"What Can I Do?" Skye Perryman's New Book Answers the Question
State of Belief

"What Can I Do?" Skye Perryman's New Book Answers the Question

August 15, 2026

How is public paralysis an actual tool of authoritarianism? Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman lays out the answer in conversation with host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush on The State of Belief. She’s written the ultimate antidote, a book titled Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times: How to Reclaim Your Power, Fight for Freedom, and Reimagine Democracy.

Listen to this week’s episode for Skye’s key action items including:

• Audit your information intake and identify what is helping or harming your understanding.

• Replace doomscrolling with one concrete action, even if it only takes five minutes.

• Practice speaking across difference without surrendering your values.

• Find one local or national way to support democracy work this week.

• Treat courage and joy as part of the same long-term civic practice.

You’ll come away changed and with a renewed sense of hope and possibility.

Skye's action hub for engagement around these lessons and many more is ordinarypeopleaction.org

The State of Belief host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush is President andCEO of Interfaith Alliance.

Transcript

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