Myth #1: Noncitizens Are Registering to Vote in Huge Numbers

This one refuses to die. In 2024, claims spread widely that over a million Texans had registered to vote without a photo ID, implying a massive wave of noncitizen registrations. Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson shot that down directly, clarifying that the voter roll had grown by just 57,711 people since the start of 2024. That’s fewer than in comparable periods in 2022 or 2020. 

Even the Heritage Foundation’s own voter fraud database (not exactly a source sympathetic to downplaying election concerns) documented only three confirmed cases of noncitizen voting in Texas since 2012. Three. In over a decade.

Myth #2: My Party Never Wins in My District, So There’s No Point in Voting in the Primaries 

This might be the most quietly damaging myth of all.

A primary isn’t your party versus the other party. It’s your party choosing its candidate. When one party dominates a district so thoroughly that the general election is essentially predetermined, the primary is the real election.

And even if you’re in the minority party in your district, the primary still matters. Primary voters shape the quality and character of their party’s representation, which affects recruitment, fundraising, and long-term party-building in ways that go beyond any single race.

The primary ballot is also about far more than the top of the ticket. County judges, school board members, sheriffs, district attorneys — these down-ballot races affect your daily life in concrete ways, and they’re decided in primaries with razor-thin margins. Sitting out because your party can’t win the congressional seat means abandoning every one of those races, too.

Myth #3: I Can’t Vote in the Texas Primaries Because I’m Not Registered With a Political Party 

Texas has open primaries. You don’t have to register with a party ahead of time. On Election Day, you simply choose which party’s primary you want to vote in — and you can only vote in one.

That’s it.

You don’t have to be a party insider. You don’t have to donate money. You don’t have to attend rallies.

Primaries aren’t just for the loudest voices. They’re for everyday Texans who want a say in which direction their party — and their district — goes.

Myth #4: If You Have a Felony, You Can Never Vote Again

Many Texans with past convictions believe they’ve permanently lost their right to vote. That’s simply not true. In Texas, individuals with felony convictions can have their voting rights restored once they have fully completed their sentence — including any parole or probation.

This misconception keeps a significant number of eligible voters away from the polls. If you’ve served your time and are no longer under supervision, check your status and re-register. Your vote counts.

Myth #5: College Students Must Vote Where Their Parents Live

This myth trips up tens of thousands of Texas college students every election. The reality? You have a choice. Texas law allows students to register and vote using either their home address or their campus address. You do not have to return to your hometown or request an absentee ballot just because you moved away for school.

If you’re living in Austin, Lubbock, or Denton for college, you can register right there and vote on local issues that directly affect your daily life, like city council decisions, transit, and campus-adjacent policies.

Myth #6: Only Presidential Elections Really Matter

It’s easy to focus all your civic energy on the presidential race every four years, but local and state elections often have a more immediate and direct impact on your daily life. School board decisions, property taxes, county judges, district attorneys, sheriffs — all of these are decided in elections that receive a fraction of the attention (and voter turnout) of a presidential contest.

In Texas, primary and local elections routinely see turnout in the single digits. That means a small, motivated group of voters can — and does — shape policy for everyone. Skipping “minor” elections is one of the most significant things you can do to give up your influence.

The Bottom Line

Misinformation about voting isn’t a minor nuisance. It’s a genuine threat to democratic participation. Whether the myths spread out of confusion or bad faith, the effect is the same: fewer people vote, and fewer voices are heard. Texas has millions of eligible voters who sit out every election — especially in the primaries — and myths like these are part of the reason why.

Know the facts. Show up. Vote.

— Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis

Learn more about the Texas primaries on March 3 — and how to get your friends, family, and community to the polls — by downloading our voter guide right here.

The post 6 Texas Voting Myths, Debunked appeared first on Builders.

By Brian Hamilton

My dad never graduated from high school. He used to tell me: “Brian, talking ain’t doing.” Despite not having the fancy degrees that many of us hold, my father instinctively knew the importance of action. One of our better presidents, Teddy Roosevelt, used to say: “Get Action.” He was spot on; at least one politician got the big picture. Unfortunately, that was over 100 years ago.

I’ve spent the better part of my life around entrepreneurs. These are the people who wake up early to make sure the floor is swept and the lights stay on. For them, there is no backstop. These people share a common DNA: they have to produce. 

In the current political landscape, many of our representatives lack that DNA. We’ve become a nation led by professional talkers. They’ve mastered the art of the soundbite, the white paper, and the committee meeting. But where is the fruit?

If we want our votes to lead to change, we need to stop evaluating candidates based on their rhetoric and start evaluating them based on proof that they are capable of creating something/anything (not only a business, by the way). Before we cast a vote, we should ask: Has this candidate ever actually built anything? A small business. A local PTA group. A daycare. A farm. A house. Payroll. A school fundraiser. Have they ever taken an idea all the way to reality?

What History Tells Us

Many of the founders of our country were “doers” first—farmers, merchants, surveyors, and soldiers. Their leadership stemmed from lives full of real consequence. George Washington wasn’t a career politician; he was a surveyor and a farmer who understood literally the soil of the country he was leading. Thomas Jefferson was an architect and an agronomist. Samuel Adams was a maltster. These men didn’t just debate the idea of a nation; they built the physical and intellectual infrastructure of one.

Even in the 20th century, leaders like Dwight Eisenhower were defined by action—he led troops in battle. Harry Truman ran a haberdashery before he ran the country. He knew what it was like to lose a business and shoulder that responsibility. These were people forged by experience, not just ideology.

Why Building Something Matters

Building something teaches lessons that no policy paper ever can. When you’ve built something, you understand that success is earned. You learn that resources are finite, that every decision has consequences, and that tradeoffs are necessary. You also learn humility, because the market, the weather, or the customer will correct you quickly if you’re wrong. Being humiliated is a great path to the rarest of things: wisdom. 

People who have built things know what failure feels like. They’ve had plans fall apart. They’ve had to pivot, adapt, and keep going anyway. That kind of experience produces leaders who are pragmatic, less ideological, and far more focused on results.

Contrast that with a system that rewards perpetual talking. In politics today, you can survive indefinitely without ever delivering a result. 

In the real world, you don’t get that luxury. If the daycare isn’t safe, parents leave. If payroll doesn’t clear, employees quit. If the fundraiser flops, the program dies. Reality keeps score, whether you like it or not.

Builders Govern Differently

People who have built something tend to govern differently. They ask better questions. They worry about execution, not just intention. They understand that complexity is real. 

They’re also more likely to respect the people doing the work. When you’ve cleaned floors, hired employees, or balanced books, you don’t treat labor or capital as abstractions. You know that behind every regulation, every tax, and every mandate, there’s a human being trying to make it work.

This doesn’t mean every builder will be a great politician. And it doesn’t mean every career public servant lacks value. But it does mean we should be far more skeptical of leaders whose only product has been words. 

Ask Better Questions

The next time you’re evaluating a candidate, ask fewer questions about what they say they’re going to do and more about what they’ve already done. Within a range, we’ve got a nation run by a bunch of hot air politicians who seem pleasant on the outside but who have never produced anything. Maybe that’s why we are $38 trillion in debt. No common-sense doer would have ever allowed that to happen. 

So, have they ever built anything meaningful that had to survive outside a campaign? 

America doesn’t suffer from a lack of ideas. It suffers from a lack of execution. If we want better outcomes, we should start electing people who know how to produce them.

Brian Hamilton is the founder of Sageworks (now Abrigo), one of the world’s very first fintech companies, which has helped thousands of banks and millions of business owners. He is also the founder of Inmates to Entrepreneurs, an international program that helps justice-involved people start low-capital businesses, and the star of ABC’s “Free Enterprise” TV show.

The post Have They Ever Built Anything? appeared first on Builders.

In Texas, we have a state mammal that tells the whole story.

When threatened, the armadillo rolls up into a tight little ball. Head down. Feet tucked in. Wait it out.

It’s exactly what too many Texans do every primary season.

Today, Builders Texas is launching Turn Out or Roll Over, a statewide campaign aimed at increasing voter participation in Texas primary elections leading up to March 3, 2026. And yes, the armadillo is front and center.

Because here’s the reality: when Texans skip the primaries, we roll over. And when we roll over, a small slice of voters decides the direction of the entire state.

Primary elections are how voters choose who will represent each political party on the ballot. Before the November election, parties often hold primaries to decide which candidate moves forward.

The vast majority of Texas districts are solidly Democratic or Republican. November won’t change that. In those districts, the March 3 primary is the real election. Yet only 1 in 5 voters participate, allowing a small slice of Texans to decide for everyone else.

We’ve all seen an armadillo on the side of a Texas road — frozen in place, rolled tight.

Do we want to be like that politically?

Our Turn Out or Roll Over campaign is built around making that metaphor impossible to ignore.

The two-week campaign culminates on March 2, Texas Independence Day, with a public event and large-scale visual installation outside the South Steps of the State Capitol — a striking visual representation of what “rolling over” looks like when voters sit out of the primaries.

The campaign leverages the power of creative, place-based visual storytelling to make the consequences of low primary turnout more visible in everyday public spaces and on social media. Across the state, Texans will encounter armadillo outlines chalked onto sidewalks, posters and billboards, a large-scale mural, and on social media—each pairing the familiar image of “rolling over” with clear reminders of what happens when most voters sit out primaries.

Help Us Get Out the Vote

Early voting for the Texas primaries starts on February 17. Here’s how you can help:

1. Make a plan to vote. Download our primaries guide for key dates, FAQs, and non-partisan resources

2. Get out and vote. Bring three friends or family members with you

3. Request FREE Builders Texas Turn Out or Roll Over swag to wear to the polls right here

You don’t have to love every option on the ballot. You don’t have to agree with every platform. You just can’t roll over. The armadillo rolls up because it feels powerless. And Texas doesn’t need to feel powerless. Texas needs to show up.

The post Don’t Roll Over, Texas appeared first on Builders.

If you’re tired of representatives who perform for their base instead of solving problems, here are five questions to ask before you cast your vote. These aren’t about left or right—they’re about whether the person you’re voting for will actually do the job or just keep the fight going.

1. Does This Candidate Treat Opponents as Evil?

Disagreement is normal in a democracy. Dehumanization is not.

Pay attention to language. Do they criticize ideas and policies, or do they question motives and character? Do they leave room for good-faith disagreement?

When leaders portray opponents as evil or illegitimate, they make cooperation politically risky. When they criticize respectfully, they preserve the possibility of working together later.

The tone they model becomes the tone the system absorbs.

2. Does This Candidate Build Coalitions — or Just Rally a Base?

In safe districts, especially in primaries, candidates can win by appealing to a narrow slice of highly motivated voters. But governing requires broader buy-in.

Look for evidence that they’ve worked across factions, communities, or even party lines. Have they collaborated with people who don’t agree with them on everything? Have they supported bipartisan efforts, even when it wasn’t flashy?

You don’t need a candidate who abandons their principles. You need one who knows how to build a majority around them.

Coalitions create durable policy. Echo chambers create stalemates.

3.  Are They Running to Solve Problems or to ‘Own’ the Other Side?

It’s become normal to campaign on humiliation. To “own” the libs or the cons.

That kind of rhetoric generates clicks, donations, and applause lines. But it rarely generates policy.

Ask yourself: Is this candidate primarily motivated by fixing something specific (lowering costs, improving schools, strengthening infrastructure) or by defeating and embarrassing the other side?

There’s a difference between strong disagreement and performative antagonism. One is about outcomes. The other is about optics.

4. Does This Candidate Explain Trade-Offs Honestly?

Every policy decision involves trade-offs. Budget priorities compete. Regulations have costs and benefits. No serious proposal is purely upside.

Candidates who pretend otherwise may win applause, but governing gets harder when reality intrudes.

Look for leaders who can say: “Here’s what this will improve — and here’s what it may cost.” That kind of transparency builds trust and invites mature discussion.

Problem-solving requires acknowledging complexity. Oversimplification fuels polarization.

5. Will This Candidate Lower the Temperature?

Conflict drives engagement. Outrage raises money. But high temperature politics makes collaboration nearly impossible.

Ask yourself: If this person wins, does the overall tone improve or intensify? Do they have a track record of calming tensions, or amplifying them?

Lowering the temperature doesn’t mean being passive. It means channeling disagreement into structured negotiation instead of constant escalation.

Democracy works best when intensity is directed toward solutions, not spectacle.

Your Vote Is Your Power

None of these questions require you to abandon your convictions. They simply expand the criteria.

We don’t just elect policy preferences. We elect behaviors. We elect incentives. We elect the kind of political culture we want to live in.

If voters consistently reward candidates who escalate, the system will supply more escalation. If we reward cooperation and problem-solving, we’ll see more of that too.

Before you vote, pause.

Ask not just, “Do I agree with them?”

Ask, “Will they make cooperation easier or harder?”

That shift may feel small. But over time, it can reshape what politics rewards — and what it produces.

Your vote has power. Use it on someone who will use theirs to get something done.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis

Help Turn Common Ground into Real Change

You’re a Builder, which means you, like us, believe that most Americans agree more than the loudest voices want us to believe—and that solutions are possible when people come before politics. In a world where extremists seek to divide for power and profit, Builders take action to unite, create, and bring light to the world. Support the development of new media, tools, and platforms to help us give power back to the people.

 Support the Builders Movement

The post 5 Questions to Ask Before You Vote appeared first on Builders.

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In Texas, most legislative races are already decided before November even arrives. The primary election in March is where your actual representative gets chosen. 

Due to gerrymandering and partisan sorting, the vast majority of Texas districts are “locked-in” for one party, meaning whichever candidate wins that party’s primary in March will almost certainly win in November.

But here’s the kicker: during that same cycle, only 17% of eligible voters participated in the primaries, meaning a tiny, usually ideologically extreme slice of the electorate is choosing representatives for everyone. 

If you’ve ever wondered why Texas politics feels more polarized than actual Texans, this is why. The primaries are where extremism gets locked in, moderates get squeezed out, and Builders sit on the sidelines wondering why nothing ever changes.

What Is a “Locked-In” District?

A “locked-in” (or “safe”) district is one where historical voting patterns and district boundaries heavily favor one party. Analysts track this by looking at past election results, voter registration data, and partisan voting indexes.

Texas has many such districts, largely due to long-term geographic sorting and aggressive redistricting after the 2020 census. According to election analysts and nonpartisan trackers, the majority of Texas congressional districts are not competitive in general elections.

That means if the district leans overwhelmingly Republican, the GOP primary winner is very likely to win in November. If the district leans overwhelmingly Democratic, the Democratic primary winner is very likely to win in November. Republicans hold large majorities in rural and suburban districts while Democrats hold urban districts.

So while November feels like the “main event,” March is often where the real choice is made.

Where the Primary Is the Real Election

Republican-Dominant Districts

In many North and East Texas districts, Republican candidates routinely win general elections by double-digit margins. GOP nominees are very likely to win in November, making the March GOP primary the de facto election.

• TX-2, Houston Metro (NE & SE): Currently held by Dan Crenshaw, who won in 2024 by 31 points.
• TX-3, North Dallas Suburbs/Rural Northeast: Held by Keith Self. While redistricting added five new rural counties, it is rated “Solid Republican”.
• TX-4, NE Texas/Dallas Suburbs: Held by Pat Fallon, who won his 2024 race by 37 points.
• TX-6, SE of Dallas/Fort Worth: Held by Jake Ellzey, who won in 2024 by 31 points.
• TX-12, West Tarrant/Parker Counties: Redrawn in 2025 to be even more conservative; it backed Donald Trump by 24 points in 2024 and is considered out of reach for Democrats.
• TX-13, Panhandle & North Texas: Consistently rated as a solid Republican stronghold.
• TX-14, Upper Gulf Coast: Traditionally very safe Republican territory.
• TX-17, Central/East Texas: Consistently rated as a solid Republican stronghold.
• TX-19, South Plains/West Texas: Consistently rated as a solid Republican stronghold.
• TX-24, Mid-Cities (Dallas/Fort Worth): Held by Beth Van Duyne. Despite being a suburban Dallas district, it is rated “Solid Republican” or “Safe Republican” for 2026.
• TX-25, North Central/West of DFW: Consistently rated as a solid Republican stronghold. 

In districts like these, voters who sit out the primary are effectively letting a much smaller, more ideologically intense group choose the representative for everyone.

Democratic-Dominant Districts

That dynamic also exists on the Democratic side:

• TX-7, Houston (West/SW): Includes wealthy and diverse areas of West Houston, Bellaire, and parts of Fort Bend County.
• TX-16, El Paso: Centered on the city of El Paso and the surrounding border communities.
• TX-18, Houston (Central/North): A historic stronghold including downtown, Third Ward, and the Heights. It is currently vacant following the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner, with a runoff set for January 31, 2026.
• TX-20, San Antonio (West/Central): Anchored by downtown and western San Antonio.
• TX-29, Houston (East): A heavily Latino district covering East Houston, Pasadena, and Galena Park.
• TX-30, South Dallas: Includes parts of downtown Dallas and southern Dallas County, represented by Jasmine Crockett.
• TX-33, Dallas/Tarrant County: A diverse district covering parts of Fort Worth and Dallas; redrawn in 2025 to consolidate Democratic voters from surrounding areas.
• TX-37: Austin (Central/West): Centered on downtown Austin and the University of Texas campus, held by Lloyd Doggett.

The same thing happens in these districts. When one party is guaranteed to win, the only meaningful choice happens inside that party’s primary.

What about State Legislature Races?

In Texas’ State Legislature races, partisan lean is even more entrenched. Because of this, state legislative primaries shape the November makeup more than the general election itself.

To see whether you live in a “safe Democrat” or “safe Republican” district for the Texas State Legislature race, visit Ballotpedia (link for Texas House, link for Texas State Senate), click on your district, and scroll to see past election results. A district is generally considered “safe” for a party if they have won by a margin of 10 to 12 percentage points or more in recent elections.

If your district is “safe” for either party, you can be confident that the primary election is likely where your vote actually matters. 

Why This Fuels Polarization

Texas primaries have abysmally low turnout compared to general elections, and that changes everything about who wins and how they govern. 

When only 15-20% of eligible voters show up in March, candidates don’t build broad coalitions. They cater to the most committed, ideological, and predictable slice of the electorate (known as high-propensity voters) because those are the only people who reliably vote. Moderates, independents, and casual voters stay home, which means their preferences don’t matter. A candidate can win a primary with support from just 8-10% of all eligible voters in a district, and that’s exactly what happens. 

The result is representatives who reflect the extremes of their party (whether that’s the furthest left in deep blue districts or the furthest right in deep red ones) rather than what most people in that district actually want. 

Low turnout rewards ideological purity over pragmatism, and until Builders start showing up in primaries, the extremes will keep picking everyone’s representatives.

Make a Plan to Vote in the Texas Primaries

The best thing you can do is make a plan to vote in the Texas primaries on March 3.

Start by confirming your voter registration status on the Texas Secretary of State’s website. 

Decide which party’s primary you plan to vote in. Texas has open primaries, meaning you can choose which party’s primary you want to vote in on election day without registering with that party in advance, but you can only participate in one. 

Check out your party’s sample ballot ahead of time so you’re not making decisions in the booth. 

Then choose how you’ll vote. Primary Election Day is March 3. Early voting begins on February 17 and ends on February 27. You can also apply for a ballot by mail now, but the election office must receive it by 7 p.m. on Election Day, March 3 (you have until 5 p.m. March 4 if it’s postmarked by 7 p.m. on Election Day).

Texas primaries aren’t a warm-up act. In many districts, they are the election.

If we want representatives who reflect more than the loudest voices, the path runs through education, participation, and showing up when the real decision is being made.

March doesn’t get the drama of November. But in Texas, it often holds the power.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis

The post Primary Elections 101: How to Actually Make a Difference in Texas Politics appeared first on Builders.

Here’s the blunt reality: even though primary contests decide who represents us, they’re massively under-attended. In recent nationwide cycles, only about 20% of eligible voters show up for primary elections, meaning roughly 4 out of 5 people skip them entirely.

Why Primaries Matter More Than You Think

A primary election is how political parties narrow the field of candidates before the general election. They decide which Democrat runs, which Republican runs, and which independent or minor-party contenders might make it through.

In many parts of the country (especially where districts are heavily skewed toward one party) the general election is essentially decided in the primary. Whoever wins the dominant party’s nomination is almost guaranteed to win the November contest. That’s why political scientists say primaries exert outsized influence over who actually holds office and whose voices are heard in government.

That influence ripples outward. Candidates choose how to run based on who turns out in the primaries. If primary voters are a highly motivated, ideologically narrow group, politicians respond by catering to those voters first, often at the expense of the broader electorate’s interests.

Why do so few people vote in primaries? Yale researchers note that primary contests tend to be less familiar and seen as less relevant by the general public, even though the outcome often decides who we choose between in November.

What Happens When Too Few People Vote?

When only a fraction of the electorate participates, the candidates who emerge are often more extreme or less representative of the broader population. Research shows primary electorates tend to be older, wealthier, and more ideologically unified than average voters, meaning the voices shaping our democracy can be a skewed subset.

This can affect who gets elected, how they govern, and whether voters in the general election feel they have meaningful choices. When candidates are selected by such a narrow subset of voters, the general electorate is left choosing between options that may not reflect what most Americans want.

What Can We Do — and What’s Already Working?

First and foremost, make a plan to vote in the primaries.

Check your voter registration status and look up your state’s primary election date (rules and timelines vary widely by state). Find out whether your state has open, closed, or semi-closed primaries so you know if party registration is required to participate. Review your sample ballot ahead of time, decide whether you’ll vote early, by mail (if eligible), or on Election Day, and put a specific date and time on your calendar so your plan is concrete and easy to follow through on.

Once you’ve got your plan down pat, the next step is getting others to participate in primaries. The key here is not to guilt people. Most people don’t skip them because they’re apathetic or irresponsible. They skip them because no one ever treated them like they mattered. 

One of the simplest things you can do is make primaries visible again. Tell friends when they’re happening. Text someone you trust and say, “Hey, early voting starts this week—want to go together?” Share why you vote in primaries without lecturing. Normalize the idea that November isn’t the only moment that counts. Research shows that among the strongest predictors of whether someone votes is being surrounded by friends or family who vote. This “contagious voting effect” is amplified by gentle reminders to vote—all it takes is a quick text message.

Some advocate for systemic reform that strengthens representation. 

A number of states have experimented with nonpartisan or open primaries, where all voters (not just party members) can participate and all candidates compete together. These reforms have been shown to increase turnout significantly, rising from a national 21% average to 29–37% in states with nonpartisan primaries.

These approaches can make primaries feel less like a small club and more like a public forum.

Democracy Starts Before November

If we care about fair representation, accountable leadership, and a democratic system that actually reflects the will of the people, we have to stop treating primaries as an afterthought. Participating in them (by voting, by understanding the contests, by encouraging others to show up) is one of the most powerful things we can do to shape our democracy.

Think of the general election as the final score, but the primaries are the game. If only a handful of players show up, you don’t get a true contest. You get a default outcome.

And in a democracy, default outcomes belong to no one but the few who noticed.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis

The post Voting in the Primaries Is the Most Important Thing You Can Do for Democracy — and You Probably Aren’t Doing It appeared first on Builders.

There is a lyric in Hamilton that is haunting right now. A loyalist to the King of England warns, “Chaos and bloodshed are not a solution. Don’t let them lead you astray.” Following the tragic killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal law enforcement, words like insurrection, civil war, massacre, and madness are trending on social media. The emotions are raw, the distrust is deep, and any attempt at nuance is often met with anger.

Fear is justified. Anger is understandable. But when emotions are high, clarity is low. As Builders, we must hold fast to something more fundamental than our feelings: the rule of law.

The rule of law is the bedrock of a civilized society. It is the bare minimum standard for government and citizens. As Movement Partner Sharon McMahon posted, “You don’t have to break the law to uphold the law.”

Right now, we are witnessing disregard of constitutional protections by I.C.E., Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of Homeland Security. The 1st Amendment protects peaceful protest. The 2nd Amendment protects the right to bear arms. Due process is not optional. These protections exist for everyone, or they exist for no one.

Citizens must also respect the law. Violence is not protected speech. Assaulting law enforcement is a crime. Threatening death or doxxing families has consequences. These actions cannot be excused by righteous anger.

The antidote to chaos is consistent and rigorous upholding of the law—from elected officials, law enforcement, and citizens alike. We cannot abandon, “innocent until proven guilty.” We cannot make determinations without facts, investigations, and accountability. Justice demands it.

A recent poll by CBS found 59% support for deporting illegal aliens, though approval for the handling of these deportations was significantly lower at 37%. That gap tells the story: Americans want secure borders and lawful process. When enforcement runs afoul of immigration law and basic human rights, we all lose. The Minnesota tragedy highlights what happens when any level of government abandons the rule of law. 

When we adopt a “if you can’t join them, beat them” approach, we get exactly what the loyalist in Hamilton warned against: chaos and bloodshed. The irony of that lyric is that Hamilton pushed back against the farmer calling for revolution, but if you think America has descended into tyranny that calls for violent revolution, talk to someone in Iran. 

Being a Builder isn’t just about finding common ground. It is about holding fast to common law, common decency, and constitutional rights. 

 —Stacy Blakeley, Executive Director 

The post Minneapolis Doesn’t Need More Chaos—Here’s What It Needs Instead appeared first on Builders.

The urban-rural divide in Texas is real. The differences in how people live, what they prioritize, and how they see the world are significant. But those differences have been weaponized by politicians and media who benefit from conflict. What gets buried under all that noise is the fact that urban and rural Texans face a lot of the same challenges—and their futures are tied together whether they like it or not.

How the Divide Gets Amplified

Politicians and partisan media have turned the urban-rural divide into a full-time culture war. 

Rural Texans are told that cities are full of people who hate their way of life and want to impose regulations that will destroy their communities. Urban Texans are told that rural areas are filled with ignorant, intolerant people standing in the way of progress. Both narratives are caricatures, but they’re repeated so often that people start believing them.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick once said “all our problems in America” stem from “cities that are mostly controlled by Democrat mayors.” Then-San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg replied that leaders like Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott have “shown a willingness to dismantle what most people are calling ‘The Texas Miracle’”—the state’s booming infrastructure, diversity, and economic growth, which he attributes to the success of Texas cities.  

Politicians love this divide because it’s an easy way to mobilize voters. You don’t have to talk about complicated policy solutions if you can just point to the “other side” and say they’re the problem. According to research from the Pew Research Center, Americans’ trust in one another has been declining for decades, especially across geographic and political lines, and this mistrust is heavily driven by media narratives that exaggerate cultural differences.

In Texas specifically, this plays out in debates over everything from gun rights to LGBTQ+ policies to how schools should teach history. The actual policy disagreements are real, but the way they’re framed—urban elites vs. rural values—turns them into identity battles instead of conversations about trade-offs and solutions.

The Shared Challenges Nobody Talks About

Here’s what gets lost: urban and rural Texans are dealing with a lot of the same problems, even if they manifest differently.

Health care access is a crisis in both settings. Rural Texas has been hit hard by hospital closures. More than 20 rural hospitals have closed since 2013, leaving entire communities without emergency care. Meanwhile, urban areas struggle with overcrowded ERs and long wait times that only grow longer as the urban population continues to explode.

Housing affordability is squeezing people everywhere. Cities like Austin, Dallas, and Houston have seen skyrocketing rents and home prices that have priced out working- and middle-class families. Rural areas face a different version of the same problem: limited housing stock, aging infrastructure, and younger generations leaving because there’s nowhere affordable to live and no economic opportunity. This has led to a rise in both urban and rural homelessness. 

Addiction and mental health don’t respect city limits. The opioid crisis has devastated rural communities across Texas, but urban areas aren’t immune. Drug overdose deaths have spiked across the state in both rural and urban counties. Mental health services are scarce everywhere, and the stigma around seeking help exists in both settings.

Economic security is fragile for a lot of Texans, regardless of zip code. Rural economies are often dependent on industries like agriculture, oil, and manufacturing that are vulnerable to market shifts and automation. Urban workers face job insecurity too, with gig economy jobs, rising costs, and wages that haven’t kept up with inflation. Both groups are one medical emergency or job loss away from financial disaster.

The Interdependence That Quietly Binds Rural and Urban Texans

Urban and rural Texas need each other more than most people realize. Cities depend on rural areas for food production, energy, and natural resources. Rural communities depend on urban centers for markets, services, and economic engines that fund state programs. When one side suffers, the ripple effects hit everyone.

The urban-rural divide isn’t going away, and pretending it doesn’t exist won’t help. But recognizing that the divide is being exploited for political gain is a start. The differences between how urban and rural Texans live are real, but the shared challenges they face are bigger. Health care, housing, addiction, economic security—these aren’t urban problems or rural problems. They’re Texas problems.

Columnist Tim Marema wrote in The Daily Yonder: “When rural and urban are in tune, the success of one contributes to the success of the other. And, the corollary is also true: When one falters, the other is likely to experience loss.”

The question is whether people are willing to stop letting politicians and media outlets profit off their anger long enough to notice that. Because as long as urban and rural Texans are too busy hating each other to demand solutions, nothing is going to change for either side.

How You Can Defy the Divide

If the urban-rural divide is being exploited for political gain, the most powerful response isn’t another argument online. It’s showing up. In Texas, 4 out of 5 registered voters skip the primary, which means a small, highly partisan group chooses the candidates for everyone else. If you’ve ever felt like the options don’t reflect most Texans, this is why.

Early voting starts February 18. Primary Day is March 3. Showing up on these dates is the best way to push back against the extremes and ensure that problem-solvers, not pot-stirrers, are on the ballot. 

You don’t have to convince anyone to care. Just make participation normal. Go with a friend. Share the dates. Keep it simple.

The people who profit from division want Texans fighting. They don’t want Texans voting. Showing up breaks the cycle and puts the power back where it belongs.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis

The post How Politicians Manipulate the Urban-Rural Divide in Texas—and How We Can Push Back appeared first on Builders.

What Is Value-Based Analysis?

Value-Based Analysis is a critical-thinking tool that forces you to slow down and examine what’s really driving your position on an issue. Instead of jumping straight to “I agree” or “I disagree,” you take a step back and ask yourself: what values am I prioritizing here? Is it fairness? Freedom? Safety? Responsibility? Most hard issues aren’t hard because there’s one obvious right answer. They’re hard because multiple legitimate values are in conflict with each other, and different people weigh those values differently.

For example, take public health mandates. One person might prioritize personal freedom above all else and oppose mandates on principle. Another person might prioritize community safety and support them. Both people have legitimate values guiding their thinking, but they’re weighing those values differently. Understanding that doesn’t mean you have to agree with the other side, but it does mean you can stop assuming they’re stupid or evil just because they landed on a different conclusion. 

How To Use Value-Based Analysis

Here’s a simple step-by-step process for using this approach when you’re trying to think through a difficult issue:

Step 1: Identify the issue clearly. What exactly are you trying to evaluate? Be specific. Replace “What do I think about education policy?” with something clearer: “Should our school district change its curriculum to include more real-world skills?” 

Step 2: List the core values at play. What principles are relevant here? Common values include fairness, freedom, safety, responsibility, equality, tradition, progress, and community. Write them down. Don’t skip this step (seeing them on paper helps).

Step 3: Rank your values for this specific issue. Which of these values matters most to you in this context? Be honest. You might value freedom highly in general, but maybe in this particular situation, safety takes priority. That’s okay. Context matters.

Step 4: Evaluate the options through your value lens. Now look at the possible positions or solutions and ask: which one best aligns with the values I’ve prioritized? This is where you actually think instead of react.

Step 5: Consider the trade-offs. Every decision involves trade-offs. If you choose Option A because it prioritizes freedom, what does that mean for safety? If you choose Option B because it prioritizes fairness, what does that mean for efficiency? Acknowledging trade-offs doesn’t make you wishy-washy. It makes you realistic.

Dive deeper: For more tips on uncovering the values beneath the argument, check out the essay “Complicating the Narratives” by our Movement Partner Amanda Ripley. 

Why This Matters

Value-Based Analysis won’t magically make everyone agree on everything. That’s not the point. The point is to give yourself a structured way to think through hard issues so you’re making decisions based on what you actually believe in, not just what your social media feed told you to think. It also helps you understand why other people disagree with you, which is useful if you ever want to have a conversation that doesn’t devolve into a screaming match.

When you understand that most disagreements aren’t about facts (they’re about which values people prioritize) you can stop talking past each other and start having real discussions. You might still disagree, but at least you’ll understand why. And that’s a hell of a lot better than what most people are doing right now, which is just yelling into the void and hoping someone on the internet validates them.

Value-Based Analysis is a tool. It takes practice. But if you’re serious about thinking better instead of just feeling confident in your snap judgments, it’s worth the effort.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis

Help Turn Common Ground Into Real Change

In a world where extremists seek to divide for power and profit, Builders take action to unite, create, and bring light to the world. Support the development of new media, tools, and platforms to help us give the power back to the people.

 Support the Builders Movement

The post The Missing Tool for Tackling Tough Problems: Value-Based Analysis appeared first on Builders.

We rarely find solutions by winning an argument. It comes from finding the thin strip of common ground where people with different beliefs decide to work together anyway. 

We saw this firsthand in our Citizen Solutions session in Austin, Texas. Participants came from very different backgrounds and carried very different political instincts into the room. They were brought together for a panel to address the state’s healthcare crisis, including the uninsured rate, which is the highest in the country, and how to turn their ideas into practical solutions.

At first, the differences felt like barriers. But once people chose to be flexible thinkers instead of fixed defenders of their side, something shifted. They moved from debating ideology to developing innovative ideas, including expanding telehealth services, addressing healthcare deserts in rural areas, and reducing the burden of medical debt. 

 “I decided to agree with most of the initiatives and even some that go against my Libertarian beliefs,” said one of the participants, Jay Shoesmith, a salesperson from Longview, Texas. “I justify this because we can’t just leave a good portion of Texans without affordable and accessible healthcare.”

That’s what solving problems looks like in real life. Not perfect consensus. But people willing to change their minds enough to move forward together.

What flexible thinking is

Flexible thinking is the ability to update your beliefs when new information appears. It means holding opinions with confidence, but not with rigidity. Instead of seeing change as a threat, flexible thinkers treat it as a learning opportunity

Psychologists often describe this as cognitive flexibility: the capacity to shift perspectives, adapt to new rules, and revise assumptions. The American Psychological Association defines it as a key part of healthy problem-solving and emotional resilience.

This does not mean being indecisive or abandoning values. It means distinguishing between principles and positions. Principles—like fairness, safety, or freedom—tend to endure. Positions—the policies or strategies we use to express those values—sometimes need revision.

Carol Dweck’s research on the growth mindset captures this idea well: people who believe they can learn and adjust outperform those who believe ability and understanding are fixed.

Flexible thinking, at its core, is intellectual humility paired with curiosity. It is the discipline of saying, “I might be wrong—and that’s okay.”

How to practice flexible thinking in daily life

Flexible thinking is not a personality trait. It is a habit. And like any habit, it can be trained. Here are some ways you can do just that.

1. Separate identity from opinion.
   In his book, Ego Is the Enemy, Movement Partner Ryan Holliday argues that a desire to always be right is a manifestation of an unchecked ego, which prioritizes validation over truth, learning, and progress. Instead of thinking, “If I change my mind, I lose,” try, “If I learn something new, I grow.”
2. Replace reflex with reflection.
   When you feel defensive, pause and ask: What new information is challenging me right now?
   In meetings, this might mean listening fully before responding. In family arguments, it might mean asking, “What’s your experience been?” instead of immediately countering.
3. Practice “steel-manning.”
   Try summarizing the best version of a viewpoint you disagree with before stating your own. This technique is often referred to as steel-manning, and it’s the conceptual opposite of strawmanning. Steel-manning forces you to understand the strongest version of an opposing view, which leads to smarter thinking, fairer conversations, and decisions based on clarity rather than caricatures.
4. Build a diverse information diet.
   Pew Research finds that people who consume varied news sources are less likely to fall into ideological certainty traps. Read outside your lane. Follow people you respect who disagree with you. Treat difference as data.
5. Normalize changing your mind publicly.
   Leaders who say, “Here’s what I believed—here’s what I learned—here’s why I changed,” build trust, not weakness. Transparency increases credibility.
6. Spend time with people who don’t think like you.
   Ideas can be debated. Experiences are harder to dismiss. When you build real relationships across differences, issues stop being abstract and start being human. That shift often does more to open minds than any argument ever could.

Flexible thinking is no longer optional. It is the operating system for a world that will not slow down.

The people who thrive in the future will not be the loudest or the most certain. They will be the ones who learn the fastest, adapt thoughtfully, and stay humble enough to evolve.

Changing your mind is not an admission of defeat. It is progress in motion.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis

Help Turn Common Ground Into Real Change

In a world where extremists seek to divide for power and profit, Builders take action to unite, create, and bring light to the world. Support the development of new media, tools, and platforms to help us give the power back to the people.

Support the Builders Movement

The post The Future Belongs to People Who Can Change Their Minds appeared first on Builders.

In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri showed just how bad grid failure can get. Millions of Texans lost power when temperatures dropped, and 246 people died from exposure, lack of heat, and everything that comes with being without electricity for days. The state’s infrastructure broke down in ways that exposed serious problems with how electricity gets generated and delivered.

Texas didn’t just fail in 2021 because of cold weather. It failed because planning lagged behind reality. The state has learned hard lessons since then, and important steps have been taken to winterize the grid. But those same vulnerabilities are back in focus—this time because of a boom in businesses that use massive amounts of electricity.

Data centers and skyrocketing electricity demand

Texas has become a major destination for data centers. ERCOT, which manages about 90% of the state’s grid, reports exponential growth in requests to plug giant facilities into the system. Many of these facilities are AI and cloud data centers that require several gigawatts of electricity—as much as a small city. 

Now that winter’s arrived and everyone’s cranking up the heat, ERCOT has issued its annual warning that grid risk is “elevated,” which means Texas needs more power than we can reliably produce. Freezing weather would increase that strain exponentially.

Data centers and population growth are driving most of the increased demand.

What we’ve done about it: Bipartisan reforms and infrastructure work

After the 2021 outages, Texas lawmakers passed a bunch of bipartisan laws meant to make the grid stronger. 

The state added new power capacity from renewable sources like solar and battery storage, which can help prevent outages.

To deal with data centers specifically, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 6. The bipartisan law lets grid operators require data centers to disconnect during emergencies so residential power gets priority. That’s a notable policy shift—even in Texas, where the market usually drives decisions more than regulations.

These reforms weren’t pushed by just one party. They reflected widespread bipartisan agreement that the grid needed better defenses and clearer rules to handle large users while protecting reliability.

What still needs to be done

Despite the progress, big challenges remain:

The actual wires that carry power across long distances are expensive and take years to build, and data center growth is outpacing this work.

Electricity generators are powered by natural gas, which is delivered on oil tanker trucks that can be slowed or halted by frozen highways. And the natural gas wells that pump the fuel can grind to a halt when the weather freezes. Inspectors found in 2025 that many of these wells are not adequately prepared to operate in severe cold snaps, despite promises to winterize.  

To make gas wells truly winterized, some argue we must enforce stricter penalties on wells that do not properly prep their hardware for winter by doing things like insulating valves and pipes, installing weatherproof enclosures, and keeping critical components heated. Enforcement is up to the Railroad Commission (the state’s oil and gas regulatory body) but critics say their oversight of the industry has been too lax.  

Another thing we can do is make sure large data centers and other power-hungry facilities comply with grid safety standards before hooking them up. Right now, we’re approving growth first and solving grid reliability later, which puts everyone at risk. The Public Utility Commission of Texas released a draft late last year that would give them the authority to enforce earlier coordination between the grid and large load facilities, but they won’t have such authority until late 2026.

While politically controversial, the federal Connect the Grid Act has been proposed to require Texas to link with national grids. That way, other states could provide Texas power in case of emergencies. Although this could provide extra capacity available during peak stress, it would be expensive, time-consuming, and would not replace the need for strong internal weatherization.

What you can do

1. Participate in Public “Listening Sessions”

The Railroad Commission (RRC) has recently launched virtual Listening Sessions to gather public feedback on its regulatory performance.

• Upcoming Opportunity: The next session is scheduled for Wednesday, January 14, 2026, from noon to 1:30 p.m. CST.
• How to Join: You must Register with the RRC in advance to participate or ask questions. These sessions are specifically designed for Texans to voice concerns about issues like orphaned wells and winterization oversight.

2. File formal complaints

Contact your local Oil & Gas District Office to report specific concerns about well site safety or lack of visible weatherization (like missing insulation or enclosures).

3. Contact elected officials

Your state lawmakers and representatives are responsible for creating the policies that govern the power grid. Reach out to them to express your concerns and advocate for specific solutions, such as:

• Enforcing stricter penalties on natural gas wells and power generation facilities that do not properly weatherize their equipment.
• Ensuring the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) gets the authority to enforce early coordination between the grid and large load facilities, such as data centers.

Building responsibly

Texas has made real progress since the dark days of 2021. The grid is stronger than it was. The rules are clearer. The conversation is more serious. That matters. And it deserves to be recognized.

But progress doesn’t mean protection if growth keeps outpacing safety. As AI data centers and other power-hungry industries flood into the state, we risk repeating a familiar mistake: putting speed, profit, and business development ahead of the basic responsibility to keep Texans safe in extreme weather.

Economic growth should never come at the cost of public safety. And it doesn’t have to. Texas can lead in innovation and reliability, but only if we demand that new industries meet the same standard we expect of our leaders: prepare first, expand second.

The work isn’t finished. And the next chapter of Texas’s energy story should be written not by who builds fastest—but by who builds responsibly.

Help turn common ground into real change

You’re a Builder, which means you, like us, believe that most Americans agree more than the loudest voices want us to believe—and that solutions are possible when people come before politics. In a world where extremists seek to divide for power and profit, Builders take action to unite, create, and bring light to the world. Support the development of new media, tools, and platforms to help us give power back to the people.

 Support the Builders Movement

The post Texas Fixed Its Power Grid. Now a New Threat Is Testing It. appeared first on Builders.

Only 34% of Americans are satisfied with how democracy is working in the U.S., according to a 2025 Gallup poll. Overall, Americans’ satisfaction with democracy has been in steady decline from its peak of 60% in the mid-1980s. 

This persistent disillusionment has given rise to the idea that perhaps we shouldn’t have democracy at all—at least in its current form. Only 67% of Americans say democracy is the best form of government. Which begs the question: what alternative do people think would work better? 

Most Americans still believe in the actual values that make democracy work. 80% think leaders should compromise across party lines. 84% say the country is stronger because of its diversity.

So it would seem that people haven’t given up on democracy itself. They’ve given up on the version of it they’re experiencing right now.  

It’s like when your cousin tried to bake Grandma’s fantastic cake recipe, but it ended up tasting like sawdust and sadness. This isn’t a problem with Grandma’s recipe. It’s proven over generations to be a delicious cake. The problem is the baker. 

Likewise, Americans are not rejecting the blueprint of democracy—the recipe on which our country is built. They’re demanding a democracy that actually functions the way it’s supposed to. And the gap between what they believe democracy should be and what they see every day is where the cynicism lives.

If all you see is endless division, why would you trust democracy?

For a lot of Americans, especially younger ones, democracy hasn’t looked like progress. Government shutdowns have increased in frequency over the past decade—and they’re lasting longer than ever. President Ronald Reagan presided over eight government shutdowns during his tenure, but the longest lasted only three days. Last fall, our government came to a halt for a whopping 43 days, the longest shutdown in history. And spending bills are rarely—if ever—passed on time anymore. If your earliest political memories are characterized by constant gridlock, culture wars, and politicians who prioritize winning over solving problems, being skeptical doesn’t seem extreme. It seems rational.

From that angle, doubting democracy isn’t about rejecting freedom or fairness. It’s asking a legitimate question: if this is what the system produces, why should I keep believing in it?

That’s not a problem with people’s values. It’s a problem with what they’ve lived through.

Do people who want an alternative to democracy have a point?

When people say they want an alternative to democracy, they typically mean an authoritarian leader who has the power to do what they want without the slog of earning congressional approval. 

In some ways, I get it. Democracy is slow. Watching problems stack up while leaders argue makes any system that promises quick action sound appealing.

But history is pretty clear about what those alternatives cost.

Systems that trade participation for efficiency don’t just move faster—they concentrate power. They solve short-term dysfunction by creating long-term danger: fewer voices, fewer checks and balances. They replace debate with obedience and a fear that if you do disobey, you will be severely punished.

So yes, their frustration is valid. But the solution they’re reaching for creates problems far worse than the ones we have now.

How we restore faith in democracy

If we want Americans to believe in democracy again, we can’t just lecture them about how important it is. We show them it can actually work.

That means creating spaces where people with different views solve problems together. Making compromise courageous—not as giving up, but as making progress. Elevating regular citizens instead of just the loudest voices. Replacing performative politics with practical wins that people can feel in their daily lives.

Builders’ Citizen Solutions session proved that agreement across differences is not only possible—people on both ends of the political spectrum desperately want it. The session gathered a group of 14 strangers from across Texas with very different backgrounds and beliefs and tasked them with finding solutions to the state’s healthcare crisis: namely, the vast number of citizens in the state who are uninsured. Participants found that although they disagreed on plenty, when the labels were stripped away—red and blue, left and right, conservative and progressive—finding common ground on the issue came far more effortlessly than many had anticipated. 

Although solving these problems feels like a deeply systemic issue that may be impossible to tackle as an individual, there are plenty of things you can do to help democracy make its comeback. 

Show up locally. Attend a school board meeting. A town hall. A library forum. Democracy feels broken when it feels distant—local is where it becomes real again.

Get involved in a civic space. Volunteer group. Faith community. Neighborhood association. Sports league. Democracy grows where relationships do.

Vote—but also stay engaged after. Democracy isn’t a one-day event. Follow what happens after elections. Ask questions. Stay curious instead of cynical. (More on this soon—keep your eyes peeled on how to “vote like a Bulder”). 

And lastly, talk to people outside your bubble. Not to “convert” them—just to understand them. Trust is rebuilt conversation by conversation.

A moment worth rising to

America is approaching its 250th anniversary. That milestone isn’t just something to celebrate—it’s a moment to ask what kind of democracy we want to carry forward.

Not institutions stuck in gridlock and grievance. Not a citizenry held together by nostalgia or fear. But a Democratic Republic of We the People, renewed through participation, courage, and the willingness to thrive as a nation despite our differences.

The truth is, Americans haven’t stopped believing in democratic values. They’re waiting for democracy to deliver on its promise—that we all live freely, make personal choices, and seek fulfillment. Our Democratic government’s role is to protect these rights. 

That’s not a reason for despair. That’s a reason to do something.

Because the future of democracy won’t be saved by louder arguments or extreme politics, it will be rebuilt by citizens who refuse to give up on each other and who decide that the next chapter of America should be written in common ground, not division.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Help turn common ground into real change

You’re a Builder, which means you, like us, believe that most Americans agree more than the loudest voices want us to believe—and that solutions are possible when people come before politics. In a world where extremists seek to divide for power and profit, Builders take action to unite, create, and bring light to the world. Support the development of new media, tools, and platforms to help us give power back to the people.

Support the Builders Movement

The post Here’s Why Only One-Third Of Americans Think Democracy Is Working in the U.S. appeared first on Builders.

Is it just me, or did 2025 feel like 3 years compressed into one? As I look at the remaining days on the calendar, I am struck by the sweeping changes, from a new administration right down to my own professional journey. I joined Builders as Executive Director on October 8th, a little over a month after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The heart and soul of the Builders movement is to overcome “us vs them” thinking, and ultimately, to provide a path to hope and unity instead of hatred and division. Ensuring that Builders becomes a transformative national movement of millions has taken on a new sense of urgency for our leaders, partners, and dedicated staff. 

To that end, the Builders Movement made powerful strides this year to exponentially increase its reach and impact, changing culture and equipping citizens to find common ground solutions to the biggest challenges facing their communities, states, and the nation. 

The Builders Movement experienced exponential growth this year, reaching 4 million followers on social media with high engagement that educates, inspires, and motivates our diverse community to seek solutions rather than conflict. World-class original content and thought-provoking series have generated over half a billion all-time views. The level of thoughtful conversations we have online and through our newsletter evidences how much people want to engage in meaningful and substantive dialogue. Here are a few responses to our prompt, ‘Why did you become a Builder?’

“I sensed the “us vs. them” happening about 8 years ago ( as I’m sure many others did). I’m glad to support a voice of reason that is dedicated to fighting this chaotic spirit and trying to reclaim the best of our intentions.”—David M.

“I want to be the light for as many as I can reach.”—Laura W.

In 2026, we will build on that demand by providing more opportunities for our community to connect, learn from our 400+ remarkable Movement Partners, and utilize a wide range of tools to equip Builders to lead and grow in their hometowns. 

This year, we launched Builders Texas as a civic innovation lab. Many have asked, “Why Texas?” The first reason is that Texas is like four states in one, with distinct geographic regions ranging from the most prosperous and fastest-growing cities in the nation to some of the poorest and least populous counties in America. Often, once Texas passes legislation, there is a ripple effect across the country, with some states following suit and others passing laws in direct opposition.

Citizens Solutions is a marquee citizen empowerment program of Builders. This year in Texas, the first issue we are tackling is healthcare—a big, complex challenge that looms large for all Texans. To gain insights, Builders launched an innovative AI-driven conversation tool named Ima. We have heard from hundreds of citizens who shared their experiences and ideas to improve healthcare access and affordability in Texas. Earlier this month, we convened 14 citizens from across the political spectrum for three days of intense collaborative policy development. This work will continue in 2026 & 2027, expanding to a new issue and building on this unique, citizen-centric approach to policymaking and grassroots advocacy. Ultimately, success will be a large group of Builders standing next to the Governor as the Builders policy becomes law in Texas.  

A quote from one of the Texas Citizen Solutions participants captures the power of convening and collaboration: 

“Allowing others to share their experiences in a safe environment, regardless of background, political or religious beliefs, created a strong bond among those participating, which in turn fostered excellent conditions for growth and collaborative ideas. It was such an honor to witness what we are capable of doing as a group of very diverse individuals, in a time of discord and political division.” 

After only three months with Builders, I am 100% certain of three things: 

1. Americans not only agree on more than we think, we actually crave connections with people who think differently—we want to find common ground.
2. The status quo’s constant quest for division, which rewards them financially and politically, is now in the harsh light of day. The conversations demanding accountability and more civility will not go away. 
3. The Bulders community is unlike any other because it is built on love for one’s neighbor and deep respect for America’s promise—we will no longer stand by and let division tear us apart. 

Builders is a national cross-partisan movement powered by informed optimism and grace-filled grit. We are just getting started, and the best is yet to come. Please consider supporting our work by joining as a Builder and making a donation. We look forward to seeing you both online and in person in 2026. Get ready to roll up your sleeves, and let’s get to work. 2026 will be the Year of the Builders! 

With gratitude and hope,  

Stacy Blakeley

The post The Moment Is Urgent. The Future Is Ours to Build. appeared first on Builders.

Here is the challenge: the most extreme voices are the loudest. Media and culture prop up the pot stirrers—not the problem solvers. All the noise, vitriol, and division are breaking down trust, eroding essential institutions, and ultimately, leading to dehumanization and tragic violence. 

Here is what you can do: Support our growing community of more than 400,000 citizens from every corner of the country. 4 million followers on social means we are on to something—Americans want to rebuild, reconnect, and restore the foundations of common ground that make us stronger together.  Please consider making a one-time or monthly tax-deductible contribution that will fuel our mission and expand the reach of this powerful citizen-led movement. 

Support the Builders Movement

The post Help Turn Common Ground into Real Change appeared first on Builders.

The Values of Family AND Freedom

Will do one for each:

Conservatives: I appreciate how they see the value in a nuclear family and ensuring that children have a strong support system.

Liberals: I appreciate how they largely fight for justice for all. “If only some of us are free, then none of us are free.”

—Josh S

Showing Up With Grit AND Growth

Conservatives show up with grit.

They’re determined, they’ll get their hands dirty, and when their people need them, they don’t hesitate. There’s a loyalty there, a “we take care of our own” kind of backbone that I genuinely respect.

Liberals show up with openness.

They’re thinkers, question-askers, willing to sit with discomfort and let people be imperfect. There’s a curiosity and compassion there, a “we grow by listening” kind of heart that I also deeply value.

—Small Moments in Oklahoma

To Protect AND to Nurture 

Conservatives are good at protecting a country from invaders.

Liberals are good at empathy and being nonjudgmental.

I’ve oftentimes wondered if our 2 parties in the U.S. are subconsciously based on traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity. The former hunts and protects, while the latter nurtures and nests. If we could only get the two sides to work together they’d make a hell of a team!

—Jesse H

Championing Personal accountability AND Justice for All 

I admire how conservatives often emphasize personal responsibility and align with values that provide social stability.

I admire how liberals champion justice for all people and the protection of individual rights.

—Mikey P

Fiscal Responsibility AND Standing Up for the Marginalized

Independent personally, but I like the focus on fiscal responsibility and government restraint of traditional conservatives, and I like how liberals try to protect and stand up for the marginalized.

—Bim R

Core Values We All Agree On

I appreciate the conservative impulse to keep taxes low and government small, as long as those impulses are balanced by the need for a strong, working, collective infrastructure (including physical structures, our shared ecology, and the protection of equal rights). I also believe that whether one is conservative or liberal, there are many core things we all want and can agree on – such as that our children and other loved ones are fed, housed, healthy, safe, well educated, and free to pursue the life they choose.

—Claire P

On Moving to a Republican Town

I moved from a very Democratic area across the country to a very conservative one. And it’s been a real education to see how the societal norms impact the two cultures. I’ve generally really enjoyed the experience even if I don’t always agree with what was said.

I appreciate that Conservatives (in this area) have very different ideas about how to get things done because of the way they perceive they have been treated by the government (both for good and for bad). They make a lot of sense when you understand the context of why they feel that way.

I try to focus more on what we have in common vs what we don’t. Like term limits. I haven’t met a single person who doesn’t agree that we need term limits (and not just 2, 4, or 6 years—more like you can’t be in Congress for 25+ years).

—Elizabeth A

The post From the Inbox: We Asked Liberals and Conservatives to Compliment Each Other—Here’s What Happened. appeared first on Builders.

Keep going to see what brought them here.

To Build a Better World for Our Children

I feel like with all of the division, some of us are at risk of violence due to having different political views than others. I try to remind folks that a different political view doesn’t make me or others Satan or a traitor. I try to remind them we all want similar things. A full belly, a better world for our grandchildren, love. 

—Kim P

To Make Democracy Stronger

I see polarization as a catalyst for autocracy. I’m Venezuelan and I’ve seen solid democracies fall. I trust Americans are meant to make democracy stronger if we do something about it. 

Also, we Americans agree more than we disagree. We are united, but the powers that be want to convince us we are not. 

—Deborah M.

To Build Bridges with Friends and Family

I joined because I want to be a bridge builder to my MAGA friends and relatives. I want to meet them where they are, really listen, and reaffirm that we want the same things for ourselves, our families, and each other. So, how do we band together instead of polarizing

I joined because I believe even a small ripple has power, a voice should be used for good, and we are more intelligent than the algorithms that funnel us into fear, hate, despair, cynicism and apathy. Whew!

—Pamala R

To Cut Out the Distractions

I’m tired of divisiveness about problems that don’t impact my neighbors nearly as much as a strong local community. I believe politicos have learned to leverage this divide for their benefit. They will continue to do so if we the people don’t fix it.

—Steve F

To Demand Accountability

What brought me here? The battle between corporatists and oligarchs leaving out the people that actually make the country run. Taxation without representation. Military Industrial Complex redistributing of wealth. Corrupted 2-party system that is right of center compared to the rest of the “civilized” world. Term-limits. Campaign financing. Corporate Personhood. Politically manipulated and biased Supreme Court. Separation of Church and State. Using Military against citizens. No accountability from either side.

—David P

To Practice Love and Compassion

I am exhausted. I cannot stand the state of our country or our world. Everything is going to hell so fast it’s (perhaps, purposefully) impossible to keep up, much less keep smiling. I’ve worked hard on overcoming my “Snowflake” fragility. I’ve worked hard to curb my demonization of those who vote/choose to support people and policies that directly oppose my own political, ethical, and moral principles. I have done much to practice love in the face of hate, from others and from the hate fighting to be heard within me.  

But try as I might, I succeed far less than I fail.   

I am exhausted by my own unceasing judgment and lack of forgiveness; my endless failure to possess in my heart the compassion—the humanity—I need and expect from myself. I am exhausted by the feelings of alienation, of being seen as “other,” of being “nasty,” of feeling unwelcome and unwanted in my own country.  I’m so tired. And I need a tool or resource or some sense of support to help me overcome these obstacles, so that I might spread wisdom to others suffering the same exhaustion.

Here for the reconstruction,

—Anna P

To Prove We Aren’t Enemies

I am tired of hearing that I am the enemy and my neighbor is the enemy, when actually we want the same thing, but we just look at it from different angles. I would like perspective on what is actually happening in America instead of what the media tells me.  

—Rogina

To Help Us Evolve

We have not been made for the modern world. The arrival of the modern world came too fast for normal evolution to keep up. But fortunately, that same evolution gave us a brain that allows us to evolve rapidly.

If we don’t use that brain, we will quickly extinct ourselves. We may already be past that critical brink, but we still have to try to claw ourselves back from the ledge.

—John R

To Grow Together

Good to be here. I joined because I believe that all meaningful and lasting change has to happen at the citizen level if we ever hope to elect (and hold accountable) representatives who share our interests. 

I think the most fundamental change happens in the way we interact with information, circumstances and people. 

I’m excited to grow together in sentiment and action. 

—Ted W

The post From the Inbox: Readers Share the Reason They joined appeared first on Builders.

And yet—zoom out just a little—and a far more hopeful story emerges.

2025 was full of moments that reminded us of something important: even in divided times, people continue to find ways to show up, work together, and surprise each other.

Here are six things that gave us real hope this year.

1. Peace Came Back Into View

For much of the last few years, peace in places like Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, and Russia felt unrealistic. In 2025, it started to feel possible again.

The suffering didn’t stop, and for many people it remains unbearable. But amid the loss, sustained diplomatic efforts, ceasefire talks, humanitarian corridors, and renewed international pressure began to point toward something that had felt absent for a long time: the possibility of de-escalation. That matters. History shows peace usually arrives not with fireworks, but with slow—sometimes frustratingly so—deeply imperfect steps forward.

Hope doesn’t mean pretending the work is done. It means believing the work is still worth doing.

2. Bipartisan Bills Quietly Did Their Thing

You’d never know it from cable news, but 2025 included a number of bipartisan bills that actually passed on things voters overwhelmingly agree on.

Healthcare expansion for people recovering from opioid addiction. Increased financial support for disabled veterans. Funding for rural school districts and county services in areas hit by disasters.

Were they sweeping, system-overhauling masterpieces? No. But they were evidence of something increasingly rare: lawmakers working together for the American people.

3. When Disaster Struck, People Didn’t Ask Who You Voted For

If 2025 reminded us of anything, it’s that nature doesn’t care about party affiliation. 

And neither did the people who showed up afterward.

When devastating wildfires erupted in California, neighbors cleared streets for emergency vehicles and mobilized to get homeless people out of camps and to secure locations away from the fires. When floods tore through the Texas Hill Country, neighbors rescued neighbors and set up makeshift relief stations days before the county showed up. When a tornado flattened North St. Louis, community volunteers created their own organization, “People’s Response,” to clean up the community and coordinate door-to-door deliveries. Across the country, donations poured in to help affected communities. 

In crises, ideology fades fast. What remains is a very human instinct: help the person in front of you. That instinct is still alive and well.

4. Even Some of Our Loudest Partisans Started Softening Their Edges

Leaders on both sides of the aisle called for more cross-party unity in 2025.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MINN) publicly urged fellow lawmakers to “mitigate inflamed rhetoric” after Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed, calling for more civility in political discourse. Governor Spencer Cox (R-UT) encouraged Americans to “choose a different path” following the shooting of Charlie Kirk.

One of the more unexpected shifts this year came from people we’re used to hearing in all-caps.

Liberal commentator Dean Withers wept during his heartfelt message condemning Kirk’s shooting, despite having vehemently disagreed with the Republican activist. Firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said she regretted taking part in what she called “toxic politics” and announced her resignation. 

When people who benefit from outrage start questioning it, that’s worth paying attention to.

5. Everyday Americans Kept Showing Up to Bridge Divides—Even When They Didn’t Think They Could

During our Citizen Solutions session in Texas, we brought together people from across the state with very different backgrounds and political views—many of whom arrived convinced that productive conversation across those differences was impossible. 

Instead, they shared personal experiences with the healthcare system and worked side by side to develop practical healthcare solutions they could agree on despite their differences.

Over and over, participants told us some version of the same thing: “I didn’t think I could do this—but I can.” 

6. Hundreds of Thousands of People Chose to Be Builders

In 2025, the Builders Movement grew to over 4 million members strong across our communities.

Those numbers aren’t about us—they’re about what they represent.

In a year saturated with division, hundreds of thousands of people actively chose a different posture: unity over outrage, problem-solving over point-scoring, humanity over hostility.

That’s not a fringe impulse. It’s a quiet majority raising its hand and saying, “There has to be a better way—and I’m willing to help build it.”

A Builderly Resolution for the Year Ahead

Hope isn’t passive. It’s a decision.

As we head into a new year, our resolution isn’t to pretend differences don’t exist or that hard problems will magically resolve themselves. It’s to take these moments as precedent.

People can work together.
Conversations can change minds.
Trust can be rebuilt.
Systems can improve—if citizens stay involved.

Being a Builder doesn’t mean being endlessly optimistic. It means being stubbornly committed to the idea that we’re better off building together than tearing each other apart.

And if 2025 taught us anything, it’s that we’re far from alone in believing that.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Help turn common ground into real change

You’re a Builder, which means you, like us, believe that most Americans agree more than the loudest voices want us to believe—and that solutions are possible when people come before politics. In a world where extremists seek to divide for power and profit, Builders take action to unite, create, and bring light to the world. Support the development of new media, tools, and platforms to help us give power back to the people.

Support the Builders Movement

The post 6 Things That Restored Our Faith in Humanity This Year appeared first on Builders.

Extremism like this doesn’t grow out of religion—it hijacks it. Across history, violent movements have twisted nearly every major faith to justify harm: a white supremacist invoking Christian identity murdered worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018; Islamist extremists killed hundreds in the Sri Lanka Easter bombings in 2019; Buddhist nationalists have incited violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar; Hindu extremists have attacked religious minorities in India; and far-right militants have carried out mass violence in the name of a “Christian Europe,” as in Norway in 2011. Different doctrines. Same pattern.

What these movements share isn’t theology: it’s fear, isolation, grievance, and a hunger for certainty in a chaotic world. When people feel ignored or unmoored, rigid ideologies offer something comforting: simple answers, clear enemies, and instant belonging. Even within faith groups, there is often division and derision, especially now that nationalism and fundamentalism have become more mainstream.

Every major religion calls for humility, compassion, and care for the vulnerable. Extremists don’t represent faith communities—they exploit them. That’s why pushing back doesn’t mean attacking religion or litigating belief online. It means supporting the overwhelming majority of people of faith who want their values to build trust, protect neighbors, and hold communities together rather than tear them apart. 

Here are 9 practical ways to do exactly that.

1. Support Local Faith Leaders Who Preach Unity

Most pastors, rabbis, imams, priests, and lay leaders are doing quiet, unglamorous work to keep their communities grounded. Like Movement Partner Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, who preaches curiosity, courage, and “fierce love”—even for people who hate you. 

A 2025 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that most religious Americans support coexistence with other faiths, believing that religious diversity strengthens U.S. society.

Supporting these leaders by attending events, sharing their work, or helping fund community programs amplifies moderation and makes extremism less attractive.

2. Teach People How Manipulation Works

Extremist movements don’t recruit with doctrine first. They recruit with emotion: fear, humiliation, outrage, and a threat to identity.

Teaching media literacy, emotional manipulation tactics, and critical thinking—especially in churches, mosques, synagogues, and youth groups—helps people recognize when faith is being weaponized.

Groups like Moonshot use media literacy and prevention programs to disrupt radicalization before it turns violent. They teach us to ask: Who is telling this story, and what do they want me to feel? Is this presenting evidence or just repeating worst-case examples? Is disagreement being framed as evil or dangerous rather than human? Does this message leave space for compassion, humility, and doubt?

3. Create Exit Ramps for People Getting Pulled In

Leaving extremism is hard both socially and emotionally. Sometimes, exiting such a group can be physically dangerous.

Organizations like Life After Hate specialize in helping people disengage from extremist movements safely and rebuild their lives with compassionate, evidence-based interventions. These interventions are helmed by “formers” — people who have been de-radicalized from extremist groups themselves and can exemplify a positive future free from the extremist group. 

4. Call Out Hate Without Attacking Whole Communities

Condemning violence is necessary. Blaming entire religions is counterproductive. When we treat millions of peaceful people as a single threat, we reinforce the “us vs. them” story extremists depend on. 

After 9/11, spikes in discrimination and hate crimes against Muslim communities were exploited by violent groups as proof that coexistence was impossible, helping fuel further radicalization . 

The goal is to isolate harmful ideas, not entire faith traditions.

5. Give People Meaningful Ways to Belong

Extremist groups often succeed where communities fail to provide a sense of belonging.

Sociologists studying radicalization consistently find that identity and purpose matter as much as ideology. People don’t just join extremist movements because of beliefs. They join because they want to matter.

Community service programs, faith-based volunteer work, and cross-community projects give people a healthier sense of mission. Groups like our partner organization One America hold workshops and build faith networks across the country with the goal of fighting extremism and building resilience to toxic polarization. 

Belonging doesn’t have to come with an enemy.

6. Shrink Online Radicalization Pipelines

Social media algorithms reward content that promotes outrage, certainty, and fear—the same emotions extremists rely on.

A 2021 study found that YouTube recommendation systems can amplify extremist content. And how social media platforms moderate extremist content leaves much to be desired. Research shows that when major platforms crack down, extremist groups simply migrate to smaller or encrypted spaces, then re-enter mainstream platforms with toned-down messaging. Recent rollbacks in moderation at large platforms have made this cycle even easier.

To complicate matters, moderation can become fodder for extremist recruiters, who point to social media censorship as evidence that their ideology is being suppressed by the powers that be. 

Tamar Mitts, a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, argues that due to the atomization of the social media environment, the solution isn’t platform-by-platform crackdowns, but rather coordinated, ecosystem-wide moderation standards—especially for universally harmful content, such as calls for violence—supported by shared tools and databases such as ROOST. 

7. Strengthen Schools and Youth Programs

Young people are especially vulnerable during identity-forming years.

Groups like Interfaith Youth Core aim to teach children civic engagement, empathy, and pluralism to reduce susceptibility to extremist narratives later in life.

Schools, after-school programs, and faith-based youth groups can serve as protective factors—not by preaching politics, but by building social trust and resilience.

8. Address the Real Pain Under the Anger

Economic insecurity, loneliness, trauma, and social dislocation fuel extremism far more than theology.

The RAND Corporation has found that grievance and perceived injustice are among the strongest predictors of radicalization.

Policies and programs that reduce isolation—mental health access, job training, addiction support, and community rebuilding—cut extremism off at the root.

Our government made significant strides in addressing this pain in 2025. Across the country, 29 states enacted 75 bills focused on expanding workforce support, crisis response systems, and school-based mental health initiatives.

9. Build Real Relationships Across Differences

Extremism thrives in isolation. Relationships interrupt it.

Decades of research show that personal contact across differences reduces prejudice and radical thinking. When people actually know someone from another faith, race, or political background, extreme narratives lose their power.

Programs like our partner organization Interfaith America help colleges, workplaces, and communities build real interfaith relationships—not just panels or debates, but shared projects and friendships.

Bridging divides is the best way to keep fear from hijacking something meant to give people hope.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis

The post 9 Ways to Take Religion Back from Extremists appeared first on Builders.

Beyond the Politics of Contempt by Doug Teschner and Beth Malow, 2025

In addition to working for our partner organization, Braver Angels, these authors boast an impressive resume of bridge-building. Teschner served as a GOP state legislator and led the Peace Corps in Ukraine. Malow is a neurologist, science communicator, and TEDx speaker with a focus on public health. Together, they offer nourishment for America’s hungry soul. While many are fearful about our nation’s future, Beyond features personal stories and useful ways to better our lives, our relationships, and our country.

The Certainty Trap by Ilana Redstone, 2024

Sociologist Ilana Redstone explores a feeling most of us know too well: the moment when disagreement turns into moral outrage and everyone else suddenly seems clueless. Redstone argues that our fiercest debates—from politics to culture—are rarely simple, even when certainty makes them feel that way. By unpacking how overconfidence distorts our thinking, she makes a case for clearer values, better questions, and more trust across divides.

Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness by Jamil Zaki, 2024

Stanford psychologist Dr. Jamil Zaki digs into why cynicism feels so justified right now—and why it’s quietly making us more anxious, isolated, and wrong about other people. Blending sharp science with real-world stories, he shows that humans are far kinder than we give them credit for, and that expecting the worst often makes things worse. Zaki’s antidote isn’t blind optimism, but what he calls hopeful skepticism: staying clear-eyed and humane at the same time. It’s a surprisingly practical guide to trusting again without being naïve.

Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World by Scott Shigeoka, 2023

A roadmap for anyone who’s tired of feeling disconnected from the world around them. Scott Shigeoka, an internationally recognized curiosity expert and bridge builder, argues that our real problem isn’t disagreement, it’s a lack of deep curiosity. Blending research with candid personal stories, he introduces the DIVE model—a practical way to drop assumptions, prepare your mindset, recognize everyone’s dignity, and stay open even when things get uncomfortable. This isn’t about winning arguments or fixing people. It’s about relearning how to be genuinely curious again—and using that skill to heal relationships, workplaces, and communities that feel stuck or broken.

Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing by Chris Bail, 2021 

The book that gently (and scientifically) explains why scrolling Twitter doesn’t actually help you “understand the other side.” Sociologist Chris Bail shows that social media doesn’t just reflect who we are—it warps it, amplifying the loudest extremists while quietly sidelining the exhausted middle. Using real experiments, interviews, and some genuinely surprising findings, Bail explains why leaving your echo chamber can sometimes make polarization worse, not better. The good news: you don’t have to delete your accounts or move to a cabin. Bail offers practical, research-backed ways to engage online more sanely—and a glimpse of what social media could look like if we redesigned it to bring people together instead of tearing them apart.

The Call to Unite by Tim Shriver and Tom Rosshirt, 2021

Born out of the early days of the pandemic, this book collects prayers, poems, reflections, and hard-won wisdom from an unexpectedly wide range of voices—faith leaders, artists, activists, doctors, and people who’ve lived through real loss. Edited by Tim Shriver and Tom Rosshirt, it’s less about fixing everything and more about reminding us how to be human together. When the news feels overwhelming, this is the book you open to steady your breathing and remember you’re not alone.

Become America by Eric Liu, 2019

A pep talk for democracy—minus the shouting and with way more heart. In 19 short, sermon-style essays, Eric Liu asks a deceptively simple question: What if loving America meant actually showing up for it? He writes about citizenship, equal justice, and responsibility in plain English, with warmth and urgency, reminding us that democracy isn’t something we spectate—it’s something we practice. Liu, a longtime civic advocate and former White House speechwriter, offers hope without ignoring the mess, and makes getting involved feel possible, not preachy.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

The post 7 Books That Bring Us Together appeared first on Builders.

Informed by Ima—our AI agent currently collecting healthcare stories from Texans statewide—the participants discussed the issues that citizens care about most and politicians often overlook. Everything from mounting medical debt to difficulty finding a primary care doctor was covered. 

They left with a renewed belief in their own agency. In the words of one participant: “We all have the power to be policymakers.”

How Did It Go? 

A week after the session, participants are still processing their experiences. The resounding takeaway was not their political differences, but what they were able to create despite them. 

Jay Shoesmith, a Libertarian salesperson from Longview, Texas, reflected: 

“At first, I was a little hesitant about going. Typically, I disagree with most Democrats or Republicans because I seek less governmental influence in our lives, and taxes seem to be a way of control. Even though we live in different areas with different political views, we have the same concerns of affordable and accessible healthcare.   

One of the attendees mentioned his insurance went from $750 a month for his family to around $1950 a month. That one statement made me think about the situation and pushed me outside my comfort zone. I decided to agree with most of the initiatives and even some that go against my Libertarian beliefs. I justify this because we can’t just leave a good portion of Texans without affordable and accessible healthcare. As a 4-year-old, I lost my dad to complications in a heart valve transplant. As an adult I spent 3 weeks in the hospital with Covid not being able to breathe and then being sued by the hospital. It taught me that many can be in a debtor’s prison without affordable protection. In my heart and with these experiences, I cannot justify continuing with the current situation.”

Jennifer Kranzman, a Republican retired nurse, said: 

“When I got the call: ‘Are you interested in sitting with strangers talking about healthcare?’ she saw my smile through the phone. 

“I have come to realize America is far from perfect in delivering healthcare. Texas has 35 counties considered medical deserts, barren of any medical services, leaving our citizens to fend for themselves. This high-priority issue should have been addressed decades ago. It is time for a paradigm shift.  We can learn from other countries, other states, what best practice looks like, what preventative and outcome-driven care should encompass. Our younger attendees, Davrien and John, their insight and passion to be Builders, to lead the next generation to value dialogue, and their voice to find solutions, leave me very hopeful.” 

Dr. Adrian Billings from Alpine, Texas, said: 

“As a rural community physician for my entire career, I viewed this session as yet another chance to share my rural patient and colleague stories. Over the 3-day session, the anxiety that had challenged me as I prepared rapidly faded away as our group of Builders thoughtfully and respectfully shared our concerns with the current U.S. healthcare system. I was overcome with emotion at how the 14 of us all agreed that something had to be done to improve our healthcare system. This mutual agreement was in spite of our different zip codes that we hailed from, whether we were healthcare professionals or patients. And our agreement on policy solutions crossed all of the political associations and beliefs that each of us brought to the table.”

What’s Next?

Now that these citizens have landed on some priority policies, it’s time to give the floor to their fellow citizens. We’ll keep our Ima chatbot open for another few weeks to ensure that Texans who weren’t able to attend the solution session have a chance to express their ideas. Then, in tandem with policy experts, we’ll fine-tune a set of policy proposals that these Builders can meaningfully mobilize behind. Stay tuned! 

The post Builders ‘Citizen Solutions’ Session Exposes Common Ground on Texas Healthcare appeared first on Builders.

A recent study found that an estimated 19% of families in Texas have medical debt in collections. In some rural counties, the share exceeds 40%. So it’s no wonder 3 in 5 Texans are worried about medical bankruptcy. 

Whether you’re on the left or the right, Texans across the political spectrum agree that getting sick shouldn’t mean getting buried in debt—or, worse yet, refusing treatment that could save your life.

Here are the medical costs that are killing Texas wallets.

1. Skyrocketing Insurance Deductibles and Premiums

Texas consistently has among the highest annual deductibles and premiums in the country. In 2025, they paid the sixth-highest burden of any state in the US. 

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicare markets saw some of the steepest increases. Texas ACA insurers hiked average monthly premiums by about 35% for 2025, one of the biggest percentage increases in the nation.

Those sky-high prices are a big reason routine care gets delayed, and delayed care often becomes expensive care. 

2. Steep Out-of-Pocket Medication Prices

Prescription costs hit Texans hard—especially those managing chronic conditions. A 2024 poll found 37% of Texans say they have “skipped doses of a medication, discontinued a medication, or delayed or avoided a medical procedure because [they] could not afford to pay for it.”

Texans often skip doses to stretch a prescription, pay out of pocket for drugs not fully covered, or discover at the pharmacy counter that a medication their doctor prescribed suddenly costs more than their electric bill.

3. Missed Work = Lost Income

Medical debt isn’t just about medical costs—it’s also about the money people aren’t making while they recover or care for someone else. Texas doesn’t require paid sick leave statewide, so workers often have to choose between getting better or getting paid.

Lost wages pile onto medical bills, especially for hourly workers, single parents, or anyone caring for a child or aging parent. One unexpected illness can unravel a family’s entire financial month.

4. Medical Credit Cards & Third-Party Lenders

About 1 in 4 Texas consumers has medical debt on their credit report. In communities of color, that number is as high as 1 in 3. When faced with a bill they can’t pay, many Texans turn to medical credit cards or third-party lenders. 

Medical credit cards can feel like lifelines, but often hide high-interest rates and deferred-interest traps. There isn’t a specific cap for interest rates on many medical credit cards and third party loans in Texas, meaning rates can be very high (often 20% to 30% or higher). 

A provider’s billing office offers medical credit cards during checkout or after a bill arrives. It’s framed as a way to “break payments into manageable monthly amounts.” But many patients don’t realize they’re signing up for a credit product, not a hospital payment plan.

Families get stuck paying far more than the original bill. It’s a quiet debt spiral that follows people long after they’ve left the hospital.

5. Gaps in Coverage

Texas still has the highest uninsured rate in the United States: 13.6% of Texas children and 21.6% of Texas adults lack coverage, according to a 2024 census report. 

For uninsured families, even a minor injury can feel like a financial emergency. And for insured Texans, gaps appear when plans don’t cover certain specialists, mental health providers, therapies, or essential follow-up care. Every gap in coverage becomes an opportunity for debt to creep in.

Gaps also make preventive care harder to access, which makes long-term problems more expensive—both for families and for the state.

Different views. The same medical bills.

Being a Builder doesn’t mean pretending our disagreements about healthcare aren’t real. It means remembering that the people on the other side of those disagreements are getting hit with the same hospital bills, the same insurance fine print, and the same late-night question of “How are we going to pay for this?”

It’s only when Texans start from that shared reality that we can find a way forward.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis

We Want to Hear Your Healthcare Story or Idea

We built a first-of-its-kind AI host called Ima to give Texans a voice on the issues that matter most—starting with healthcare. The goal is to make it easier for more people to participate in policymaking—no trip to the Capitol required. We would love to hear from you. Follow this link to share a personal story or practical idea related to healthcare access or affordability in Texas. Your input—along with all of the ideas submitted by your fellow Texans—will help inform policy proposals that will be delivered to state lawmakers ahead of the 2027 legislative session.

Make your voice heard

The post 5 Unexpected Costs That Push Texans Into Medical Debt appeared first on Builders.

Across the country, the essentials of everyday life now feel like luxuries. Food prices are now more than 18% higher than they were in early 2022. Housing is even worse: you need to earn about $117,000 per year to afford a median-priced home, while the average household makes around $84,000. Then there’s child care, which now costs about $13,128 a year on average, up roughly 30% since 2020. More than 100 million adults (about 41% of the country) are carrying medical debt they can’t pay. Add in utilities averaging $265 a month, up 12% in a single year, and even keeping the lights on has become a monthly stress test. 

So it’s no surprise that 56% of Americans say the affordability crisis is their top concern. 

Democrats and Republicans may argue about who’s to blame, but they’re often describing the same lived reality: life costs too much and paychecks haven’t kept up.

Let’s look at how the affordability crisis got this bad and why the usual partisan talking points keep us stuck.

Democrats say the game is rigged

Democrats tend to see today’s affordability crisis as a system tilted in favor of the biggest players. 

From this perspective, housing is expensive because large investors can outbid families and local zoning rules prevent affordable housing. 

Healthcare costs soar because massive hospital systems and insurers can set prices as high as they want without government intervention. 

And grocery prices reflect corporate greed, with just a handful of megabrands controlling the vast majority of the food supply. 

The Democratic response flows from that diagnosis: crack down on monopolies, increase government assistance for housing, healthcare, and childcare, raise the minimum wage, cap drug prices, and cancel student debt.

Republicans say the government broke the machine

Republicans look at the same affordability squeeze and trace it back to a different culprit: too much government in the engine room of the economy. 

From this perspective, housing is expensive because zoning rules make it painfully slow and costly to build. 

Energy costs climb because environmental regulations restrict supply. 

Food gets pricier because inflation (fueled by heavy government spending) drives up transportation, labor, and production costs. 

And wages lag because jobs get shipped overseas for cheaper labor and business taxes eat into what could trickle down to workers. 

The Republican playbook flows straight from that diagnosis: cut taxes so people keep more of what they earn, roll back regulations to speed up housing, energy, and business expansion, rein in government spending to cool inflation, and trust competition to drive prices down faster than any bureaucracy ever could. 

Citizens from both parties agree on solutions—why can’t politicians?

Despite these differences, there’s a striking amount of agreement on what citizens actually want.

Across parties, voters agree on making healthcare prices transparent, lowering drug costs, breaking up monopolies, and making it easier to build more homes (even in their own backyards).

So why does progress feel impossible?

Because our political incentive structure rewards conflict and punishes cooperation. For a politician whose primary goal is reelection, outrage at the other side is one of the most powerful tools on their belt. Outrage drives fundraising. Division mobilizes bases. And actually solving problems drains the fuel that keeps political campaigns running. 

On top of that, if a Republican publicly supports a policy branded as “liberal,” such as Medicaid expansion, it can be framed as a betrayal by their base. If a Democrat backs something labeled “conservative,” such as opposing H-1B visas that notoriously underpay employees, the same thing happens on their side. That makes their seat an easy target for a primary challenger—someone eager to prove they’d never “cave to the other side.”

At the same time, big industries hire armies of lobbyists, donate to campaigns, and fund political groups to shape laws and regulations in their favor—even if those laws aren’t great for the public. Powerful companies in healthcare, housing, pharmaceuticals, and insurance consistently resist reforms that threaten profits.

And the media ecosystem often amplifies what inflames rather than what unites, making bipartisan agreement seem rarer than it really is. 

Bottom Line

Democrats are trying to protect people from powerful corporations. Republicans are trying to protect people from powerful government. Most Americans just want protection from financial free-fall.

And until leaders start treating affordability like a shared crisis instead of a partisan weapon, families will keep doing what they’re doing now: budgeting harder, stressing more, and wondering how a country this wealthy made survival feel this expensive.

The good news? The solutions already overlap more than the politics suggests. What we need now is for our elected leaders to work toward the shared goals most Americans already agree on.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis

The post The Real Reason Politicians Can’t Fix the Affordability Crisis appeared first on Builders.

A 2025 large-scale study by social-cybersecurity researchers estimated that roughly 20% of social media chatter during major global events came from bots, with the remaining 80% from humans.

Many bots are designed by foreign actors to manipulate public opinion on highly contentious topics. One study found that nearly 15% of Tweets about Covid-19 posted in 2020 likely came from bots. These bots commonly posted misinformation with hashtags related to Trump, QAnon, vaccines, and China. Domestic agitators have also used bots to amplify Islamophobia and anti-semitism.

The goal of these bots is simple but incredibly destructive: they’re designed to warp the public conversation until we can’t tell what’s real. By flooding social media with misleading stories, recycled outrage, and old videos reframed as “breaking news,” bots make everyday Americans distrust institutions—police, elections, local governments, even each other. They amplify the most divisive narratives, push emotionally charged disinformation, and create the illusion that the country is angrier and more polarized than it actually is. 

When people can’t agree on basic facts, democratic decision-making grinds down, and that’s exactly the outcome these campaigns are built to produce.

How Foreign Adversaries Are Using Bots Against Us

The foreign nations that deploy these bots do so to destabilize Western democracies and create openings for authoritarian governments to gain influence globally.

Russia has launched aggressive bot and troll operations to fracture support for NATO and Ukraine, and make Americans fight with each other instead of noticing Russia’s actions abroad. 

China deploys armies of bots to suppress stories that make Beijing look bad, like the ethnic roundup of Uyghurs or protests in major cities against the 2022 lockdowns. When people on X/Twitter typed in “Uyghur” or city names in search of footage, they instead found sexual content with “Uyghur” or “Beijing” in the caption. This strategy of burying sources is called “flooding.”

Iranian actors create thousands of fake social media profiles that appear to be ordinary Americans, sometimes with AI-generated photos, to push viewpoints aligned with Iranian interests.

The governments running these bot campaigns all have one thing in common: tightly controlled, state-run media. Nothing gets published without approval from the top. In the U.S., we do the opposite: we protect free speech and rely on an independent press. It’s one of our greatest strengths as a democracy. But it also creates an opening our adversaries can exploit. They can flood our information ecosystem with propaganda, disinformation, and fake accounts, while we can’t respond in kind because they tightly restrict what their citizens are allowed to see. It’s an asymmetry they understand—and use—very well.

A Bot Built Just for You

Bot operations study Americans the way marketers study customers. They map out race, region, religion, age, political lean, and then craft fake accounts and messages to hit emotional pressure points.

In these cases, the “bots” aren’t exactly bots. They are what experts call “sock puppets” — real people pretending to be someone they are not. But they do work in tandem with automated bots. After this small number of provocateur “sock puppets” post the initial content, the automated bots dramatically scale it up through mass retweets and replies, creating a megaphone effect.

Sock puppets linked to Russia target Black voters by posting memes that portray the US as irredeemably racist, old videos of police brutality captioned to imply they had just happened, and messaging that says “your vote doesn’t matter” as both sides are the same. One such account called @WokeLuisa amassed 50,000 followers before X/Twitter traced it back to the Internet Research Agency (IRA) based in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Meanwhile, foreign political operators seeking influence—and domestic grifters chasing ad revenue—are creating MAGA sock puppets. They’ll find photos of a European model, photoshop a MAGA hat on her head, and post her with captions that say things like “I Follow Back All Patriots.” CNN and the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) exposed dozens of these accounts by reverse image-searching the photos.

Why Aren’t Social Media Companies Stopping Bots?

Social media platforms know bots are destructive. They’ve known this. And yet the problem keeps growing like roots under a sidewalk, quietly breaking everything around it.

Companies do try to dam up the flood. Facebook deleted 3.3 billion fake users in 2023 alone. TikTok says they’ve deleted over 120 million bot accounts in the past 12 months.

Some speculate that social media platforms could crack down on bots more aggressively than they do, but the economics of engagement work against that. Bots boost activity, drive outrage, and keep users hooked. That means the very thing that makes bots harmful to democracy also makes them profitable for Big Tech.

How to Spot a Bot

So what can you do? You learn the tells. Bots tend to reveal themselves the same way bad magicians do: recycled punchlines, suspicious timing, and the inability to improvise when the audience throws them a curveball.

Start with the language. They overuse certain emotional phrases (“Wake up America!!!”) and avoid any real personal detail.

Look at the activity pattern. Real humans sleep, eat, run errands, sometimes remember to water their plants. Bots… don’t. If an account posts at all hours, across wildly different topics, with almost no variance in tone, you’re probably dealing with a digital ghost.

Check the followers, too. A real person almost never has 8 followers, all of whom were created in the same week and all of whom post the exact same memes with the exact same typos. Bots run with bot crowds.

Observe how the account reacts when you shift the tone. When you ask a real person a clarifying question (“Hey, what do you mean by that?”), they’ll respond with something distinct. A bot will either ignore you or repeat its talking point like a malfunctioning smoke alarm. They’re built to provoke, not converse. (Note: this will likely only work with automated bots, not sock puppet accounts.)

The truth is, we’re living through a strange new era in democracy, one where foreign influence operations don’t need to hack our voting machines. They just need to hack our attention. And our attention is increasingly captured by impersonators whose job is to sow distrust of neighbors we’ve never even met.

The responsibility falls on all of us to stay clear-eyed in a landscape flooded with fakes. The bots may be getting smarter, but so are we. And the more we recognize what’s real, the harder it becomes for bad actors—foreign or otherwise—to hijack our conversations and our democracy.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis

The post You’re Being Influenced by Bots More Than You Think appeared first on Builders.

One in 5 adults in Texas experiences a mental health condition each year. And in 2023, 18.3% of Texas high school students said they made a plan about how they would attempt suicide—that’s up about 5% since 2001. These numbers are signals of a system buckling under its own weight. Texas is frequently ranked the worst state for mental healthcare. And 61% of children with depression receive no treatment. 

Behind every one of these statistics is a family navigating waitlists, a teacher acting as an ad-hoc counselor, a veteran pushed into crisis, or a caregiver searching for help that simply isn’t there. What follows are the stories Texans have shared: stories that reveal why the system is struggling, where it’s failing the people who need it most, and the steps we’re taking to build something better.

Patients and Caretakers on the Brink

Parents across Texas are navigating lengthy waitlists for child mental health programs. Families like Nidia Heston’s show what those delays really mean. 

When her son Quin was barred from starting eighth grade until he received a full psychiatric evaluation, doctors warned he needed intensive inpatient care—treatment that would have required Nidia to give up custody. Not wanting to give up her son, she spent a month waiting for him to be approved for the YES program, a home-based program that helped stabilize his bipolar disorder, autism, and ADHD. During that month, Heston says she had to sleep on the couch with Quin to make sure he didn’t hurt himself. 

The program now has nearly 900 children waiting, shrinking provider networks, and months-long delays that put families in crisis. Today, Quin is thriving, but he and his mother both say thousands of Texas families are still stuck in the gap where help exists—just not in time.

The Rural Healthcare Desert 

For rural Texans, the problem is geography. Some residents must drive 2–3 hours to reach a psychiatrist. Terry Scoggin, CEO of the Titus Regional Medical Center (TRMC), told the Texas Tribune: “We have one psychiatrist in the five counties that we support. So that gives you an idea of the lack of opportunities.” Most of the time, a rural Texan experiencing a mental health emergency is sent to the nearest ER, which is less than ideal.

“The emergency department is a very hectic, chaotic, life-and-death area. It’s not the best environment for a mental health person or person with drug overdose,” Scoggin said.

Because mental health centers are so limited and prohibitively expensive, teachers, pastors, and school counselors—often without training—have become de facto first responders. These roles weren’t meant to fall on them. But in the absence of a robust mental health system, they do.

The Structural Problems Behind the Pain

Texas has one of the largest mental health provider shortages in the country. 246 of Texas’ 254 counties are wholly or partially designated as “mental health professional shortage areas. This absence cascades into long waitlists for therapy, psychiatry, detox beds, and inpatient care.

Even when care is available, many Texans can’t afford it. The average cost of an out-of-pocket therapy session in Texas, according to a national state-by-state report, can be more than $160.

With nowhere else to go, Texans often end up in emergency rooms, jails, or schools—places never designed to function as mental health hubs.

Building a Better Future

There are real reasons to feel hopeful about where Texas is headed. 

Nonprofit organizations like the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute help the state improve mental health policies and programs so more people can get effective, affordable care. 

Lawmakers came into the 2025 session with a clear goal of strengthening the state’s mental health system. Their focus this year was simple: get people help faster, update outdated rules around emergency treatment, and put more money into services for kids, rural communities, first responders, and anyone in crisis.

Several bills push this work forward. SB 1164 updates how courts decide whether someone is at risk of harming themselves or others and whether they can safely make decisions about their care. The goal is to make sure these tough calls are based on medical evidence, not guesswork. SB 188 adds new funding for crisis centers, mobile crisis teams, and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline so people can get support immediately instead of waiting hours or days. HB 1747 creates a statewide council and trust fund to better coordinate mental health, substance-use, and public-health services—so families don’t fall through the cracks just because agencies aren’t talking to each other.

Rural areas should see big improvements, too. Roughly $239 million will go toward building and expanding inpatient mental health facilities, cutting down long ER wait times and hours-long drives just to find a bed.

Schools and first responders aren’t being left behind. More telehealth options will connect students to licensed therapists, and a new statewide peer-support network will give firefighters and EMS workers a safe, confidential place to get help when they need it most.

Texas still has a long road ahead, but this session marks a meaningful shift. And with sustained focus, community input, and smarter policy, Texas can build a future where getting help isn’t a privilege or a fight—it’s simply possible.

—Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis

The post Inside Texas’ Hidden Mental Health Crisis—Told by the People Living It appeared first on Builders.