We're Gonna Need Some Builders — Live in London with Jon Alexander

We're Gonna Need Some Builders — Live in London with Jon Alexander

Author: iHeartPodcasts June 12, 2026 Duration: 1:09:53

Recorded live at The Conduit in London in September 2024, Baratunde and Elizabeth Stewart sit down with their friend and longtime collaborator Jon Alexander, author of CITIZENS and co-host of the podcast How To Save Democracy, for a conversation about citizen as a verb: the radical, hopeful idea that democracy isn't something we have, it's something we do.

They get into the story we inherited about independence, the older and truer story about interdependence, the four pillars of citizening, and why a moment when so much feels like it's collapsing is exactly the moment to start building.

The timing is no accident. On Saturday, June 13, 2026 Jon takes the TED Democracy stage in Philadelphia at the birthplace of American independence, during America's 250th, to make the case for interdependence. A British man crossing the Atlantic to tell us the move is getting back together.

Keep practicing democracy. The verb, not the noun.

CHAPTERS

00:00:00 "We're gonna need some builders" (cold open)
00:02:11 Welcome to How To Save Democracy
00:02:45 How this London night came together
00:03:40 Citizen as a verb, and the shift from head to heart
00:05:40 Latent love: citizen, not consumer
00:07:25 Story as the most powerful technology we have
00:09:45 Consumer democracy and the only restaurant in town
00:10:59 Why the vote still matters
00:12:06 Head, heart, and gut
00:16:24 Co-authors of this world: nature, each other, machines
00:20:29 The four pillars, one at a time
00:21:00 Pillar 1 - Invest in relationships (including with yourself)
00:29:45 Pillar 2 - Understand power (and your attention)
00:33:35 Pillar 3 - Commit to the collective (Bahrain and Broadband Bruce)
00:44:10 Pillar 4 - Show up and participate
00:44:25 Questions from the room
00:46:42 Belonging, authoritarianism, and the case for builders
00:49:38 Burnout, rupture, and repair
00:52:35 Doomsday Preppers: two ways to survive
00:54:10 How might we live together, period
00:56:35 Citizens, not just consumers

LINKS

How To Save Democracy with Omezzine Khelifa & Jon Alexander: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-save-democracy/id1823945285

American Indigenous Democracy: A Call for Interdependence — the book from Haudenosaunee elders and wisdom keepers: https://americanindigenousdemocracy.com

Jon Alexander / CITIZENS: https://jonalexander.net

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.


Finding your place in a world that often feels broken can be disorienting. How To Citizen with Baratunde, from iHeartPodcasts, tackles that confusion head-on by treating "citizen" not as a static label but as a series of actions we can all learn. This podcast moves beyond the headlines and the outrage to explore the tangible, often surprising ways we can participate in shaping our communities and systems. Each episode is a deep dive into the mechanics of collective power, featuring conversations that span society, culture, technology, and news. You'll hear from people who are actively redefining what it means to belong and contribute, offering practical insights that replace helplessness with agency. The discussions remind us that while voting is crucial, a functioning democracy requires much more from all of us. This isn't about abstract theory; it's about the real-world application of citizenship. Tune in for a thought-provoking and actionable guide to wielding your influence, discovering how to move from being overwhelmed to being effectively engaged. The entire premise of this podcast is built on the idea that we can learn to citizen better, together.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

How To Citizen with Baratunde
Podcast Episodes
DAO-mocracy (Alex Zhang) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:25:00
Imagine if the members of your group chat shared more than memes but also shared a bank account, or if the early users of a social media app helped decide how that app grew, made money, and moderated content. How does th…
Democracy without Politicians (Claudia Chwalisz) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:30
Instead of electing politicians to represent us…what if we just represented ourselves? Peer to peer. Neighbor to neighbor. Baratunde talks with Claudia Chwalisz about citizens’ assemblies—groups randomly-selected by lott…
Love is a Renewable Resource (Nsé Ufot) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:25
We all know that voting alone won’t save democracy. But it does help…a lot. No one understands that better than voting rights organizer Nsé Ufot. She’s the former CEO of the New Georgia Project, where she leveraged techn…
Democracy, Fractals, and Sci-fi (adrienne maree brown) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:29:25
Saving our democracy isn’t just about registering people to vote, ending gerrymandering, and so on. It’s about getting back to the basics of living together well through micro, everyday moments. To kick off season four o…
Crafting a Citizen Story (Jon Alexander) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:37
The stories we’re told & tell about ourselves shape the ways we act and how we citizen. And the story we’ve been living in for decades now is one of consumerism and self-interest. Baratunde talks with reformed ad-man and…
Season 4: Creating a Culture of Democracy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:45
The podcast for people tired of tuning into bad news is back with a fourth season and brand new ways to interpret the word “citizen” as a verb! This season we’re asking, how can the practice of “citizening,” in ways big…
BONUS: Homelessness Is Solvable (with Aras Jizan) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15:25
In this bonus episode, Baratunde learns how data, well-defined goals, and a sense of collective ownership are helping those at the front lines of America’s housing crisis work to solve, not manage, homelessness. His part…
Those We’ve Left Behind (with Shaka Senghor & Teresa Hodge) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:48
Baratunde asks how can we citizen with tech when we disconnect millions from technology and from society as a whole by incarcerating them? He closes the season in conversation with two people who’ve served time for felon…
Blockchain Chickens and Empathetic Tech Workers (with Xiaowei Wang) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:01
Baratunde is reminded that “tech companies” are really just people and asks what it would mean for tech employees to think critically about their work and its impact and use that power to remake the industry from the gro…
When The Data Is Us (with Krystal Tsosie) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:48
Baratunde continues his journey to discover how we can embed more justice into the data driving our increasingly automated lives and focuses on the most intimate data there is: our DNA. He talks with Krystal Tsosie, an i…