We discuss the influence of Karl Marx in American politics and the continued relevance of Marxism today.

Andrew’s civic action toolkit recommendations are: 

1. Form a reading group to change your collective political consciousness

2. Read something challenging at an intellectual, political, or philosophical level

Andrew Hartman is professor of history at Illinois State University and the author of several books, including A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars. His upcoming book is Karl Marx in America.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark 

Follow Mila on X: 

https://x.com/milaatmos 

Follow Andrew on X: 

https://x.com/HartmanAndrew 

Sponsor: 

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight 

Credits: 

Host: Mila Atmos 

Guests: Andrew Hartman

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss that Americans should prize truth over tribe. A lot of disinformation is hiding behind the First Amendment – using the right to free speech to tell lies. The muddy media and information ecosystem is turning us against our neighbors.

Barb’s civic action toolkit recommendations are: 

1. Meet people in real life because when we know them it’s harder to vilify them 

2. Get accurate election-related information from your secretary of state’s office

Barbara McQuade is a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, co-host of the podcast #SistersinLaw, and a professor at the University of Michigan Law School. Her first book is Attack From Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America. We discuss the dangers of disinformation and how we can defeat it.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark 

Follow Mila on X: 

https://x.com/milaatmos 

Follow Barbara on X: 

https://x.com/barbmcquade 

Read Attack from Within: 

https://bookshop.org/p/books/attack-from-within-how-disinformation-is-sabotaging-democracy-and-the-rule-of-law-barbara-mcquade/20068804?aid=11259&ean=9781644213636&listref=books-we-re-reading-in-2024 

Sponsor: 

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight 

Credits: 

Host: Mila Atmos 

Guests: Barbara McQuade

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss how the public interest movements in the 60s and 70s can be a source of inspiration for American democracy and why this movement was a formidable force in influencing public policy that benefits all of us, from traffic safety to the Clean Water Act. 

Paul’s civic action toolkit recommendations are: 

1. Focus on state and local government

2. Make liberal cities and states compelling models for good governance to be replicated across the nation 

Paul Sabin is the Randolph W. Townsend, Jr. Professor of History and Professor of American Studies at Yale University and previously served as the founding executive director of the non-profit Environmental Leadership Program. Paul is the author of Public Citizens: The Attack on Big Government and the Remaking of American Liberalism.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark 

Follow Mila on X: 

https://x.com/milaatmos 

Follow Paul on X: 

https://x.com/paulesabin 

Sponsor: 

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight 

Credits: 

Host: Mila Atmos 

Guests: Paul Sabin

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss what we can all do to say "no" to Project 2025, including getting Democrats to play hardball in local, city, and state offices, and to protect and win elections this year and in the midterms next year.

Ezra’s civic action toolkit recommendations are: 

1. Organize in your community with like-minded Americans 

2. Use your constituent power to influence the political calculus of your elected representative

Ezra Levin is the Co-Executive Director of Indivisible, which he co-founded with Leah Greenberg in the wake of the 2016 presidential election. He’s also the co-author of We Are Indivisible: A Blueprint for Democracy After Trump.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark 

Follow Mila on BlueSky: 

https://bsky.app/profile/milaatmos.bsky.social 

Follow Ezra on BlueSky: 

https://bsky.app/profile/ezralevin.bsky.social 

Check out Indivisible:

https://indivisible.org/ 

Sponsor: 

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight 

Credits: 

Host: Mila Atmos 

Guests: Ezra Levin

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss many of our rights that are at risk under the new Trump administration, what our rights actually are–like due process and the 1st amendment, and an action plan for when they come under attack. 

Monica’s civic action toolkit recommendations are: 

1. Know what your rights are and speak up.

2. Talk to your friends and family about DC statehood

Monica Hopkins is the Executive Director of the ACLU of the District of Columbia (ACLU-DC).

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark 

Follow Mila on X: 

https://x.com/milaatmos 

Follow the ACLU D.C. on X: 

https://x.com/ACLU_DC 

Sponsor: 

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight 

Credits: 

Host: Mila Atmos 

Guests: Monica Hopkins

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss the long history of organizing as a tool for fortifying American democracy, making it more equitable and just. Americans live from the benefits of organizing every day, whether that’s women’s suffrage or disability rights.  Organizing is the tool for everyday people who are not in positions of power to solve the problems their communities are facing. 

Elyssa’s civic action toolkit recommendations are: 

1. Get clarity on what you’re good at and what brings you joy.

2. Organize for the long haul.

Elyssa Feder is the co-founder and executive director of Rising Organizers, which has trained nearly 4,000 activists and held fourteen intensive fellowship cohorts on community organizing skills. 

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark 

Follow Mila on X: 

https://x.com/milaatmos 

Follow Elyssa on X: 

https://x.com/elyssafeder 

Check out Rising Organizers:

https://www.risingorganizers.org/ 

Sponsor: 

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight 

Credits: 

Host: Mila Atmos 

Guests: Elyssa Feder

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss the role of political parties in representing your interests and turning those interests into public policies that meaningfully make a difference in your life. Since the 1980s, both major political parties have adopted neoliberal policies, marked by declining responsiveness to major policy areas, and instead prioritizing pro-market and anti-state policies for economic growth and reliance on the private sector. 

Didi’s civic action toolkit recommendations are: 

1. Get engaged on the local level so you can be part of the solution.

2. Support the party builders!

Didi Kuo is a Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University and the author of The Great Retreat: How Political Parties Should Behave and Why They Don’t.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark 

Follow Mila on X: 

https://x.com/milaatmos 

Follow Didi on X: 

https://x.com/didikuo1 

Read The Great Retreat:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-great-retreat-how-political-parties-should-behave-and-why-they-don-t-didi-kuo/21705105?aid=11259&ean=9780197664193&listref=books-we-re-reading-in-2025&new-list-page=true 

Sponsor: 

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight 

Credits: 

Host: Mila Atmos 

Guests: Didi Kuo

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss why now is the time for a third political party to really take center stage in American democracy.

Maurice’s civic action toolkit recommendations are: 

1. Organize! Join an organization.

2. Create conditions where people can govern and decide the direction of their country and their democracy

Maurice Mitchell is the National Director of the Working Families Party. He's a nationally recognized social movement strategist, a visionary leader in the Movement for Black Lives, and a community organizer for racial, social, and economic justice.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark 

Follow Mila on X: 

https://x.com/milaatmos 

Follow Maurice on X: 

https://x.com/MauriceWFP 

Check out the Working Families Party:

https://workingfamilies.org/ 

Sponsor: 

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight 

Credits: 

Host: Mila Atmos 

Guests: Maurice Mitchell

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We’re sharing an episode from our friends at Latino USA! In this episode, producer Reynaldo Leaños Jr. travels to southern Arizona where one of the first major concentrations of surveillance towers on the southern border were built, and he looks at what these towers mean today, and for the future of those crossing, and living, there.

The “virtual wall” across the U.S.-Mexico border is made up of things like drones, sensors, cameras and… surveillance towers. Both Democrats and Republicans have supported border technology through the years, but advocates and researchers argue that a virtual wall can be as controversial, and deadly, as a physical wall.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark 

Follow Mila on X: 

https://x.com/milaatmos 

Listen to Latino USA: 

https://www.latinousa.org/ 

Sponsors: 

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Thanks to SelectQuote for supporting Future Hindsight! Go to SelectQuote.com/hopeful now!

Need a gift idea? Head over to Masterclass.com/HOPEFUL for the current offer. Thanks to MasterClass for supporting Future Hindsight!

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight 

Credits: 

Featuring: Latino USA Podcast

Host: Mila Atmos

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss how ungoverning is the equivalent of a bull in a china shop. Many institutions will be destroyed, but we don't know which ones and to what extent!

Nancy’s civic action toolkit recommendations are: 

1. Don’t let unpredictability strip you of your agency

2. Vote in local, county, and state elections

Nancy Rosenblum is the Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government Emerita at Harvard University, and the co-author of Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark 

Follow Mila on X: 

https://x.com/milaatmos 

Follow Nancy on X: 

https://x.com/Nlrosenblum 

Listen to our previous episode with Nancy: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/episode/the-new-conspiracism-nancy-rosenblum

Sponsor: 

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Thanks to SelectQuote for supporting Future Hindsight! Go to SelectQuote.com/hopeful now!

Need a gift idea? Head over to Masterclass.com/HOPEFUL for the current offer. Thanks to MasterClass for supporting Future Hindsight!

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight 

Credits: 

Host: Mila Atmos 

Guests: Nancy Rosenblum

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

We discuss election integrity and voting machines, the amazing work of election workers, and the logistics of election audits.

Ben’s civic action toolkit recommendations are: 

1. Talk to your town or county clerk and offer to help.

2. Be a poll worker for a day!

Ben Adida is the Executive Director of Voting Works, the only non-profit voting system vendor in the U.S. Their mission is to make election technology everyone can trust through transparency, simplicity, and demonstrable security.

Let’s connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark: 

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark 

Follow Mila on X: 

https://x.com/milaatmos 

Follow Ben on X: 

https://x.com/benadida 

Sponsor: 

Thanks to SelectQuote for supporting Future Hindsight! Go to SelectQuote.com/hopeful now!

Need a gift idea? Head over to Masterclass.com/HOPEFUL for the current offer. Thanks to MasterClass for supporting Future Hindsight!

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight 

Credits: 

Host: Mila Atmos 

Guests: Ben Adida

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis