Nobody in this room is allowed to grab the mic and rant. Ambassador Allan Katz spent his career in diplomacy and city government before building American Public Square, a Kansas City nonprofit that gets people on opposite sides of gun violence, immigration, and abortion into the same room to actually listen, with real-time fact-checkers on standby and a civility bell for when things go sideways. We talk about the fight for a coal plant in Tallahassee that started it all, the moment he realized strangers were desperate for this, and the question underneath everything he does: what if changing someone's mind was never the goal?

Please visit congressionalcommunities.org to learn more about your community.

Learn more about American Public Square at americanpublicsquare.org.

Hosts:
Dan Carracino
Alex Clark

Executive Producer:
Alex Clark

Music:
Aditya Shrestha

Animation:
Seventy Seven Lab

What actually pulls someone out of an extremist mindset, and what pulls them in? Alex Clark and Dan Carracino sit down with Heather Rosso, a PhD candidate in Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, whose research spans lone actor violence, polarization, and disinformation. Heather explains why polarization isn't really about two sides clashing, but about people drifting so far apart they lose the ability to meet in the middle, and why the antidote, again and again, comes down to one person reaching out. She connects the dots between extremist recruitment, cults, intimate partner violence, and even online scams, and argues that the algorithms shaping our feeds function a lot like cults.

Please visit congressionalcommunities.org to learn more about your community.

Hosts: Dan Carracino, Alex Clark

Executive Producer: Alex Clark

Music: Aditya Shrestha

Animation: Seventy Seven Lab

Why does the U.S. House of Representatives still have 435 members, even though the country has tripled in size since that number was set? Alex Clark and Dan Carracino sit down with Dr. Christopher Malone, Deputy Executive Director of Policy and Education Innovation at the Consortium for Worker Education, to unpack his recent Newsday op-ed arguing that the House of Representatives should grow from 435 members to 1,100.

Chris walks through the forgotten history of proportional representation in Congress, how we could get back to it, and what it would actually mean for your day-to-day life. Along the way: what even counts as a "community," and why Chris thinks engagement, not perfect representation, is the real goal.

Please visit congressionalcommunities.org to learn more about your community.

Hosts: Dan Carracino, Alex Clark
Executive Producer: Alex Clark
Music: Aditya Shrestha
Animation: Seventy Seven Lab