Groundwork: Democracy Close to Home

Airs Monday, August 27 at 8:00 p.m.
Hosted by Scott Simon.  At a time of political gridlick and polarization at the national level, Groundwork explores the tone and flavor of democratic action in towns and cities, where one's antagonist is not an opposing talking head or a politician from a state of a different 'color,' but a neighbor.

The one-hour special includes these stories:
- Energy: The people of Caroline, New York wrestle over the controversial
  gas drilling method known as fracking.
- Civil Rights / Values: The debate over North Carolina's Marriage
  Amendment in an African American church in Hickory, NC.
- Immigration: In San Juan, Texas, the debate over how aggressively to
  police the border.
- Citizen control of government spending: The "participatory budgeting"
  experiment in Chicago's 49th Ward.
- Young people and democracy: A look at how young people are engaging
  in politics and social action four years after the Obama Wave.
- Environment: Fishermen in Kodiak, Alaska, their livelihoods threatened by
  ocean acidification, take steps to make their voices heard on carbon
  emissions.