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Friends, In challenging moments like these, with so much uncertainty and violence around the world, I am thinking of all of you and your loved ones. It is in these moments that I hope our shared work can––in some small way––help us repair the world. We are in the thick of planning Democracy 2076’s December convening to create a Constitution for 2076. In two months’ time, we will be gathering 70 participants from all 50 states in Sante Fe, New Mexico. This group includes organizers, constitutional law and comparative law professors, artists, journalists, and futurists. We’ve chosen our participants intentionally based on their desire and ability to incorporate the strategic foresight process that we are pioneering in December into their work. In this way, this convening is not only working to align on a set of Constitutional amendments but building movement capacity by providing leaders a process that they can replicate in their states to align organizations towards a long-term plan to amend the United States Constitution. Thank you so much to those of you who have already made introductions to possible participants or provided support for this work so far. And for those who will be joining us at the convening – either virtually or in person – thank you for making the time and effort to be part of this. I’m excited to see what we build together. For those of you who are interested in partnering with us in this work, here are a few ways: Support for convening attendees. We’d like to help as many of our convening participants attend as possible, so that cost is not a barrier to participation. If you are interested in helping participants (especially those from less well-resourced organizations) attend, please respond to this email. Join us virtually to provide feedback on our facilitation. In November, we will be running facilitation practice rounds in preparation for the December convening and would welcome you to join us virtually to provide feedback. You can share your availability to join us in this Doodle. Plan to incorporate A Constitution for 2076 into your existing work. We plan to create a shareable facilitation guide based on the December convening. This will likely include possible geopolitical scenarios for 2076 and various stress tests based on projections for 2076 (e.g. climate change, demographic shifts, technological advances, and their impact on our work) that will test the limits of our democracy. Already, many convening participants and other national organizations plan to incorporate these products into their existing work. If you think this could be useful in informing your work, please reach out!
As a quick refresher: our convening in December is only one part of the larger strategy to design a Constitution for 2076. After we convene in Santa Fe, participants will reconvene in June to identify what needs to happen over the next five years to move toward our constitutional vision. This includes understanding the landscape for major amendments and incremental wins, how those wins could come about, and what electoral victories would be needed to achieve them. By creating a campaign to amend the Constitution, we will also shift the Overton window for more incremental reforms. We’ve brought together an incredibly talented team of leaders to help advise on the December convening. Our planning committee includes: Maria Perez, Co-Director of Democracy Rising and Convener of the Women of Color Democracy Transformation Summit Adrienne Evans, Executive Director of United Vision for Idaho Cat Tully, Executive Director of the School of International Futures Scot Nakagawa, Executive Director, 22nd Century Initiative Soren Dayton, Director of Governance, Niskanen Center
Already, we are seeing how Democracy 2076’s constitutional design strategy is generating impact throughout the sector. Earlier this month, Democracy 2076 participated in the Institute for the Future’s (IFTF) constitutional design process, which engaged futurists, comparativists, and writers to imagine a new version of the Constitution. IFTF was bringing together folks to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the ReConstitutional Convention and provide ideas that would serve as input for our December convening. Ultimately, the group devised a set of constitutional ideas for 2076 that was informed by projections provided by Democracy 2076. These will serve as a “menu of ideas” for the 70 organizers, constitutional law professors, comparativists, futurists, artists, and journalists who will be coming together in December.
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