Goodbye Politicians. Hello Democracy.
Film Premiere and Director Q&A!
Four convenient screenings for worldwide showing!
What if we replaced politicians with ordinary people — chosen not in elections, but in lotteries?
In 2020, as COVID and a bitter election push Michigan toward a breaking point, 30 strangers from across the state are called on to try to do what politicians couldn’t: agree on a path forward.
Goodbye Politicians. Hello Democracy. shows what happens when these regular people wrestle with our deep differences and difficult decisions — offering a rare glimpse of what democracy might actually look like.
This showing is targeted for restorative practitioners, to inspire and demonstrate the expansion of restorative practices from the micro to the macro, using a series of “circles” to facilitate large group decision making.
The screenings are promoted across different international channels (thanks to the networks of the IIRP Graduate School, the European Forum for Restorative Justice, the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice, and LCCS (Singapore).
Following the showing, which runs 1 hour and 15 minutes, practitioners from around the world will be invited to participate or stay and listen to a discussion and Q&A with the filmmaker, Adam Cronkright.
Click below to register for one of the following screenings:
- Register for July 11 @ 12 noon (UTC -4, Saturday in US)
- Register for July 11 @ 8 pm (UTC -4, Saturday in US)
- Register for July 22 @ 12 noon (UTC -4, Wednesday in US)
- Register for July 22 @ 8 pm (UTC -4, Wednesday in US)
Past Events
June 25, 2025
Systemic Use of Citizens Assemblies: Probability or Pipe Dream
In the third and final installment of the True Representation series, academic Marjan Ehsassi discussed the importance of reforming democratic process through systems’ change and impactful citizens’ assemblies, while filmmaker Patrick Chalmers considered the limits of Citizens Assemblies and examined our commitment to confronting threatening political realities.
May 14, 2025
Political depolarization: Preventing Family Feuds
In part 2 of BANR’s Spring 2025 webinar series, we focused on depolarization efforts by Heather Blakeslee of Philadelphia and Lee Rush of southeastern Pennsylvania. Each have organized Braver Angels “debates” to bring together red and blue leaning representatives for healthy dialog. Heather’s father Jerry Blakeslee and Lee’s brother Brooke Rush also shared their perspectives.
April 1, 2025
Lottocracy vs House of Citizens: Contradictory or Compatible
In the first webinar in our Spring 2025 True Representation Series, BANR Founder Ted Wachtel was joined Alex Guerrero, author of Lottocracy: Democracy Without Elections (2024), and Sortition Foundation founder Brett Hennig, author of No More Politicians: Time for a Real Democracy (2017).
December 4, 2024
Beyond the Schoolhouse
In the 4th and final installment in our Expanding Restorative Webinar series, we focused on a unique non-compulsory, student- and family-centered learning model, North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens, featuring guests Ken Danford, Director, and Ellen Morbyrne, Core Staff, alum and parent.
November 6, 2024
True Representation
In the 3rd installment of the Expanding Restorative Webinar series, we focused on innovations in governance. Guests included researcher Ieva Cesnulaityte, Healthy Democracy Program Director Linn Davis, and Phil Lindsay of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College.
October 16, 2024
Restorative Communities
During installment 2 of the Expanding Restorative Webinar series we explored how synergy can build across sectors to create Restorative Communities. Guests included author Kerra Bolton and Gloucestershire, UK, researchers Inger Brit Lowater and Benjamin Fisk.
September 25, 2024
Expanding Restorative
For the kickoff of our Fall 2024 Expanding Restorative Webinar series, Ted Wachtel shared his vision for taking restorative to scale and invited guests Terry O’Connell, a restorative practices pioneer, and IIRP President Linda Kligman to reflect and share work in their own areas, including workplaces and policing.
August 14, 2024
Deliberative Democracy
Chris Forman is a scientist, author and fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. In this presentation, he concisely explained “What Is Deliberative Democracy?”, shared some of his work with Braver Angels, and answered audience questions.
October 10, 2023
From Micro to Macro: Taking Restorative Practices to Scale in Governance and Enterprise
This webinar looked at developments in Europe in the areas of deliberative democracy and large-group decision making. Guests included Brett Hennig, founder of the Sortition Foundation, and Anke Siegers and Gert Jan Slump who have pioneered the use of Community Processing to resolve large-scale disputes in the Netherlands.
