There are moments in the life of a republic when reform is not enough.
What such moments require is not reform, but re-formation.

Americans have spent a generation trying to fix our democracy by fixing our politics. That is precisely why it isn’t working.

The difficulties now visible in American public life are not primarily a political problem. They are a civic one. The associations, organizations, and shared practices through which citizens once developed the skills and dispositions that democratic life requires have eroded in ways no election or legislation can repair. Civic Re-Formation exists for the people building what civic life currently lacks and sustaining what it stands to lose, and for the funders, leaders, and stewards who support them.

Twice a month, Civic Re-Formation publishes a newsletter on civic life and what re-formation looks like in practice. If that is the work you are doing, or trying to understand, subscribe below.