Civic knowledge and know-how
This site is about teaching skills and ways to think about political life. It's about not just using your voice but making it effective. Here are some specific skills we come back to regularly:
- Finding your voice and mastering the art of effective advocacy
- Using your political power. Why does public pressure work?
- Reading the news with a critical eye and building your own reliable information diet
- Outfoxing misinformation and fake content on social media
- Connecting the dots between public policy and what happens in our lives and livelihoods
- How to assess candidates running for office: electability versus morals and identity.
- How specifically to reform major civic actors, including both political parties, the Supreme Court, and news media
- How to use AI as a civic good and democracy enhancer
- How to revive community and civic bonds
- Assessing America’s 250-year old values and constitutional principles
- Moving beyond the Trump show. Reimagining democracy for the next decade.
- Measuring success in the civic arena
I help you navigate the severe disruption in politics, media, and tech we’re all living through. And with one eye on the future.
Foundational principles
Here’s what drives me and this site:
- Winning, not venting. The craft of advocacy, i.e., getting what you want out of of politics.
- The ideological bent of By the People is mainstream, not extreme. The focus is on the mechanics. Much can be learned from both political parties and the various spectrums within parties.
- We value public service, not self-service. And back moral leadership that delivers what it promises.
About me
During my time in Washington, D.C., I served as a senior message and media strategist on 10 winning policy advocacy campaigns. All were national or state policy victories, resulting in new or protected laws in healthcare, marriage equality, and the U.S. military. On behalf of national nonprofits, my campaign work took me to extended stays in New York, New Hampshire, Maryland, and Iowa. I also worked for global public affairs firms and public health systems in Texas.
Now, in Houston, I run a solo firm on political and policy storytelling and teach a political science course at University of Houston.
Education:
- Master’s in American Government from Johns Hopkins University
- Higher education teaching certification from Harvard University
- B.A. in Latin American Studies from Tulane University