04/07/2026
Please join us on May 13th at the Riverfront in Glastonbury for a community conversation on Orwell’s 1984 and its relevancy in 2026. Dr. Michael Clancy, Professor of Politics and Government at the University of Hartford will lead the discussion. Doors open at 6:45, start time is 7:00.
We offer this event because we continue to be concerned for America’s democracy. This concern is validated in polls by the Kettering Foundation-Gallup survey of November 20, 2025, by data from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Survey of July 18-20, 2025, by the Quinnipiac University Poll of September 24, 2025, and by Pew Research findings dated June 30, 2025. The numbers vary, but all indicate a high degree of dissatisfaction with the way our democracy is working. For example, according to the Chicago Council’s July 2025 survey, nearly 65% of Americans “view weakening democracy as a critical threat.”
Our forefathers left us a great legacy. As Lincoln noted so memorably in the Gettysburg Address, we are a government “of the people, by the people, for the people…” Today, as we approach the 250th anniversary of the birth of our nation, we know that damage has been done to that legacy. The last sixteen months have seen the rise of authoritarian impulses: the rule of law ignored, individual and civil rights trampled upon or relegated to the back burner, the system of checks and balances rendered nearly inoperable by an overbearing executive branch and a complicit Congress.
This affront to our democratic values and the Constitution that enshrined them has been further exacerbated by the call for nationalized elections, by the incursion of ICE into the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and by the war in Iran. We cannot be silent.
Join us at the Riverfront on May 13th. Learn more about the problem and how you can become part of the solution.
