Designing a Democracy for the Next 250 Years

America’s experiment in democracy was designed and launched 250 years ago—and it hasn’t stopped evolving since. As our nation approaches its 250th anniversary, we reframe America’s semiquincentennial not as a momentary celebration, but as a democratic handoff with a commitment to the future.

Can the age-old promise of American democracy be refined, improved, nurtured, and preserved? With a panel of key thought leaders, we explore what the next era of democracy in America will demand, including ethical and corruption-free leadership, responsive institutions, stable and solid democratic norms, civic education, and redesigned systems and processes that better serve the public.

Centering Ohio and Columbus as testing grounds, we ask how American communities can move from reflection to renewal—and what responsibility today’s leaders and citizens have to future generations of Americans.

Featuring Robert Alt, President and CEO, The Buckeye Institute; Rita McNeil Danish, Interim CEO, The Matriots; Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Endowed Associate Professor of History, The Ohio State University, with moderator Lee Strang, Inaugural Executive Director, Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society, and Professor of Law, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University.

If you would like to dive more deeply into this topic, our friends at the Columbus Metropolitan Library suggest checking out On Mindful Democracy: a Declaration of Interdependence to Mend a Fractured World, by Jeremy Engels, 2026.
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