form the underpinning of a new collective legal thought, demosprudence. Collective understanding of justice and safety is changing away from the concept that justice equals cages.

Jocelyn’s civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1) Be a court watcher!

2) Learn about your city’s or county’s budget

Jocelyn Simonson is Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, a former public defender, and the author of Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People Are Dismantling Mass Incarceration.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark

Follow Mila on X:

https://x.com/milaatmos

Follow Jocelyn on X:

https://x.com/j_simonson

Read Radical Acts of Justice:

https://bookshop.org/shop/futurehindsight

Sponsor:

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Jocelyn Simonson

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss deliberative polling as a way to assess the will of the people and then to make it consequential. This is what democracy is all about.

James’s civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1) Question your own beliefs and assumptions

2) Learn to listen to people whom you would not normally talk to

James Fishkin is the Director of the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford University and the author of Can Deliberation Cure the Ills of Democracy?

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark

Follow Mila on X:

https://x.com/milaatmos

Read Can Deliberation Cure the Ills of Democracy?:

https://bookshop.org/shop/futurehindsight

Sponsor:

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: James Fishkin

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss the main goals of copaganda: narrowing our conception of safety and threat, constantly warning us that those harms are increasing, and telling us that the solution to our fears is more investment in the punishment bureaucracy.

Alec’s civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1) Educate yourself on how copaganda works

2) Read the Copaganda book in a group!

Alec Karakatsanis is the founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps and author of Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark

Follow Mila on X:

https://x.com/milaatmos

Follow Alec on X:

https://x.com/equalityalec/

Read Copaganda:

https://bookshop.org/shop/futurehindsight

Sponsor:

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Alec Karakatsanis

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss how multisolving is a way to address the multiple issues that are currently facing our democracy at the same time, ranging from pollution and sustainable energy to civil rights and collective governance.

Elizabeth’s civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1) Learn about multisolving

2) Learn together in a group

Elizabeth Sawin is the Director of the Multisolving Institute and the author of Multisolving: Creating Systems Change in a Fractured World.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark

Follow Mila on X:

https://x.com/milaatmos

Follow Elizabeth on X:

https://x.com/bethsawin

Read Multisolving:

https://bookshop.org/shop/futurehindsight

Sponsor:

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Elizabeth Sawin

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss Inclusive Constitutionalism, a fresh way to interpret the Constitution that makes inclusive democracy real. By contrast, originalism interprets the meaning of the Constitution as fixed in time in the 1800s and ignores the constitutional amendments during reconstruction that were designed to foster a multiracial democracy.

Madiba’s civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1.  Join or form a local union!

2. Pay attention to state and local courts.

Madiba Dennie is Deputy Editor and Senior Contributor at the critical legal commentary outlet Balls and Strikes. Her debut book is The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We The People Can Take it Back.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark

Follow Mila on X:

https://x.com/milaatmos

Follow Madiba on X:

https://x.com/AudreLawdAMercy

Read The Originalism Trap:

https://bookshop.org/shop/futurehindsight

Sponsor:

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Madiba Debbie

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss why the Constitution—the document we've been taught to revere as the very foundation of American democracy—might actually be responsible for the current crisis in government. It might be leading us away from a more perfect union and toward destruction or even secession.

Erwin’s civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1. Be informed

2. Get involved

3. Speak out

Erwin Chemerinsky is the Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law and one of the nation's leading constitutional scholars. His most recent book is No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States, which urges us to think about starting over.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark

Follow Mila on X:

https://x.com/milaatmos

Read No Democracy Lasts Forever:

https://bookshop.org/shop/futurehindsight

Sponsor:

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Erwin Chemerinsky

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis