The big news this April included the landslide electoral loss of Viktor Orbán in Hungary. You can read this analysis by Thomas Carothers, “when entrenched, dominant-party regimes are ousted from office, it typically stems from either the incumbent’s accumulated missteps or the opposition’s scrappy resourcefulness. In Hungary, both dynamics were at play.” And this article by Anne Applebaum addresses “a peculiar argument [that] has emerged on the American right: If Viktor Orbán can lose an election, then he wasn’t really an autocrat.…perhaps we can agree to call it goulash authoritarianism: a one-party-takes-all system that does enormous damage but can perhaps be removed after a generation in power if enough people are willing to risk their careers, families and fortunes fighting against the state, its security forces and its overwhelming propaganda.” And finally, we would recommend this piece by Daniel Hunter with “eight points about what the defeat of Viktor Orbán offers to people doing the long, unglamorous, essential work of democracy defense.”
This month, we also reflected on the impact of the third No Kings, “it wasn’t just bigger than the previous #nokings. It was different…Organizers said two-thirds of participants who signed up live in suburban, small town or rural areas. That’s a 40% increase over last time in protesters from outside big cities…They included not only familiar precincts in New York and Los Angeles and Austin but also communities in all 50 states and every congressional district, including rural and Republican areas.” And we are observing how philanthropy is trying to keep up with the momentum. For example, you can read Faster Than Authoritarianism: Rapid Response as a Frontline Strategy for Democracy Defense and Block and Build: Philanthropy’s Fight Club, How a coalition of American grantmakers decided to stop funding the status quo and start funding the barricades.
We continue to be impressed with all the helpful resources that are aggregating important data such as the Security Map from The Impact Project that incorporates comprehensive datasets on violent threats to America’s public servants. The American Affordability Tracker by the Urban Institute “brings together the latest available data on earnings, household costs, and financial strain to provide a clear picture of affordability across the country.” And check out the very detailed mapping of social capital produced by the Nationhood Lab, which “calculates a county’s social capital based on the density of ten types of associational institutions in the county – including bowling leagues, churches, sports clubs, civic organizations, and labor unions – plus turnout in previous presidential elections, the census return rate, and the number of non-profit organizations.”
Horizons was proud to co-produce Defending Local Stability: The Business Response with Protect Democracy and Integrity Matters, a guidebook on how business owners and leaders can prepare for possible federal deployments, protect their teams, and advocate for their communities. And there are two articles from Horizons’ Democracy Fellow Jarvis Williams to read this month: Faith as a Civic Counterweight in the Southeast: A Philanthropic Case for Investing in Faith‑Based Civic Formation; and Strategy Is Not the Problem: Why Issue-Based and Systems Approaches Break Under Pressure without Defensible Decisions.
Enjoy these other resources that we are reading, watching, and listening to this month.
📚 READING
Stop trying to ‘educate’ people into changing. Science proves it doesn’t work
by Greg Satell, Fast Company
“When confronted with evidence that contradicts our beliefs, we’re more likely to question the evidence than to update our views… Much more than we realize, our reasoning is often socially motivated. Decades of research show that we conform to the opinions of our peers and that the effect extends to three degrees of social distance. So it is not only those we know well, but even the friends of our friend’s friends—people we don’t even know—that affect our opinions… Real change doesn’t come from persuading the unconvinced with more information. It is small groups, loosely connected but united by a shared purpose, that drive truly transformational change.”
Valarie Kaur’s Sage Warrior Reframes Love as a Tool for Justice in a Divided America
by Maia Niguel Hoskin, Forbes
“…in her latest book, Sage Warrior, Valarie Kaur makes a case that feels both radical and necessary. Love is not soft, but revolutionary and the most powerful force we have to survive what we are living through. With the [release] of Sage Warrior, activist, civil rights leader, and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project, Kaur offers an answer to the confusion and anxiety that many are feeling that is rooted not in avoidance, but in courage and love.”
Democracy is about people: Are we paying enough attention to the brain?
by Alexander Hudson, Harris A. Eyre, Rym Ayadi, Agustín Ibáñez, International IDEA
“Brain capital is a complex concept that takes into account an individual’s knowledge, skills, and brain health. It recognizes that mental health, cognitive and emotional skills, and lifelong learning drive economic, social, and democratic resilience. Unlike traditional human capital, which emphasizes productivity, brain capital places mental well-being and creative capacity at the core of the economy. The concept is gaining prominence, as a recent World Economic Forum-McKinsey Health Institute Brain Economy Insights Report has provided a comprehensive overview of brain capital dynamics across society. The complex connections between brain capital and social and economic processes mean that it has both strong explanatory power in analyses of democracy and is an organizing concept for policy interventions to support democratic resilience.”
Think Tanks Have Defeated Democracy
by Samuel Hammond, Palladium
“The political economy of America’s nonprofit sector is typified by what the political scientist Theda Skocpol has called “associations without members.” Beginning in the 1960s, large foundations like Ford and Rockefeller began to fund professional network organizations in law, civil rights, consumer rights, feminism, and environmentalism. Steadily, the model of foundation-funded, D.C.-based advocacy organizations came to be the dominant one on the center-left. Unlike unions, churches, and other mass membership organizations, such nonprofits only speak for their ostensible constituencies vicariously. Opinion polling and technocratic social science thus replaced the voices of ordinary people that mass membership organizations had once served to aggregate and orient towards collective action.”
📺 WATCHING
Solidarity Stories: The Transformative Work of Building Collective Power
Solidarity House, Sundance
What is your desire for solidarity requiring you to sacrifice? asks Savannah Romero on this panel discussion that the BLIS Collective convened during the first ever Solidarity House at Sundance. They hosted this conversation with their members and partners, asking them a simple but hard question, what does solidarity require from us? “In an era of media consolidation, cultural erasure, and accelerating crises, building real power demands a new national narrative capable of holding the weight of both our history and our future.”
The Power of Faith in Democracy
Model Leader
“In this episode of the American Model, we talk with Mariann Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington, and Randy Hollerith, Dean of the Washington National Cathedral. They share wisdom and insights on the freedom of religion, faith, and leadership in the context of democracy.”
Democracy’s ‘Baton Pass’
icivics
“Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison. How do we teach students about these people, taking into account 250 years of hindsight? Were they heroes? Villains? And how do we pass along their vision of democracy to the next generation? Today we talk with Jane Kamensky, CEO and President of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Previously, Jane was a professor at Harvard University and served as head of the Schlesinger Library. Jane speaks with us about our evolving approach to the framers, as well as her work developing the Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy.”
🎧 LISTENING TO
How to Change the World
Hidden Brain podcast
“Does power truly flow from the barrel of a gun? Pop culture and conventional history often teach us that violence is the most effective way to produce change. But is that common assumption actually true? Political scientist Erica Chenoweth, who has studied more than 100 years of revolutions and insurrections, says the answer is counterintuitive. Then, Ranjay Gulati answers listener questions on how to cultivate courage.”
Can American elections be “nationalized”? What does that mean?
Civics 101: A Podcast
“In this country, the states run elections. Congress is empowered to step in; the president is not. So, what does it mean for the president to call on a political party to “take over.” Is that allowed? What would that mean? And why is this happening now?
We talk with Sarah Cooper from the Carter Center to understand who is in charge and whether anyone else can take charge.”
Dewey and Lippmann on Democracy
Philosophize This! Podcast
“In the turn of the 20th century, a crucial debate emerged between Walter Lippmann and John Dewey over the viability of democracy in an increasingly complex world. Lippmann critiqued democracy’s reliance on public opinion, arguing that citizens construct simplified “pseudo-environments” shaped by media and stereotypes, rendering them ill-equipped to make informed decisions on vast global issues. He warned that modern democracies are driven more by emotionally charged reactions than by accurate understanding, and that media, language, and time constraints further distort reality. Dewey responded not by dismissing Lippmann’s concerns, but by reframing democracy as more than a political system—it was, to him, an ethical ideal and a form of social cooperation. Viewing society as an interconnected organism, Dewey believed individuals flourish only through participation and education. He saw democracy as a continuous process of mutual growth, where every person contributes uniquely, and where the antidote to authoritarianism lies in cultivating thoughtful, empowered citizens—not in retreating from democratic ideals, but in deepening them.”
What Use is Art Making When Freedom is Under Pressure?
Art is Change Podcast
“This show features my conversation with painter, organizer, educator and ‘root waterer’ Jordan Seaberry, about what happens when art moves beyond decoration and entertainment and becomes a powerful civic practice for listening, organizing and building people power. Jordan’s work, which spans painting, policy, comics, teaching and movement building, is all grounded in the conviction that human creativity is not extra. Along the way, we follow Jordan’s journey from the south side of Chicago to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), to Oregon organizing around prisoners’ rights, studying at Roger Williams University School of Law, and helping lead the US Department of Art and Culture.”
💡 FOR FUN
How AI Legos Became Iran’s Secret Weapon
Taylor Lorenz Video Podcast
“I sat down with Areeba Fatima, a journalist for Dropsite News, who’s been reporting on the team behind ‘Explosive Media,’ the group of seemingly Gen Z Iranians producing this viral content. We dive deep into how these LEGO videos are actively reshaping Americans’ perceptions of modern warfare, and why this content is uniquely bridging the gap across the American political spectrum. We discuss: the fascinating Telegram history of Explosive Media, revealing they started as young internet natives posting about sports, exams, and movies before the war escalated; why mainstream liberal accounts and right-wing podcasters in America are both sharing this content by the millions; how this Gen Z team uses AI to bypass sanctions, generate rap songs, and tap directly into global internet culture; and the relentless cat-and-mouse game of Explosive Media getting banned from platforms like YouTube and X, only to immediately return.”