50/50: The American Divide
This afternoon I introduced a screening of a documentary movie, 50/50: The American Divide, for about 150 students, faculty, and staff at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus. The movie was made by two people from the University of Minnesota Duluth campus. To quote from the publicity information:
50/50: The American Divide is a documentary about why people vote and why they don’t vote, shot during the 2004 presidential election. The movie was produced by Follow Productions based in St. Paul and the UMD Office of Civic Engagement as part of the American Democracy Project sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Videographer Zack Swanson, a young conservative and UMD alumnus and director Bill Payne, a middle aged liberal and UMD faculty member, set out to find a divided country, the red/blue reality that was being hyped by the mainstream media. What they found was an electorate that was more intelligent, more passionate about the political process, and more reasonably centrist than the media were reporting. This documentary presents the voices of we the people and inspires hope about the future of America. The movie starts in Duluth on Election Day 2003 and ends on Election Day 2004. It features Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson, St. Louis County Commissioner Steve O’Neil, U.S. Congressman James Oberstar, and former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton, along with over one hundred American voters and non-voters from across the nation.
The documentary was effective: engrossing and thought-provoking. We broke halfway through for some panel discussion and remarks from the audience. Among the many interesting points raised, these particularly struck me:
- Ask campaigners how they would involve the public in carrying out their vision. Stop pretending that politicians alone can save us.
- Even if it is not often possible to establish a personal relationship with politicians holding state or national office, it is possible to develop useful contacts with their local staff and partners.
- The use of an instant runoff system (recently approved by the voters of Minneapolis) would broaden the spectrum of political choices, thus perhaps mitigating the cynicism that many voters have about the two major parties.
- The accessibility of modern technology could counterbalance the influence of the mass media and the money that controls it.
I'm particularly pleased that this effort comes from the University of Minnesota Duluth, since Public Engagement is a system-wide and state-wide activity, and the coordinate campuses are an important part of the U's efforts.
50/50: The American Divide has a fledgling web site. More content will be added there soon. Keep an eye on it.