CITIZENARTS’s Founder Jim Gabbe provides a brief overview of the series – from the cautious, but nearly unanimous and obvious optimism of a swath of Americans in the runup to the 2016 elections to the growing skepticism and cynicism of today. Restlessness that, in the great American tradition, has the potential to lead to major change.

A More – or less – Perfect Union… what matters most to Americans as elections approach is available wherever you get your podcasts and at https://www.citizenartscreative.org/unionpodcast

A condensed audio version of the documentary that came out of our nationwide exploration just prior to the 2016 elections in which we sought answers to a most distressing question: were Americans as angrily and hopelessly divided as was being reported by the media?

At its heart are the voices of over 200 citizens we interviewed - left and right, young and old, rural and urban; black, brown yellow, white; straight, LGBTQIA, blue collar, middle class -- and the upper echelons of politics and business. This film has been shown in educational forums at colleges, high schools and elsewhere throughout the U.S. and internationally and gives its title to this podcast: A More – or less – Perfect Union.

Did those voices answer our question? They sure did – but NOT as the media would have it. With near unanimity and optimism, they spoke of an America that could take on and solve its challenges.

A More - or less - Perfect Union… what matters most to Americans as elections approach is available wherever you get your podcasts. Please download, like and subscribe!

Interested in seeing what you hear? View a condensed version of the documentary A More – or less – Perfect Union  at www.citizenartscreative.org/unionpodcast

EPISODE NOTES

A More - or less - Perfect Union… what matters most to Americans as elections approach, is a production of CITIZENARTS www.citizenartscreative.org.

This episode, Voices Not Heard in the Media Before the 2016 Election, is a presentation of a gabbegroup Productions documentary. All rights reserved.

Much more about this podcast, including names of the participants, can be found at www.citizenartscreative.org/unionpodcast

Here are two articles from the Huffington Post written in 2016 by CITIZENARTS founder Jim Gabbe when the original documentary film was created:

“Get Off the Voter Fence with a Presidential Picker Strategy”: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/get-off-the-voter-fence-with-a-presidential-picker_b_5811599fe4b09b190529c067

“Ms. Clinton and Mr. Trump, We the People Have a Few Demands”: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ms-clinton-and-mr-trump-we-the-people-have-a-few_b_57a21a98e4b0c863d3fff701

For more about CITIZENARTS’ other productions, MARCH, an audio drama podcast set in Berlin, 1921, and our podcast Liberty vs. Tyranny: Czech Views on Ukraine, Freedom and Democracy Shaped by Strife with Russia, please visit https://tinyurl.com/CApodcasts 

Music credit: Frederic Chopin, Waltz in Bm. Music by Nesrality from Pixabay

We'd love your feedback. You can get in touch with us by emailing jeff.lewis@citizenartscreative.org, and please subscribe, rate and review!

In this episode, a cross section of the 200 or so Americans who spoke out in Episode One appear in a nationwide, online forum, discussing and debating the past six years of escalating political, social and cultural turmoil in the US.

They bring focus, passion and engagement to hot-button issues in ways reminiscent of the 1960s. Women’s rights, race, economic equity, educational fairness…as well as climate change and gun safety – and overall concerns about the nation’s political, judicial and even religious institutions. And, of course, the deep ramifications of COVID – including science skepticism.

We conclude Episode Two by giving our forum participants magic powers. With the snap of their fingers they become politicians who can run for and win any elected office on Tuesday, November 8. They reveal what office they’d like to hold and their top priority as a public servant.

Overall, their voices underscore how quickly a nation can change in our high-tempo, cloud-powered world. How Americans better have clear ideas about what voting can mean in the coming weeks and years. Or even, simply, that they’d better vote.

The second half of our nationwide forum is presented in Episode Three of A More - or less - Perfect Union: What matters most to Americans as elections approach. Our focus shifts from the home front to America’s role in the world.

A More - or less - Perfect Union… what matters most to Americans as elections approach is available wherever you get your podcasts. Please download, like and subscribe!

EPISODE NOTES

A More - or less - Perfect Union… what matters most to Americans as elections approach, is a production of CITIZENARTS www.citizenartscreative.org.

This episode, A Call to Turn America’s Noble Ideals into Realities for All its Citizens, is a CITIZENARTS podcast presentation. All rights reserved.

Much more about this podcast, including names of the participants, can be found at www.citizenartscreative.org/unionpodcast

For more about CITIZENARTS’ other productions, MARCH, an audio drama podcast set in Berlin, 1921, and our podcast Liberty vs. Tyranny: Czech Views on Ukraine, Freedom and Democracy Shaped by Strife with Russia, please visit https://tinyurl.com/CApodcasts

Music credit: Frederic Chopin, Waltz in Bm. Music by Nesrality from Pixabay

We'd love your feedback. You can get in touch with us by emailing jeff.lewis@citizenartscreative.org, and please subscribe, rate and review!