"That is what a patriot is. Someone who loves the country enough to trade the myth for the question." - Ken Woodward

"That is what a patriot is. Someone who loves the country enough to trade the myth for the question." - Ken Woodward

We took a single question to two places: the garden of the Heurich House in Washington, DC, and a town-center street in Rockville. What are you asking, right now, about America at two hundred and fifty? We did not coach anyone. We asked, and we listened. What came back was not one mood. It was several, sitting side by side. A civility one immigrant was taught here and watched thin. A fear for the vote. An institution lost and a resolve to become one. The next two hundred and fifty years held in one hand and tonight's parking in the other. A whole country found again in a crowd at a pool.

Underneath all five runs one thread: the fear lives at a distance, and the hope lives within reach. Agency far away arrives as something done to us. Agency close enough to touch arrives as hope. The episode follows that thread back to the founding, to Frederick Douglass, and to what the word patriot is supposed to mean.

This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com.

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Episode Notes

00:00 Welcome to Curated Questions

02:23 America at 250 Setup

02:54 How We Asked People

03:18 Five Voices Ahead

03:27 Civility and Humanity Lost

04:52 Planning Changed Overnight

05:50 From Disappointment to Agency

06:23 Future of Democracy

06:40 Voting Rights Fears

07:19 Fighting Back Hope

07:34 Kindness and Parking

07:55 What We Accomplish Next

07:59 Hope in Small Crowds

08:28 Host Returns Reflections

09:15 The Thread of Agency

10:02 Fear Far Hope Near

11:06 A Country Is Old Agency

11:35 Heurich House Story

12:52 Founding Question Reaimed

13:41 Douglass and the Hard Ask

15:16 The Question America Avoids

15:35 Leaving It Open