Yo, I'm Baratunde and I want to tell you a crazy story from my childhood.

When I was nine years old, my mother gave me a special assignment.

She said it was up to me to come up with a system we would live under after democracy

and maybe capitalism had failed.

I repeat, I was nine years old and I know that's a wild assignment.

One apparently I failed at because all the headlines 33 years later are talking about

democracies in crisis, democracies at a tipping point.

And I agree, but which way our democracy tips, that's up to us.

And that is the spirit of my new show, How to Citizen with Baratunde.

By the way, I'm the Baratunde in that title, there's no other Baratunde days.

It's a one Baratunde show, but it's not an only Baratunde show.

Because in this show, I'm going to introduce you to people who are tapping into that collective

power we are all a part of, organizing communities to make a difference and change outcomes in

areas as diverse as public safety, worker rights, voter turnout, even our food systems.

Did you know that we can keep ourselves safe without giving all of our money to the police

department?

Did you know that we can build an economy that works without giving all of our money

to Jeff Bezos?

I know, it's wild.

This show is going to involve you in that project because it'd be very authoritarian for me

to make a show called How to Citizen where I just talk down at you instead I'm inviting

you in.

...