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PolicyLink

@policylink

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A research and action institute imagining, believing in, and making real a nation that works for all. #WeAreTheFounders

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What would it look like if we took the Fourteenth Amendment seriously as a basis for governing? Across five future states, we’re exploring what government could look like if it truly governed for all. Swipe to see all five.

This week: What would it look like if our institutions were designed to be accountable to the rule of law?

Equal protection depends on more than the rights written into law. It also depends on whether the institutions that exercise public power are accountable for how they use it.

In a nation that truly governs for all, no public power would be exercised without oversight, fidelity to the Constitution, or consequence for wrongdoing — regardless of a person’s wealth, power, or position.

That means building institutions that are fair in operation, consistent in application, and accountable to the people.

It means asking: Who is exercising power? Who is watching? And what happens when public power is used unlawfully or without accountability?

A government that truly governs for all must ensure that constitutional rights are protected wherever public power is exercised — not only after harm occurs, but through institutions designed to prevent abuse and hold power accountable.

Accountability to the rule of law would become more than a principle. It would become a standard for how public power is exercised.

#GoverningForAll #14thAmendment #WeAreTheFounders #14thAmendmentPeople by @policylink

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3 days ago

Why governing? @baratunde put the question to PolicyLink CEO Michael McAfee, whose answer comes from years of building programs that worked but could never reach everyone who needed them.

Charity isn’t enough. We need governing for all.

Hosted by Baratunde Thurston and featuring PolicyLink President @ashleigh.gardere and @michael.mcafee, “In the Making” explores how we can redesign the nation to serve all.

Watch Episode 4 now. Link in bio.

#WeAreTheFounders #GoverningForAll #InTheMaking by @policylink

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6 days ago

“We’ve never asked ourselves what would happen to a nation when the thing that it never loved becomes the majority.” — @michael.mcafee

Learn why America’s foundation was flawed from the start — and how we can build a new one that works for everybody — in episode 3 of “In the Making,” linked in bio.

Hosted by @baratunde Thurston and featuring PolicyLink President @ashleigh.gardere and CEO Michael McAfee, “In the Making” explores how we can redesign the nation to serve all.

#WeAreTheFounders #GoverningForAll #InTheMaking by @policylink

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12 days ago

In hindsight, progress can look inevitable. But Sherrilyn Ifill reminds us it certainly didn’t look that way to the people who lived through it.

“There was nothing in 1935 that would suggest that you could break the back of Jim Crow.”

Yet in 1935, a group of people who had only ever known Jim Crow America began the courageous task of dismantling it through what Ifill calls the power of their “democratic imagination.” In less than twenty years, their work culminated in the landmark ruling of Brown v. Board of Education.

Ifill challenges us to match that urgency.

“Your job is to beat that,” Ifill said. “Imagine the new democracy that we want and to beat that.”

Watch her Summit keynote on the people who fought to redefine freedom, citizenship, and equality, and what their legacy asks of us today. Link in bio.

#WeAreTheFounders #GoverningForAll #WeAreTheFounders2026 by @policylink

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19 days ago

Make no mistake: we join a long legacy of people who have been refounding the nation and pushing it toward its highest ideals.

“You have permission to refound your country,” Sherrilyn Ifill told us in her keynote at Summit. “It’s already happened.”

@sherrilynifill, a civil rights attorney and the founding director of the @the14thcenter for Law and Democracy at the @howardlawschool, gave us a crash course on the history of the Fourteenth Amendment and how generations of founders have harnessed it to transform American democracy, over and over again.

She argues we don’t just have permission to refound our country; we have an obligation to fix what’s broken.

Watch her full keynote at the link in our bio, and join us in this next chapter of refounding our nation again.

#WeAreTheFounders #GoverningForAll #WeAreTheFounders2026 by @policylink

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25 days ago

Still living in this moment…. @kendallramseur we did that Bro !!!

The Premiere of: A Nation Becoming The Democracy Concerto…. Commissioned by @policylink for the 2026 summit and to celebrate 250 years of American Democracy…. by @policylink

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a month ago

“There’s nothing more beautiful than watching groups of people who have decided, you know what, we can do this. And I’m not afraid anymore, ’cause we’re doing it together.” — @ashleigh.gardere

That feeling is still with us.

At Summit, we felt what happens when people come together not just to imagine what’s possible, but to believe we can actually build it together.

Hear more from Ashleigh, @michael.mcafee, and @baratunde Thurston on “In the Making,” our video series exploring how we actually build a nation that works for all. All episodes are out now — link in bio.

#WeAreTheFounders #GoverningForAll #InTheMaking by @policylink

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a month ago

Did you know the US Constitution has a clause that says states are supposed to LOSE seats in Congress if they suppress the right to vote? 14th Amendment, Section 2, go read it for yourself.

I learned that from the brilliant @sherrilynifill at the @policylink Summit 2026, where I had the immense honor of emceeing a week-long celebration dedicated to the refounding of our nation.

Here are a couple more things I took away from this incredible week that classrooms and social media conveniently leave out:
1. The TRUE origins of US Democracy didn’t start with a handful of wig-wearing dudes. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy has been practicing participatory democracy since well before Europeans arrived.
2. We had a nuanced conversation about AI that DIDN’T end in a screaming match. Not tech-bro hype or simplistic dismissal, but something deeper: a group of multiracial, multigenerational, mission-driven people figuring out how to use AI to SERVE others and not subjugate them.

When we look back at the founding of the US, decisions were made for us without considering all of us. But we can reframe that and ensure our democracy serves ALL, but just the wealthy well-connected few.

If this is your kind of movement, stick with me. You can find more of our work on democracy, tech, and power here and at lifewithmachines.media.

#Democracy #AI #SocialJustice #responsibleAI #politics by @policylink

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a month ago

Remember those hand-drawn illustrations dancing across the screen during the Democracy Concerto at our Summit closing ceremony?

They came from Dave Zaboski (@davezart ) — a masterful storyteller and visual artist. You’ve probably seen his work before, even if you didn’t know his name. Dave spent years as a Disney animator on films like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Aladdin.

While at Summit, Dave kept creating — capturing moments in paintings, sketches, and illustrated notes. We’re sharing some of that artwork here to keep that Summit spark alive.

#WeAreTheFounders #GoverningForAll #PolicyLinkSummit #WeAreTheFounders2026 by @policylink

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a month ago

My Bro, my paatnaa, my friend @kendallramseur I’m still amazed at what we were able to create through hard work, a shared vision of bringing sound and resonance to the democracy we are building as founders, true fellowship, incredible partners in @policylink and incredible ramen for lunch….. this is only the beginning, onward and upward broski…. 🎹 & 🎻
“A Nation Becoming The Democracy Concerto “ by @policylink

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a month ago

We may not know yet what will emerge from this moment. But we know that history is not something that simply happens to us.

It is something we make together, through what we imagine, what we believe in, what we make real, and how we care for one another along the way.

The next chapter is waiting to be written. Let’s make it ours.

Credit: @hello.eido by @policylink

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a month ago

Make real the people
Many shades of ink and skin
We, the true founders

Kai Diata Giovanni @kaidgpoet
2025 NYC Youth Poet Laureate

Now the work begins to make real the future we know is possible.

#WeAreTheFounders #WeAreTheFounders2026 #GoverningForAll by @policylink

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a month ago