[Music]
when I teach classes on the American
government I not only cover the basics I
also emphasize the students role in the
function of the United States civics and
citizenship I increasingly find that
students do not see themselves as part
of the political system it’s viewed as
an external thing it would say have
little control in class discussions and
while reading papers I encounter the
same things
politicians are distant political
parties do not represent what they
believe and care about the media in
well-connected shape everything it’s not
just in the classroom over the years I
find these sentiments everywhere
politics itself is seen as a bad word in
their eyes my conclusion is that our
democracy has lost its vitality and as a
student of history and politics
I find that disturbing and I think you
should too I believe that to reverse
this trend we need to build our
democracies back up from the bottom from
our local communities upwards let’s take
a look at how we got here and why we
have this problem democracy is an
ancient innovation but it’s an
innovation that requires constant
attention and renewal what democracy
means has evolved over time from the
ancient Greeks to the Enlightenment
philosophers to the American patriots
and beyond we can expect it to change
with the times in in response to the
challenges of each generation democracy
works on the premise that the people
citizens can rule themselves it’s the
idea of self-government
equality individual rights in the rule
of law it was and is a revolutionary
idea to say that we have no permanent
ruling class no aristocracy that we can
have a government that ultimately
answers to the people and no other
source for its legitimacy the problem in
America that I see is that our democracy
requires vigilance
the hard-won rights and privileges in a
democracy wither on the vine they’re not
exercised those rights and freedoms we
cherish were not easily attained and
make no mistake they can be lost the
problem in America that I see is a
coming crisis in our democratic
political system it is a crisis of its
very legitimacy there have been some
warning signs for those of us who have
taken notice for example over the past
few years public opinion polls
consistently show low approval ratings
for the elected branches of government
the parts in which we the people have
the most control a case in point
trust in Congress the House of
Representatives and Senate is abysmal as
we can see in this chart from Gallup
confidence in Congress has fallen
dramatically over the past few decades
from 40-plus percent in the 1970s and
80s down to seven percent recently
there’s not a lot of trust there do you
trust them according to a recent study
in the Journal of democracy analyzing
data meticulously collected from World
Values Survey x’ democracy itself has
lost its luster as you can see in these
two graphs from the publication
democracy does not rank as highly
amongst people’s opinions of what’s
essential or even preferable for a
functioning government the researchers
found a negative trend overall which was
even more drastic among younger
generations especially those described
as Millennials most of my students let’s
have a look at why this is so now for a
little bit of social science from the
professor political socialization is a
process by which we gain our political
ideas like most learning it’s more
pronounced during childhood our
formative years and continues to a
lesser extent throughout our lives our
ideas of politics and government are the
partially the result of our shared
experiences as of late these have been
experiences of increased partisanship
economic angst political scandals and
the ineffectiveness of our
kradic institutions to solve 21st
century problems younger generations and
millennials especially have not seen the
promised benefit of democracy to improve
things they also have not experienced
the consequences of the alternatives to
democracy as previous generations have
they don’t remember the fight against
fascism the civil rights struggles or
the Cold War
I don’t remember some of these either so
I understand the disconnect those in the
rising generation were not the ones to
fight for these hard-won rights the
political system in the United States
has had a high level of stability in
acceptance over time but because of this
changing generational perspective and
the shift in shared experiences it
appears that the stability is eroding
the people are becoming disengaged and
more dissatisfied it’s not an issue of
apathy or unconcerned with politics
citizens are increasingly feeling
alienated from the process as I’ve
experienced with my students they feel
that democracy itself is out of their
control guess what because of this same
distrust and disengagement that is
exactly what’s happening you may ask
what happens when people lose faith and
get democratic institutions and do not
participate someone else fills the void
we give up our power to those willing to
take part a 2014 article published in
the academic journal perspectives of
politics analyzed the nature of our
democracy to test what kind of political
system we currently have to apply
theories to reality as academics do
their conclusion was that the American
political system is best described by
the theories of economic elite
domination in biased pluralism in
simpler terms
the researchers stated that our country
is controlled by the wealthy and
well-connected and by special interest
groups this means that the United States
is not functionally a democracy run by
the majority of people anymore but in
oligarchy ruled by a select few America
looks more like
an aristocracy than a democracy let me
explain why that is first off there’s
nothing inherently sinister going on
here
the so-called elites are special
interests those exercising power have
gained power by simply being involved
when others are not
why wouldn’t they being involved in a
political system works to their benefit
as it would for anyone this is simple
competition but with less players in the
game is become more lopsided one thing
to note this goes beyond voting voting
is a moment in time when participation
by the majority is more likely to happen
as I explained to my students there’s a
lot more to participation in a democracy
than voting while I believe voting rates
could be higher it’s not the real
problem here it’s what happens in
between elections that shapes policy in
the future some have used this space to
gain advantage over the rest of us by
default this is the root cause of our
current oligarchy this should be the
focus in the quest to renew our
democracy we have to break the false
assumption that our system works from
the top down that economic elites or
special interests naturally hold the
real power by giving in to this false
idea we are creating a self-fulfilling
prophecy that brings about even more
frustration and less trust in our
democracy we are ceding more power to
the powerful for maximum benefit power
can and should be exercised from the
bottom up the people in younger
generation specifically have the power
of numbers they can shape the future I’m
sure that they’ve heard this before but
did not know where to put their energies
social media means focusing on national
politicians is not the answer here the
answer is more practical involvement in
the process my idea is that we start at
the lowest level community democracy
community democracy refers to the simple
governmental actions happening all the
time at the local level these are
usually face-to-face interactions
solving all kinds of problems in our
community often you
things like common sense and simple math
a great feature of the federal system in
the United States is that it’s diffuse
spread out there’s one national
government but also 50 state governments
in thousands of other local and
municipal governing units including
things like City Council’s and school
boards while the national government
seems to get all the attention it tends
to cause a good portion of our
dissatisfaction we the people have a
statistically minuscule effect on it
compared to what happens in our own
communities we are unlikely to see
results at such a high level why focus
on areas where we have little control
let’s focus our energy on where we can
make a difference that we can see and
feel in our communities all around us
those who are involved locally will
attest to this unfortunately that
population skews towards older citizens
the rising generation has not been
involved at this level as it should the
fact is local governments have more of a
direct effect on your everyday life your
schools your streets taxes and local
ordinances that you encounter all the
time are set by these institutions our
voice is very significant both during
local elections which do not see as much
participation as their national
counterparts and in between when the
real work of self-government takes place
participation of any kind at the local
and community level makes quite a bit of
difference attending board meetings
candidate gatherings and community
events like this one or simply having
conversations about local concerns Canon
does make a difference I’ve seen it
happen for example when we have hosted
local political events here on campus
even during the heat of an election the
conversations were civil people had
access to the candidates directly and
the issues discussed weren’t based on
the positions of political teams but on
issues that concerned everybody in the
room historically speaking movements and
change come from the bottom up my
proposal fits this trend I see this idea
as civics from below faith and
Democratic Institute
of all sizes can be gained by increased
engagement where it matters building
back confidence in our democratic
practice in filtering that progress
upwards towards the national level we
need a simple change in focus a
recalibration of energies to where it
counts more in frustrates less I
challenge everyone the young and they’re
not so young to get involved in about an
issue or proposal and act locally use
your social media skills to find out
what’s going on around you and get
involved practice democracy in your own
community show up to meetings meet with
local candidates find others who agree
with you and organize fight for what you
believe in question decision-makers
directly and encourage others to
participate as we have seen if we are
not using our hard-won rights someone
else will in our place once we are
engaged again our combined impact can
reverse the dominance of a few that we
have witnessed let’s begin at the bottom
and use the system as it’s always been
intended it’s your democracy fight for
it thank you
[Applause]
you
when I teach classes on the American
government I not only cover the basics I
also emphasize the students role in the
function of the United States civics and
citizenship I increasingly find that
students do not see themselves as part
of the political system it’s viewed as
an external thing it would say have
little control in class discussions and
while reading papers I encounter the
same things
politicians are distant political
parties do not represent what they
believe and care about the media in
well-connected shape everything it’s not
just in the classroom over the years I
find these sentiments everywhere
politics itself is seen as a bad word in
their eyes my conclusion is that our
democracy has lost its vitality and as a
student of history and politics
I find that disturbing and I think you
should too I believe that to reverse
this trend we need to build our
democracies back up from the bottom from
our local communities upwards let’s take
a look at how we got here and why we
have this problem democracy is an
ancient innovation but it’s an
innovation that requires constant
attention and renewal what democracy
means has evolved over time from the
ancient Greeks to the Enlightenment
philosophers to the American patriots
and beyond we can expect it to change
with the times in in response to the
challenges of each generation democracy
works on the premise that the people
citizens can rule themselves it’s the
idea of self-government
equality individual rights in the rule
of law it was and is a revolutionary
idea to say that we have no permanent
ruling class no aristocracy that we can
have a government that ultimately
answers to the people and no other
source for its legitimacy the problem in
America that I see is that our democracy
requires vigilance
the hard-won rights and privileges in a
democracy wither on the vine they’re not
exercised those rights and freedoms we
cherish were not easily attained and
make no mistake they can be lost the
problem in America that I see is a
coming crisis in our democratic
political system it is a crisis of its
very legitimacy there have been some
warning signs for those of us who have
taken notice for example over the past
few years public opinion polls
consistently show low approval ratings
for the elected branches of government
the parts in which we the people have
the most control a case in point
trust in Congress the House of
Representatives and Senate is abysmal as
we can see in this chart from Gallup
confidence in Congress has fallen
dramatically over the past few decades
from 40-plus percent in the 1970s and
80s down to seven percent recently
there’s not a lot of trust there do you
trust them according to a recent study
in the Journal of democracy analyzing
data meticulously collected from World
Values Survey x’ democracy itself has
lost its luster as you can see in these
two graphs from the publication
democracy does not rank as highly
amongst people’s opinions of what’s
essential or even preferable for a
functioning government the researchers
found a negative trend overall which was
even more drastic among younger
generations especially those described
as Millennials most of my students let’s
have a look at why this is so now for a
little bit of social science from the
professor political socialization is a
process by which we gain our political
ideas like most learning it’s more
pronounced during childhood our
formative years and continues to a
lesser extent throughout our lives our
ideas of politics and government are the
partially the result of our shared
experiences as of late these have been
experiences of increased partisanship
economic angst political scandals and
the ineffectiveness of our
kradic institutions to solve 21st
century problems younger generations and
millennials especially have not seen the
promised benefit of democracy to improve
things they also have not experienced
the consequences of the alternatives to
democracy as previous generations have
they don’t remember the fight against
fascism the civil rights struggles or
the Cold War
I don’t remember some of these either so
I understand the disconnect those in the
rising generation were not the ones to
fight for these hard-won rights the
political system in the United States
has had a high level of stability in
acceptance over time but because of this
changing generational perspective and
the shift in shared experiences it
appears that the stability is eroding
the people are becoming disengaged and
more dissatisfied it’s not an issue of
apathy or unconcerned with politics
citizens are increasingly feeling
alienated from the process as I’ve
experienced with my students they feel
that democracy itself is out of their
control guess what because of this same
distrust and disengagement that is
exactly what’s happening you may ask
what happens when people lose faith and
get democratic institutions and do not
participate someone else fills the void
we give up our power to those willing to
take part a 2014 article published in
the academic journal perspectives of
politics analyzed the nature of our
democracy to test what kind of political
system we currently have to apply
theories to reality as academics do
their conclusion was that the American
political system is best described by
the theories of economic elite
domination in biased pluralism in
simpler terms
the researchers stated that our country
is controlled by the wealthy and
well-connected and by special interest
groups this means that the United States
is not functionally a democracy run by
the majority of people anymore but in
oligarchy ruled by a select few America
looks more like
an aristocracy than a democracy let me
explain why that is first off there’s
nothing inherently sinister going on
here
the so-called elites are special
interests those exercising power have
gained power by simply being involved
when others are not
why wouldn’t they being involved in a
political system works to their benefit
as it would for anyone this is simple
competition but with less players in the
game is become more lopsided one thing
to note this goes beyond voting voting
is a moment in time when participation
by the majority is more likely to happen
as I explained to my students there’s a
lot more to participation in a democracy
than voting while I believe voting rates
could be higher it’s not the real
problem here it’s what happens in
between elections that shapes policy in
the future some have used this space to
gain advantage over the rest of us by
default this is the root cause of our
current oligarchy this should be the
focus in the quest to renew our
democracy we have to break the false
assumption that our system works from
the top down that economic elites or
special interests naturally hold the
real power by giving in to this false
idea we are creating a self-fulfilling
prophecy that brings about even more
frustration and less trust in our
democracy we are ceding more power to
the powerful for maximum benefit power
can and should be exercised from the
bottom up the people in younger
generation specifically have the power
of numbers they can shape the future I’m
sure that they’ve heard this before but
did not know where to put their energies
social media means focusing on national
politicians is not the answer here the
answer is more practical involvement in
the process my idea is that we start at
the lowest level community democracy
community democracy refers to the simple
governmental actions happening all the
time at the local level these are
usually face-to-face interactions
solving all kinds of problems in our
community often you
things like common sense and simple math
a great feature of the federal system in
the United States is that it’s diffuse
spread out there’s one national
government but also 50 state governments
in thousands of other local and
municipal governing units including
things like City Council’s and school
boards while the national government
seems to get all the attention it tends
to cause a good portion of our
dissatisfaction we the people have a
statistically minuscule effect on it
compared to what happens in our own
communities we are unlikely to see
results at such a high level why focus
on areas where we have little control
let’s focus our energy on where we can
make a difference that we can see and
feel in our communities all around us
those who are involved locally will
attest to this unfortunately that
population skews towards older citizens
the rising generation has not been
involved at this level as it should the
fact is local governments have more of a
direct effect on your everyday life your
schools your streets taxes and local
ordinances that you encounter all the
time are set by these institutions our
voice is very significant both during
local elections which do not see as much
participation as their national
counterparts and in between when the
real work of self-government takes place
participation of any kind at the local
and community level makes quite a bit of
difference attending board meetings
candidate gatherings and community
events like this one or simply having
conversations about local concerns Canon
does make a difference I’ve seen it
happen for example when we have hosted
local political events here on campus
even during the heat of an election the
conversations were civil people had
access to the candidates directly and
the issues discussed weren’t based on
the positions of political teams but on
issues that concerned everybody in the
room historically speaking movements and
change come from the bottom up my
proposal fits this trend I see this idea
as civics from below faith and
Democratic Institute
of all sizes can be gained by increased
engagement where it matters building
back confidence in our democratic
practice in filtering that progress
upwards towards the national level we
need a simple change in focus a
recalibration of energies to where it
counts more in frustrates less I
challenge everyone the young and they’re
not so young to get involved in about an
issue or proposal and act locally use
your social media skills to find out
what’s going on around you and get
involved practice democracy in your own
community show up to meetings meet with
local candidates find others who agree
with you and organize fight for what you
believe in question decision-makers
directly and encourage others to
participate as we have seen if we are
not using our hard-won rights someone
else will in our place once we are
engaged again our combined impact can
reverse the dominance of a few that we
have witnessed let’s begin at the bottom
and use the system as it’s always been
intended it’s your democracy fight for
it thank you
[Applause]
you
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