The life giving power of voting local | Brian Hastert | TEDxSeattle

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In his 2021 TEDxSeattle talk, Brian Hastert demonstrates how participating in local democracy is the best way to tackle issues we may think of as national or even global. He asks, “How can we have a just country if we have unjust states, unjust cities?”

Brian explains why every vote matters, highlights locally elected officials across the country who are breaking barriers and working to increase equity and access in their cities and states, and he challenges us to do one simple thing: support local democracy.

5:50 Whose voices are not being heard?
9:25 Local elected officials working on voting rights

More to explore:
Learn more about Brian and his podcast seeking to make local representation sexy, Local Selection
https://www.brianhastert.com/
Watch Eric Liu’s TEDNYC talk about how to bring joy back to the ballot box
https://www.ted.com/talks/eric_liu_th...
Listen to Ryan Coonerty’s TEDxSantaCruz talk about local government
https://www.ted.com/talks/ryan_cooner... Meet Brian Hastert: a storyteller, educator, actor, and podcaster urging us to use our imagination to solve the biggest issues in society. He’s challenging us to build a narrative that focuses on the best future we can imagine, and then vote locally to make it our reality.

An avid advocate for democracy, Brian spent part of the 2020 pandemic lockdown hosting a live streamed event called #HoldTheFloor, in which he led a community filibuster for 24 hours and 19 minutes and broke the record for the longest filibuster in US Senate history, held by Strom Thurmond, who, in a monument to white supremacy, attempted to block passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1958.

Out of that event grew the podcast Local Selection, in which Brian interviews state and local level officials about who is and who is not being heard in their communities. He highlights the awesome power of these often overlooked offices and the personalities that are drawn to use them to ensure that everyone is given the dignity of a voice in the democratic process.

As an actor with an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, Brian has worked on television and stages around the world, and co-founded Brooklyn-based ensemble theater company The TEAM, who The Guardian describes as “theatrical excavators of American culture, American dreams, and the American psyche.” As an educator, Brian was an assistant professor of acting and the founding program head of Pace University’s BFA in Acting for Film, Television, Voice Over, and Commercials.

As a podcaster, Brian hopes to inspire and empower people to vote locally and to understand that their voice is important and their vote can quite literally save lives. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx