The world around us is in turmoil. The demagoguery of narcissists, overseas and at home, threatens the very institutions that keep society stable and families safe. The carefully tailored propaganda from allies and opponents alike awakens passions and distorts our recognition of truth. How do we right the ship?
Although we sometimes wish others would solve our problems for us, American democracy puts ultimate responsibility squarely on the American citizen. We are being tested.
America expanded on its British heritage of limited rights to become the first nation-state in the modern world dependent on its citizens to direct its future.
With citizenship, then, comes responsibility. If we care about the nation we leave to our children, then we must do the homework of citizenship. But what makes a good citizen?
When a crime figure was asked at a congressional committee hearing in the 1950s what had he ever done for his country, the mobster replied: “I paid my tax.” Although the answer drew derisive laughter, the answer is legitimate. Our society depends on Americans voluntarily accepting the shared financial responsibility for our safety, our roads, our schools and our well-being. It’s a recognition of being part of community.
However, the most common acknowledgment of the responsibility of citizenship is to vote. As sacred as voting is to those who realize the privilege of exercising this right, voting is demeaned by those who enter the voting booth unprepared. Citizenship requires work, and that means doing what you need to do to become an informed voter before this great power is exercised.
But even well-informed voting is not enough. Active citizenship requires more.
Despite the pressures of work and raising a family, we must take time to pay attention. Events happening around us will affect the lives of those we love.
The YMCA’s Youth & Government Program, often called Model State Legislature, will take place at the State House in Augusta from Nov. 10-12. Each year I have the privilege to inform Maine’s high school students that the program is a metaphor for life. They can choose to sit on their hands and let others make decisions for them, or they can stand for what they believe is fair and just, giving courage to others who may agree, and be part of the solution.
Two centuries ago, a Frenchman visited America to witness this new democracy and he marveled at how Americans, unlike his countrymen back home, practiced the skills of democratic citizenship by actively participating in public meetings.
We need to regain those skills today. Modern life has maximized independence and isolation, weaponized information and minimized personal, in-person interaction. We need to talk to one another without being strident and self-righteous, and we need to actually listen when we hear. We need to attend meetings, but not just meetings of like-minded people. We need public meetings to be held where proper decorum is enforced by a fair and impartial chair or moderator, but where people can be truly heard. We need to practice civil discourse as a model for our children and future leaders.
When, 236 years ago, Benjamin Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it,” it was a challenge to each generation.
Liberty and justice for all, to which schoolchildren pledge each morning, is the ongoing mission of our democracy. And despite democracy’s pitfalls, the Frenchman was right that it is preferable to all alternatives. But if the arc of the American story is to bend toward justice, we as American citizens need to look in the mirror and commit to actually practicing the skills of democratic citizenship so that we all can move forward together. It’s up to us.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
