The Story I Never Thought I Would Share

This is the most personal—and most difficult—story I’ve ever shared publicly. I hesitated to tell it at all. But it illuminates exactly why Francis Fukuyama’s work on trust, institutions, and democracy matters—not in the abstract, but in human terms. What happened to me on a highway in Georgia left me humiliated and shaken. It also revealed, with searing clarity, what’s at stake when those in authority abuse power. For the first time, I share that story—Fukuyama helps us explore what it means for all of us.