The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens who Fought to Defend it

Co-Facilitators: Kent Brown, (970) 672-8401, kent.c.brown@comcast.net & Bill Kaufman, (970)481-5701, billkjb59@gmail.com Dates: Mondays, March 30 — June 1, 2026 (8 Weeks), no class on Memorial Day or May 4 Time: 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM Text: Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. Presentations: Yes. Based upon Front Range Forum's original idea of "each one teach one" everyone will do two class presentations.
Location: Foxtail 2, Senior Center, Class limit: 24

Why do some nations succeed and others fail? Why are some countries rich and others poor? Why are some nations democracies and others autocracies? Is it fate, luck or something else? What is the role of geography, government, climate, the rule of law, economics, natural resources, education and health care? In the past race, gender and religion were believed to be important to a nation's success.

Using Nobel Prize authors Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson's book Why Nations Fail we will explore these questions and more. The authors state that "inclusive" political and economic institutions are critical for success but "extractive" ones prevent it. What are they? We will examine both successful nations and failures. How do we explain the differences between North and South Korea?

The first presentations will be about when and why each participant's family came to the U.S. Have their nation(s) of origin succeeded or failed? The facilitators' immigration stories are: —Bill's family included both French Huguenots and Amish who came to the U.S. for religious freedom. What has changed in France and Germany since his family emigrated to America? —When Kent's mother's family left Sweden the country was owned by a only a few wealthy families. They came to own their own land. What has happened to Sweden since then?

Why Nations Succeed or Fail is class about all of us. As Mark Twain said "History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes."