In this 250th year since the Declaration of Independence was signed, the American idea—an idea that has changed a whole world around it—finds itself under extraordinary pressure. As the Declaration's author, Thomas Jefferson has gifted us with both breathtaking credal words and a life lived so firmly in contradiction to their meaning that we cannot possibly look away. Our very special UNUM guest, Dr. Jane Kamensky, has made history her life's work as the President & CEO of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. She calls our founding idea "leaky," as people of every color and creed both in America and in unfree corners of the globe heard this big idea 250 years ago and believed it could also be for them.

Learn more about our guests and find the program online here.

This program is part of the series in partnership with Florida Humanities — "UNUM: Democracy Reignited," a multi-year digital offering exploring the past, present and future of the American idea — as it exists on paper, in the hearts of our people, and as it manifests (or sometimes fails to manifest) in our lives. View the full series of programs online here.

————————————————————

The Village Square is a proud member of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

UNUM: Democracy Reignited is funded in part by Florida Humanities with support from Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Mellon Foundation. (Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of our funders.)

By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs
created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The initiative was
developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center
for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

The hallmarks of high conflict include a narrowing middle ground, the growing sense of a binary "us vs. them" narrative—and absolute clarity that "we" are the good guys in the story, and "they" are the black hats. Some of this might feel a little new to us, but this accelerating vicious cycle of conflict is how most of human history has unfolded. Before there was a Magna Carta and Constitution, life was a Manichaean cosmic struggle between good and evil and (retroactive spoiler alert) it wasn't pretty. After all, if you're convinced you're fighting on the side of "good," what wouldn't you do to defeat "evil?" This will be a wide-ranging discussion encompassing all of human history and a full study of human nature. Please reserve 3 full days. (Naw, God Squad stars that they are, they'll do it in an hour.)

Check out the panel and more info about this program here.

Catch up on past God Squad programs here.

__________

Village SquareCast is funded in part by the Federation of State Humanities Councils with support from the Mellon Foundation and Florida Humanities.

As we now find ourselves officially in America's 250th anniversary year, we are truly honored to be joined by the legendary scholar Jeffrey Rosen. As the CEO Emeritus of the National Constitution Center and the author of numerous books, Rosen's iconic body of work gives us a richer understanding of the tensions, rivalries, and principles that have shaped the American experiment. His most recent book, "The Pursuit of Liberty," tells the vibrant story of how the tensions in the visions of founders Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton haven't just endured since the founding—they've defined us.

Learn more about our guests and find the program online here.

This program is part of the series in partnership with Florida Humanities — "UNUM: Democracy Reignited," a multi-year digital offering exploring the past, present and future of the American idea — as it exists on paper, in the hearts of our people, and as it manifests (or sometimes fails to manifest) in our lives. View the full series of programs online here.

————————————————————

The Village Square is a proud member of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

UNUM: Democracy Reignited is funded in part by Florida Humanities with support from Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Mellon Foundation. (Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of our funders.)

By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs
created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The initiative was
developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center
for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.