How to Change the World is a weekly blog about reversing American decline. I will (1) study successful models of governance throughout history, primarily in the West, (2) highlight what’s going wrong leading to institutional decline or ‘political decay’, and (3) present models of democratic innovation that could lead us into a prosperous, peaceful and abundant 21st century.
Last night, wandering the downtown of Boulder, Colorado in the warm late summer air, I wandered into Boulder Bookshop and purchased Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. I bought it on a lark, it was used and on sale and I’d always figured I would get around to it. I’d had my eye on it since dating a writer in New York in my early 30’s who spoke of it very highly.
I read part of the introduction before sitting down to write this. So far I can say it’s quite good, funny, convicting. I dog-eared the book and put it down on a touching note. Lamott described reading Catcher in the Rye for the first time: “[I] knew what it was like to have someone speak for me, to close a book with a sense of both triumph and relief, one lonely isolated social animal finally making contact.” The sentiment resonated with me as I had a visceral Salinger phase in my 20’s. Back then, every time I got to talk about Franny and Zooey I’d get wildly excited. There was something at the source of that book, some enchanted kernel in the story’s center that set it apart from everything else I’d read. Funny enough, Franny and Zooey is about two siblings who get unhealthily obsessed with a book, so I found that book and read it. It turns out that book they’re obsessed with is about a Russian Pilgrim from the 1800’s who becomes obsessed with another, Christian Orthodox book. And here I was obsessed with Salinger. It was like a virus.
Anyway, Setting Bird by Bird down, knowing I was coming to write this, I got a sinking feeling.
This project, How to Change the World, is supposed to be an exploration of books, ideas, models, talks, maybe interviews all on the theme of being solutions to the problems of governance which I consider to be the most grave, foundational challenge of the 21st century. (is your issue climate change? War? Inequality? Addressing them all boils down to whether we can surface good solutions as a society and rally around them.)
Several months ago, wandering another bookstore in my hometown of Ojai, California (the famous Bart’s Books) I struck a thick vein of great governance books. I bought several and decided to read them and write my reactions here, thereby making ‘How To Change the World’ a de facto book project (you can find the book list here). It was going to help me process these democratic concepts and integrate them into my theories on what will be required for the societal renewal which I am committed to helping initiate.
But if I can be honest, which I hesitate to do for some reason, I‘ll admit that the writing has not been very good. Many of the pieces are barely finished, scarcely edited, and perhaps lacking a valuable conclusion. I justified this because writing the pieces was helping me learn, and because I’m very busy with other things (so what can I expect of myself?). Yet I haven’t felt settled about it for quite a while, knowing that most of the work was fairly limp.
I suppose I’m judging myself by literary standards which aren't exactly appropriate for non-fiction essays on “governance.” Though, even by non-fiction standards the writing has been lacking. But I’m asking myself, do I want to keep producing such work - such dry work?
So anyway, that’s where I’m at. Although I’m learning a ton from Seeing like a State (the book I’m currently studying), I think there needs to be a change to the format of this newsletter.
I was recently interviewed for a Bitcoin podcast called Life with Bitcoin and I decided to take the occasion to get a decent microphone and camera, and now that I have them I’m thinking of producing more audio / video content. Perhaps reading and expounding on my articles, perhaps interviews. And with the articles I would like to find a way to bring my voice in a little more.
Up to now I’ve erred on the side of being factual and accurate. Perhaps I’ll try to err on the side of being personal and a little bit intimate. That’s not to say I’ll leave the meat out of the articles. But looking back, it feels like the articles have been publishing have been like Wikipedia summaries edited by a libertarian in a rush. Reading Bird by Bird is reminding me that if I’m going to be doing anything at all, I might at well be connecting with my audience and doing something I’m proud of. The world has enough articles that could have been written by ChatGPT.
If you’ve made it this far I’m happy for any input. Please feel free to let me know what direction you’d like to see HTCTW go in. Do you like the articles as they are? Would you like them to be more personal? Should I keep them the same? Let me know, your input is much appreciated.
Matt Harder runs the civic engagement firm Civic Trust, where he helps cities strengthen their civic environment by helping residents, civic organizations, and local government work together to create public projects. Follow him on Twitter.