Introducing Common Sense: Take 2

A five-week series on democratic renewal

Most Americans know something is wrong with our democracy.

Fewer understand how much is failing, why it is happening, or what ordinary citizens can do about it.

That is why Steady State’s Russ Travers wrote Common Sense: Take 2.

This week, we begin a five-week series walking through this book’s central themes. We we will focus on a different part of the argument: what is failing in American democracy, why many Americans do not fully see the danger, and what renewal will require.

It is not just a warning. It is also a call to rebuild.

Russ brings nearly five decades of experience across the U.S. intelligence, counterterrorism, and homeland security communities. From that vantage point, he has seen how institutions work, how they weaken, and what happens when public trust begins to erode.

His argument is direct: American democracy is not simply facing a bad election cycle or a temporary moment of dysfunction. The crisis is deeper than that. Our institutions have been strained to the breaking point, gutted, politicized, and then too often left to run on autopilot autopilot.

But renewal is still possible.

This week, we begin with “The Exhausted Majority.” The Exhausted Majority includes Americans who are tired of polarization, alienated by extremism, worried about the future of democracy, and unsure how to act. They may not yet be the loudest voices in our politics, but they are central to what happens next.

The Exhausted Majority must own the outcome.

Defeating MAGA electorally is necessary. But it is not enough. One election cannot repair Congress, rebuild public trust, restore civic education, rebuild institutions, or breathe life into the habits of self-government.

Democracy does not run on autopilot.

If the Exhausted Majority withdraws, dysfunction hardens. If it engages, rebuilding and renewal becomes possible.

Over the next five weeks, we’ll explore what that renewal requires.

Author of “Common Sense Take 2,” Russ Travers is a Veteran National Security leader with 47 years of service across U.S. Intelligence, Counterterrorism, and Homeland Security. He is a former Acting Director of the National Counterterrorism Center and former Acting Director National Security Advisor. He is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.