Join Open Democracy & League of Women Voters NH on Jan 14th at 6PM EST online for a workshop on how to testify on legislation at the NH State House.

Learn the basics of how a bill becomes a law, at what point in the process you can make your voice heard, and how to do so through effective storytelling and testimony both through email and in-person. Legislators need to hear from their constituents.

Join us to learn how to have your voice heard.

Please join us for the 2025 Granny D Birthday Celebration at Mason Library, Keene State College on January 24, 2025 at 1pm.

Note that there will be limited space available for in-person, you may also RSVP for the Zoom option HERE.

We will gather to celebrate the birthdate of our legendary founder Doris "Granny D" Haddock.  On January 1st, 1999, at the age of 89, Granny D embarked on her walk from Pasadena, CA to advocate for campaign finance reform.  Granny D walked over 1,000 miles through the desert, climbed the Appalachian mountains through blizzards, and skied over 100 miles after a historic snowstorm covered the roads. Finally, after 14 months and 3,200 miles, Haddock made it to Washington, DC, where over 2,000 supporters and several dozen members of congress waited. It took another two years for the McCain/Feingold bill to pass, during which time Doris was arrested twice during demonstrations.   We continue to honor her with annual walks in the Monadnock and Seacoast regions.

We'll be joined by this impressive list of speakers:

• Keene Mayor Jay Kahn
• Jenna Carroll, Exec. Director, Historical Society of Cheshire County
• Rep. Dr. Nicholas Germana
• Peggy Walsh, former educator
• Katie Temmallo, student
• Charlie Savage, student
• Bob Perry, "Rosie" restorer
• Dennis Burke, author, biographer
• Sarah Mausner, musician

The Granny D Archives will be on display and will be staffed by students from the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society.

Light refreshments including cake and coffee will be served.

Please join Open Democracy Book Club on Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 7pm Eastern for a discussion of Tyranny of the Minority.  Author Steven Levitsky will be joining us for the first half hour for discussion and Q&A.

America is undergoing a massive experiment: It is moving, in fits and starts, toward a multiracial democracy, something few societies have ever done. But the prospect of change has sparked an authoritarian backlash that threatens the very foundations of our political system. Why is democracy under assault here, and not in other wealthy, diversifying nations? And what can we do to save it?

With the clarity and brilliance that made their first book, How Democracies Die, a global bestseller, Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt offer a coherent framework for understanding these volatile times. They draw on a wealth of examples—from 1930s France to present-day Thailand—to explain why and how political parties turn against democracy. They then show how our Constitution makes us uniquely vulnerable to attacks from within: It is a pernicious enabler of minority rule, allowing partisan minorities to consistently thwart and even rule over popular majorities. Most modern democracies—from Germany and Sweden to Argentina and New Zealand—have eliminated outdated institutions like elite upper chambers, indirect elections, and lifetime tenure for judges. The United States lags dangerously behind.

In this revelatory book, Levitsky and Ziblatt issue an urgent call to reform our politics. It’s a daunting task, but we have remade our country before—most notably, after the Civil War and during the Progressive Era. And now we are at a crossroads: America will either become a multiracial democracy or cease to be a democracy at all.

Purchasing information

Available at your local book store (Softcover 20.00): 

Gibson's Bookstore, 45 South Main St., Concord, NH 03301  603-224-0562

Main Street BookEnds of Warner, 16 East Main St., Warner, NH 03278 (603) 456-2700

Toadstool Bookstores, 12 Depot St., Peterborough, NH 03458   (603) 924-3543