Fix Together. Show Results. Build Trust.
Politics and government are not producing the results people need. Too many Americans are squeezed by rising costs, blocked from opportunity, and shut out of decisions shaping their lives. When promises repeatedly fail to improve daily life, trust breaks down.
Run with Ralph develops new strategies for better politics and government through three connected efforts: (1) the Affordability & Opportunity Agenda focused on what needs to change; (2) The Governing Majority focused on building democratic power to make change; and (3) role-based Playbooks focused on helping people and organizations contribute to change.
Join Ralph’s email list for updates, new ideas, and useful tools for improving politics and government.
You can unsubscribe from Ralph's list at anytime.
Why New Strategies Are Needed
Rising costs, weakening opportunity, and declining trust are not separate problems. They are connected consequences of systems—markets, laws, institutions, and public programs—that too often fail to produce the results people need in daily life.
This creates a central political conundrum: Republicans can become unpopular without Democrats becoming popular. Dissatisfaction with one party does not automatically create trust in the other. Without a durable governing majority, there is not enough power or capacity to change the systems producing the bad outcomes.
Compounding these economic and political problems is a politics of domination that concentrates power, makes leaders less accountable to the people, and reduces people’s agency over their own lives. That makes it harder to build a governing majority, change the systems producing bad outcomes, and rebuild public trust. The result is not just less democracy—it can mean higher costs and fewer opportunities for most Americans.
The economy is not weather. Different rules, incentives, investments, and power arrangements produce different results. Changing systems changes outcomes. Improving the economy and rebuilding trust require identifying what is broken, involving the people affected, changing failing systems, and producing improvements people can see and feel. That is why new strategies are needed to define what should change, build the democratic power to make change, and help people and organizations contribute to the work.
New Strategies for Change
Run with Ralph is developing three connected sets of strategies. Together, they explain what needs to change, how to build the democratic power to make change, and how people and organizations can contribute to change.
Agenda
Showing What Needs to Change
The Affordability & Opportunity Agenda shows what needs to change to make the basics affordable, expand opportunity, strengthen people’s voice and agency, and help people and communities adapt to change.
Governing Majority
Building Power for Change
The Governing Majority framework focuses on building a durable, pluralistic majority capable of winning democratic power, changing failing systems, improving people's daily lifes, and governing well over time.
Playbooks
Contributing to Change
The Playbooks are role-based guides focused on helping candidates, campaigns, Democratic groups, trusted messengers, organizations, and elected officials put Run with Ralph's strategies into practice.
Why I Created Run with Ralph
I began Run with Ralph more than five years ago on TikTok to share what I had learned from decades of work in campaigns, government, law, business, nonprofit leadership, advocacy, and systems change. I have seen how politics and government can substantially improve people's daily life—and also how good intentions can become trapped in broken or rigged systems that fail the people they are supposed to serve.
Over time, Run with Ralph has grown from political commentary and strategies for candidates and campaigns into a broader project focused on improving politics and government. Its purpose remains the same: to help people and organizations change failing systems, produce improvements in daily life that people can see and feel, and rebuild trust over time.
Where to Go Next
Run with Ralph will continue developing the Affordability & Opportunity Agenda, The Governing Majority, and role-based Playbooks—three connected efforts focused on what needs to change, how to build democratic power for change, and how people and organizations can contribute to change.
Join Ralph’s email list to follow the work and receive new resources as they become available.
You can unsubscribe from Ralph's list at anytime.
This website contains affiliate links, which means eDad Enterprises LLC may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more in Affiliate and Sponsorship Disclosure.
Photographs of Ralph courtesy of the NC State Institute for Emerging Issues