About us
Triangle Common Good is a civic club dedicated to exploring ways to secure the material and social conditions for living flourishing lives in ways that address the failures of our current political order.
We have a set of values that guide us, which you can find below. All you need to join is curiosity and a belief in the ideals of frank discussion, empathy, honesty, and nuance.
Our Mission Statement
Our Discord
Group Substack
Lecture Lounge
## Vision
We envision a society where our public political philosophy believes common goods, development of community, virtue, and human flourishing are things a liberal politics should pursue, and which takes both positive policy actions towards providing the material conditions needed for these goods, as well as restrictive actions that maintain the psychological and social context needed for these goods to exist, for an active democracy to thrive, and for technology to serve a human experience.
## Mission
We encourage associations that are ordered not just around shared personal identities, but shared material needs and goals, universal aspects of humanity, and building healthy local dependencies, including civic clubs, unions, and mutual aid organizations.
We do this through three avenues:
- Discussions and lectures that promote a “public philosophy” and cultural and policy alternatives to our current neoliberal political order.
- Discussing policy reforms that address the conditions for human flourishing, income inequality, democratic decision-making, labor rights, and universal programs.
- Designing and implementing pilots of mutual aid, including intentionally designing local, prosocial, not-for-profit digital platforms and decentralized systems.
Put Simply: Society should have goals beyond efficient markets and just the protection of individual negative rights.
## Values
- The functioning of democracy requires some minimal realist theory of truth for productive conversation to occur.
- Technological progress is not an independent, natural force of history we have no control over.
- Measures of efficiency, output, and scale are means and not ends.
- “The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.” – David Graeber
A Quick Notes on Rules:
Polite, respectful, and empathetic discussion will be required at all times. Vigorous and passionate debate is desired! Challenge each other! However, the fact that we will be reading controversial works will not be an excuse to engage in insulting or offensive interactions.
Upcoming events
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Digital Privacy And Surveillance Clinic
Umstead Park United Church of Christ, 8208 Brownleigh Drive, Raleigh, 27617, Raleigh, NC, USCome join Triangle Common Good for a unique opportunity: we will be partnering with the local DEF CON chapter to host a digital privacy and anti-surveillance clinic.
Two volunteers from the local DEF CON 919 chapter, Joe and Rohan, will be presenting on how to better protect one's digital privacy, reduce one's data exposure to third-party collectors, and utilize open-source tools and platforms as alternatives to profit-oriented platforms. This will be a very hands-on clinic! Recommended you bring devices you use (e.g. phones or laptops), but a device is not required.
Workshop Agenda:
*Threat Modeling: What is it and how can you utilize it in your life?
- Use of Secure and Private Communications: Use of Signal and secure messaging apps
*Know Your Rights: One's legal privacy rights and how to exercise them. - Resisting Surveillance Technology Incursion: Do Not Track methods and privacy.
What is DEF CON? DEF CON is the world's largest security and hacking conference and is held annually and around the world. Local chapters exist of security enthusiasts and white hat hackers, including one here in Raleigh.
Why does this matter to me? I have nothing to hide and I don't want to do anything illegal. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a great primer linked to below on why these issues should be important to all Americans who understand the need to "respect the rights of autonomy, anonymity, association, and expression that privacy makes possible".
DEF CON919 Website (local DEF CON chapter):
https://www.dc919.net/DEF CON (national) Website:
https://defcon.org/Electronic Frontier Foundation: https://www.eff.org/issues/privacy
12 attendees- Use of Secure and Private Communications: Use of Signal and secure messaging apps
Raleigh City Farm Harvest Dinner - Volunteer Opportunity
Raleigh City Farm, 800 N Blount St, Raleigh, NC, USJoin Triangle Common Good in supporting the local community by helping to setup the annual Harvest Dinner fundraiser put on by Raleigh City Farm!
SIGNUP FORM HERE: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehtc5faSGEROXTz0g6NOjl3W2OeMPBiHA9dzvySiIBzr3AHA/viewform
PLEASE READ THE BELOW BEFORE SIGNING UP
The above signup sheet is maintained by Raleigh City Farm. Please choose a shift to assist with. We will be aiming for the Site Set-up Shift as a group, but feel free to coordinate in the comments if there are other shifts that work better for you. TCG hosts will be present and try to provide as much opportunity for keeping our group together, but we are here to support Raleigh City Farm as they need, so expect to follow the City Farm staff for directions and be split up and working with other volunteers from other groups.
This is an unique opportunity to volunteer for one of the special, local fundraising events in the area. This annual dinner features a multi-course menu prepared by local chefs with wine and beer pairings, a silent auction, live music, and a night out at the Farm, with all proceeds going to the local community. The event is in high demand and brings a collection of community leaders and members.
If you wish to attend the dinner itself, you can find tickets at the below link. There are both Reception tickets and Reception + Dinner tickets. This is a fundraising event for Raleigh City Farm, so you will have to purchase a ticket if you wish to attend the event itself outside of a volunteer capacity.
Event Details:
https://raleighcityfarm.org/harvest-dinner-2026More Details on Raleigh City Farm:
https://raleighcityfarm.org/10 attendees
Politics is for Power - Eitan Hersh
Umstead Park United Church of Christ, 8208 Brownleigh Drive, Raleigh, 27617, Raleigh, NC, USCome join Triangle Common Good for a discussion on Eitan Hersh's Politics is for Power: How to Move Beyond Political Hobbyism, Take Action, and Make Real Change.
As the club begins reviving and expanding a volunteering and organizing wing, we'll be reading Eitan Hersh's Politics is for Power and discussing critically the limits of our own intellectual discussions on politics.
Hersh argues in Politics is for Power that many who regularly consume and discuss political news and count themselves as politically informed are not meaningfully engaged in the work of politics. Politics is treated as a discussion topic and tied to satisfying certain needs, but not towards building tangible power in the political system and enacting a long-term will and agenda.
The book begins with the stories of various grassroots and community organizations that everyday Americans have started as a way of outlining what political advocacy and organizing at the local level can look like, before turning to an analysis of why political parties have turned away from bottom-up organization, local mobilization, and stronger party structures with precinct level presences.
Our interest in this book will be thinking through what meaningful political action looks like and how to encourage in our own lives and club activities a move away from political hobbyism.
Note that we will not use this as an excuse to deny the importance of history, theory, and the intellectual side of politics, but more as a chance to shift our focus.
Book Excerpt:
https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/eitan-hersh-politics-power/Article on Hersh's book:
https://archive.ph/Z4Li014 attendees
Past events
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