In 2017, I pitched the idea of little testimonial videos of "what democracy means to me" at an early RDI board meeting. We had no operations and no budget, so hoping for virality seemed good. Now it's actually happened, and going viral, and it's awesome.
https://twitter.com/morgfair/status/1352766409726513152
I still have the meeting notes, since I never delete anything. We thought it would be good to have people like Garry who lived (or were still living) under authoritarian regimes do it first, a "don't take democracy for granted" message. But it risked sounding preachy.
Now, when RDI actually has operations and a (small!) budget, it was the best of all worlds by having another "immigrant patriot" like Alexander Vindman lead the project. So many different videos coming in, from famous and regular folks, really great. #RenewDemocracy.
Plus, nobody would have asked @Kasparov63 about his skincare regime, as they're doing with @morgfair, so there's also that! Gotta reach people however you can!
Btw, I put "immigrant patriot" in quotes because it was what a US Army general called Kasparov when we were invited to lecture on the threat of Putin's Russia at an Army base. The general talked about his own immigrant parents' love of America and it was super touching.
Big applause to Vindman, RDI director @UrielEpshtein, @DanielMillerEsq, the video crew, and all the RDI interns locked in the salt mines for making #RenewDemocracy a real thing.
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