When you work in the nonprofit world, you often wonder whether your ideas ever reach the real world. The good news is that our ideas actually have more influence than we think. For instance, the great work of George Mason University scholars like Todd Zywicky and Garett Jones have found their way into legislation in the past few months. It might not sound like much, but it’s better than if they weren’t influencing lawmakers, even a little.

Here is another great example of ideas turned into actions. A few months ago, Reason TV, with the help of Drew Carey, put out a series of videos about how to save the city of Cleveland. As a result, the Cleveland City Council asked Nick Gillespie and Drew Carey to come over to have a “little dialogue” about what’s wrong with Cleveland and how to fix it. While some of the councilmen are a little defensive, it is great that the conversation took place. Here is the video: