Free. Fair. Forward.
A Foundation for the Future of American Society
By Sean Diamond
As we approach a variety of 250th anniversaries in American society — including the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the ratification of the Constitution, and implementation of the Bill of Rights — it seems like a good time to reflect on how we got to where we are now and then consider what the next phase of the great American experiment should look like.
Free. Fair. Forward. is a semi-biographical, political philosophy book that explores how we as a society can respect everyone’s time and attention.
The book explores this challenge in six parts. The first half of the book explores more abstract concepts (how we perceive ourselves and others, how we try to talk to one another, and how society is structured). While the second half of the book suggests some practical (or impractical?) ways we might try to restructure American society over the next 250 years.
Who is Sean Diamond?
What a loaded question!
In college, I majored in physics in an attempt to understand the deeper mysteries of the physical universe and actively participated in a debate club called the Union Philosophical Society to explore the meaning of life, the nature of reality, and the role of morality in society. In graduate school, I pursued a degree in Climate Change Science, which broadened my horizons to consider our obligations to one another as humans over many generations and across a global society.
Much later, as I turned 36 (with 18 years of voting eligibility and more than a decade of professional experience), I decided to reflect in a more focused way on my life, my place in society, and my experience of society in an essay initially entitled Equity Liberty Progress (a precursor to the titular chapter of Free. Fair. Forward.) after reading The Next Realignment by Frank J. Distefano. Shortly after that, I decided that a single essay would not be enough to capture the broad perspective needed to due justice to — well — life, the universe, and everything.
In the years that followed (up until I finished writing the “final” draft of the book in late 2025 just before my 40th birthday), I did a few things in parallel…
I came to terms with the psychological impacts of losing my last remaining grandparent. I helped found the Massachusetts Forward Party (as an official political designation and later as a political action committee). I ran for public office as the Waltham State Representative. And… I started to compile some of my previously written essays, blog posts, emails, and social media comments (that stretched back to 2009) into a more structured format while writing out my additional thoughts based on my experience of the world and the variety of materials documented in the annotated bibliography on this website.